.17HMR opinions and any experiences you may have had

[rradenheimer]

Taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge on this board I am interested in some opinions on a .17 HMR build for ground hogs. Every year a group of my friend head off to help some farmers whose alfalfa fields get severely damaged by these animals.

I am hearing a varying degree of responses from reviews - vs- word of mouth.

The 3 models I am looking at so far are as follows:
Anshutz 1517D HB (leading contender, though pricey) - Even more expensive, 4 rd mags rather expensive
Ruger 77/17 - more expensive, possible accuracy inconsistencies, maybe just the shooters not doing their part?
Savage 93r17 -(I like the BSEV) least expensive, some receiver crunchyness?, maybe some do not clean a new firearm so well?

From talking with the group of guys that go on this trip the range of some of the shots would be in the 100m-150m range, which is doable with the .17hmr. On my current hunting rifle, I am running a Zeiss 3x9x40 (was told this may not be enough though), but am wondering if moving to a 6.5x20x50 with windage/elevation, adjustable objective/parallax would be more effective/efficient or just plain overkill, the price though is up there I know for some good glass.

Any recommendations/opinions welcomed!

Thanks,
Rob

[Mr. Glock]

I have the Savage you mention, with the medium weight fluted barrel. Very accurate gun, but the stock is a little light (so can be whippy and hard to settle sometimes). Stock does fit an adult male too, which is not always the case with ark fires. Fabulous gun for the money, although I don't have all that many rounds through it.

I mounted a Redfield 3x9x40 on it because I had it lying around. I haven't shot ground hogs with it, but I have shot targets at 100 yards and I have to dial it down off 9 as it is just too much magnification and I don't have the best vision in the world. I like a 1" gun at 100 yards, so any groundhog would be toast. 150 meters isn't all that far in rifle world....in fact, that is about where standard rifle scopes set their parallax (150 yards), while rimfires scopes tend to set them at 75 yards (or so).

If you sight in at 100 yards, you only have about 3 inches of drop by 150. A lot faster to just hold over.

But, if want a big scope for fun, by all means get it. Or the more expensive gun. But you don't need it, as groundhogs are pretty large.

[bigfish85]

I owned a savage 93 17hmr and didn't hate it. Sold it and wound up with a New England Handi rifle (break open single shot). Now that thing was a freaking tack driver, and cost less than $200 iirc. Sold it too, but if I were to buy another 17, I wouldn't hesitate to get another Handi rifle.