17 wsm

[jdb]

I'm thinking about getting a savage bmag.17wsm and maybe swapping the stock to a Boyd's and lopping the barrel at 20" or so. Any input? This would mostly be for shooting squirrels but I'm sure it'd get pressed into coyote duty occasionally. I'm interested in everyone's opinion

[Mtnwalker]

I tried wanting one but looking at them in person I just couldn’t. Maybe the laminate heavy bbl models are better now? Interesting little cartridge for sure, just doesn’t seem to be gaining much traction. I think a .20 or .22 version would be awesome

[Born2late]

My older brother and his buddy each got one for ground squirrel hunting this year. they loved it. I think they shot about 500 rounds each through it in one day. Said it shot pretty good.

[Bango skank]

One thing that may be worth considering when thinking about which caliber to buy for a rimfire rifle is ammo availability.  During our big ammo shortage crisis, 17wsm was in very short supply.  .22wmr was absolutely nonexistant, but seems like boxes of .17hmr were stacked on every shelf.  I bought a new rimfire last winter, and almost went .17hmr because of that.  But ended up going .22 wmr since i already have a pmr 30.  Just figured id stockpile ammo now, just in case.

[b23]

I'm thinking about getting a savage bmag.17wsm and maybe swapping the stock to a Boyd's and lopping the barrel at 20" or so. Any input? This would mostly be for shooting squirrels but I'm sure it'd get pressed into coyote duty occasionally. I'm interested in everyone's opinion

This is exactly what I did with mine.  Back when I bought my HB SS Bmag all they had were the models that came with the cheap POS plastic stock.  Before I ever fired a single round through it I ditched the plastic toy stock and dropped it in a Boyd's Pro Varmint and had the barrel chopped back to 20 inches when it was in getting threaded.  I have a couple 17 HMR's and they've become loaner/backup guns and pretty much never see the light of day.

The Savage Bmag is far from what I'd consider a "quality" built rifle.  In fact, I can't ever recall owning a gun that was of lower quality, BUT, my Bmag shoots very well and for shooting sage rats, it's, easily, my favorite rimfire rifle. 

If you've never handled a Savage Bmag, I highly recommend you do so, BEFORE, you buy one because they have some real oddities about them, particularly the bolt.  They cock on close so they take more effort to push the bolt handle down when you are closing it than other rifles.  Also, the bolt handle itself is a very odd design and the first time you pick one up and cycle the bolt, you almost think there's something wrong with it.  For me, it took a little getting used to, but once I did, it's no longer an issue.

All of the ammo, regardless, of what label is on the box, is made by Winchester and it's all the same.  I only shoot the 20gr and 15gr ammo in my Bmag and it does a number on ground squirrels like sage rats.  The 17 WSM provides the best Ratobatics on ground squirrels of all the rimfires.  For coyotes, maybe inside of 150 yds and I think shot placement would be key.  The 17 WSM is the king of the rimfires, but I don't know that I'd consider any rimfire a good choice for coyotes, but that's me, others may feel differently.

[jdb]

I'm thinking about getting a savage bmag.17wsm and maybe swapping the stock to a Boyd's and lopping the barrel at 20" or so. Any input? This would mostly be for shooting squirrels but I'm sure it'd get pressed into coyote duty occasionally. I'm interested in everyone's opinion

This is exactly what I did with mine.  Back when I bought my HB SS Bmag all they had were the models that came with the cheap POS plastic stock.  Before I ever fired a single round through it I ditched the plastic toy stock and dropped it in a Boyd's Pro Varmint and had the barrel chopped back to 20 inches when it was in getting threaded.  I have a couple 17 HMR's and they've become loaner/backup guns and pretty much never see the light of day.

The Savage Bmag is far from what I'd consider a "quality" built rifle.  In fact, I can't ever recall owning a gun that was of lower quality, BUT, my Bmag shoots very well and for shooting sage rats, it's, easily, my favorite rimfire rifle. 

If you've never handled a Savage Bmag, I highly recommend you do so, BEFORE, you buy one because they have some real oddities about them, particularly the bolt.  They cock on close so they take more effort to push the bolt handle down when you are closing it than other rifles.  Also, the bolt handle itself is a very odd design and the first time you pick one up and cycle the bolt, you almost think there's something wrong with it.  For me, it took a little getting used to, but once I did, it's no longer an issue.

