Savage A17 in .17 HMR

Does anyone have one of the Savage A17 autoloaders chambered for the .17 HMR? I’d be interested in comments and reviews as well as comparisons to the accuracy of bolt action .17 HMRs if you’ve happened to have shot both?

All through last week’s P-Dog hunt, my guide strongly encouraged the addition of a .17 HMR to the battery of guns. He said that the lighter crack of the rimfire makes even skittish dog towns more shootable and for much longer. There are also landowners who do not want centerfires shot at dog downs in pastures and closer to buildings, which is obviously understandable.

My main concern is the accuracy and reliability of the A17. I’d love to go auto loader, but I do not want to downgrade to far lesser levels of accuracy compared to a bolt gun. Online reviews have been a mixed bag and the ones that have tested accuracy have not done a thorough comparison with multiple brands of ammo and at multiple ranges. 50 yard tests really don’t tell me much because a varmint rifle is rarely going to see a shot that close.

Many thanks.

Grouse

I purchased one a couple months ago been to busy to test it much. About 75 rounds thru it so far. No problems so far. You do need to be careful to properly seat the clip when reloading.
Have not had it jam so far, I do use the new 17 ammunition as is recommended. I don’t use it much till I go to Montana in the fall for combo antelope dog hunt. I’m hoping to see a after market larger capacity clip become available.

Two members of my p-dog party used .17HMR bolts this year and they did quite well. One was talking about possibly going with an A17 while the other was more intrigued with the .17 Hornet. I’m more like the second guy.

Grouse, you will not be happy with an A-17, unless you happen to get the perfectly matched mags and machining on the receiver, and it ejects EVERYTIME.

My brother n law’s neighbor owns 2 of them and we’ve taken them along P/dopg shoot’n with us. Accuracy at 125 or so yards is great and very reliable. We have the same complaints as the half million negative reviews on the gun. The relationship between the gun and mag is very LOVE / HATE …then add in the ejection failures and you get frustrated pretty quick.

Strange part to me was I ran about 75 to 100 rounds through one flawlessly. Then problems with ejecting or wouldn’t accept the next round from the mag. Re-seat the mag and maybe get the remaining to run smooth or maybe just 1 or 2 then issues again. OR, have 1 or 2 uissues come up then be able to run the next 50 to 100 rounds perfectly. All the same Hornady ammo, so I doubt that was an issue. When Jason wanted both of his to be replaced for warranty, I think he said they exchanged ONE mag for him.

I would stick with the bolt. You know mechanically how reliable they are

The problem with the .17 Hornet is that I don’t want to add to my reloading duties with another center fire. I load over 2000 rounds of center fire rifle per year, and I’m not really looking to add to that.

The other issue is I’m looking more for that rim fire “crack” than the center fire “boom”. I’m looking for the .17 HMR to fill a gap in my battery: a light rifle with low noise and reasonable accuracy out to 200. An added bonus is that I get to just dump the spent casings in the trash.

However…

Anyone know of a source where I can buy .17 HMR for less than $.22 per round? That’s currently what I’m paying for reloaded .22-205…

Grouse

i love my savage bolt .17 hmr has the bull barrel and topped it with the bsa sweet 17 scope. quite the tack driver

I want one! I also wish they made something similar to it in a light pill .20 cal.. Like the .17 WSM in .20 cal.. If only they’d listen to little ole’ me. Lol. Happy Fathers day a smidge belated!

Randy Wieland wrote:

June 19, 2016 at 3:37 pm#1625268
Grouse, you will not be happy with an A-17, unless you happen to get the perfectly matched mags and machining on the receiver, and it ejects EVERYTIME.

We have the same complaints as the half million negative reviews on the gun. The relationship between the gun and mag is very LOVE / HATE …then add in the ejection failures and you get frustrated pretty quick.

Yep, that sums up what I’ve read perfectly, Randy. Thanks for chiming in.

Savage should be well aware of this issue by now, so I’m hoping to connect with someone who has bought one very recently to see if a fix has been put in place. One detailed review lays out the problem as imprecise build quality on the catch where the mag latch hooks on, which lets the magazine “settle” just a little too low for the bolt to pick up the next round after ejection.

I think I’ll wait for a couple of months and see if the reviews turn more positive.

Grouse

Randy, did you notice a long, heavy trigger pull. Savage has had this trigger thing figured out for years but the a17 has one of the worst triggers I have seen. I do not have one on my shelf right now because I think they are that bad.

Grouse, look into the .17wsm before buying an hmr. I love my hmr but I recently brought home a wsm and it is a joy to shoot as well.

I haven’t been able to find any .17HMR cheaper than Fleet Farm. $10.99/box or .22 cents/round. It wasn’t long ago that they had them for $9.99/bx but immediately after the sale of the chain, all ammo prices at Fleet Farm went up. Anything I see online is both higher priced and complete with shipping charges.

Since I don’t reload, the best I can do on my 22-250 (for good rounds that work) is $.70/rd…… IF I can score a free shipping offer. I know there’s cheaper crap out there that would cut that price in half but my Axis doesn’t like that stuff. Anyway, for a guy like me, the .17HMR is still a cost savings option and like you, I’m always looking for a deal! If you find anything cheaper, let me know!

4seasonsport wrote:

Randy, did you notice a long, heavy trigger pull. Savage has had this trigger thing figured out for years but the a17 has one of the worst triggers I have seen. I do not have one on my shelf right now because I think they are that bad.

Grouse, look into the .17wsm before buying an hmr. I love my hmr but I recently brought home a wsm and it is a joy to shoot as well.

I just remember them being a typical “factory set” trigger. The ejection issue was a big turn off….and they don’t blow P/dogs up like my 250’s