All of the ammo, regardless, of what label is on the box, is made by Winchester and it's all the same.  I only shoot the 20gr and 15gr ammo in my Bmag and it does a number on ground squirrels like sage rats.  The 17 WSM provides the best Ratobatics on ground squirrels of all the rimfires.  For coyotes, maybe inside of 150 yds and I think shot placement would be key.  The 17 WSM is the king of the rimfires, but I don't know that I'd consider any rimfire a good choice for coyotes, but that's me, others may feel differently.

what size groups are you getting?

[b23]

I'm thinking about getting a savage bmag.17wsm and maybe swapping the stock to a Boyd's and lopping the barrel at 20" or so. Any input? This would mostly be for shooting squirrels but I'm sure it'd get pressed into coyote duty occasionally. I'm interested in everyone's opinion

This is exactly what I did with mine.  Back when I bought my HB SS Bmag all they had were the models that came with the cheap POS plastic stock.  Before I ever fired a single round through it I ditched the plastic toy stock and dropped it in a Boyd's Pro Varmint and had the barrel chopped back to 20 inches when it was in getting threaded.  I have a couple 17 HMR's and they've become loaner/backup guns and pretty much never see the light of day.

The Savage Bmag is far from what I'd consider a "quality" built rifle.  In fact, I can't ever recall owning a gun that was of lower quality, BUT, my Bmag shoots very well and for shooting sage rats, it's, easily, my favorite rimfire rifle. 

If you've never handled a Savage Bmag, I highly recommend you do so, BEFORE, you buy one because they have some real oddities about them, particularly the bolt.  They cock on close so they take more effort to push the bolt handle down when you are closing it than other rifles.  Also, the bolt handle itself is a very odd design and the first time you pick one up and cycle the bolt, you almost think there's something wrong with it.  For me, it took a little getting used to, but once I did, it's no longer an issue.

All of the ammo, regardless, of what label is on the box, is made by Winchester and it's all the same.  I only shoot the 20gr and 15gr ammo in my Bmag and it does a number on ground squirrels like sage rats.  The 17 WSM provides the best Ratobatics on ground squirrels of all the rimfires.  For coyotes, maybe inside of 150 yds and I think shot placement would be key.  The 17 WSM is the king of the rimfires, but I don't know that I'd consider any rimfire a good choice for coyotes, but that's me, others may feel differently.

what size groups are you getting?

Like all other non match grade rimfire ammo, the ammo for the 17 WSM has a good amount of variance in it.  For the most part, my 17 WSM ammo has been better than my 17 HMR ammo, but it's still far from being great.

I mostly shoot my Bmag on ground squirrels so I haven't shot very many groups on paper with it, but it has shot everywhere from my smallest of 3/8 to up around 1 inch all at 100yds.  During the spring and shooting sage rats I usually go through a good amount of this stuff so I buy it by the case and whenever I change Lot #'s I check POI for that specific Lot #.

The 17 WSM definitely extends my range over my 17 HMR's and I've shot sage rats, with consistent hits, out to some pretty far distances for only being a rimfire cartridge.  The 17 WSM hits considerably harder than does the HMR, but I'll be honest, when you start getting past 200+ yards even the 17 WSM is running out of steam.  It still kills sage rats fine, but out at distance you don't get the ratobatics like you do when they are closer, instead they just fall over dead.

Have you given any thought to a 17 Hornet?  I have two CZ 527 Varmint model 17 Hornets and they're a really fun little gun also.  The 17 Hornet is a centerfire and is a little bigger case than the 17 WSM but it shoots the same 20gr bullet 650fps faster and they hit much harder than the WSM.  Ammo for the 17 Hornet is a little more expensive than it is for the 17 WSM but it's quite a bit better quality and a lot more consistent.  Most CZ 527 17 Hornets shooting factory ammo have no problem, consistently, shooting well under 1in at 100 yds.  Both of mine shoot the factory ammo consistently under 3/4 and usually well under that.

I shoot mine suppressed nearly 100% of the time, these things are crazy quiet and sound like a loud pellet gun shooting them suppressed, but even unsuppressed, the 17 WSM or 17 Hornet aren't all that loud.