.17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

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.17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

Post by rman »

I bought my grandson a Savage BMAG .17 WSM rifle a couple of years ago. We bought one of the 1st ones available, and as you might expect that was a mistake. The rifle wouldn't extract or eject and accuracy was pretty poor. I sent the gun back to Savage and after three months, they replaced it with a brand new rifle and even threw in a pretty decent Bushnell scope. The WSM is a pretty impressive little rimfire cartridge. He's been using Winchester 25 gr ammo in it and it is rated at 2600 fps. The 20 gr ammo is rated at 3000 fps. Until this evening he has only used it at the range. Just a while ago he saw a coon eating the corn he has been putting out for deer. He ran downstairs, grabbed the BMAG and shot the coon. It was facing him at 50 yards. He took a chest shot and it flipped over backwards and never moved a muscle. It thoroughly eviscerated the little bandit. It looked like it had been shot with a .243 Win. I'd estimate he weighed 20 lbs. Some folks say this round is not suitable for coyotes. I say horse pucky! I sure wouldn't be afraid to try one out to 150 yards or so.

P.S. I didn't include pictures for obvious reasons.
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Re: .17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

Post by NavyDoc76-80 »

Wow, sounds like a fun little rifle. I'm not familiar with this Savage or round, I will have to check it out.
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Re: .17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

Post by Ranch Dog »

Good to see the young people interested in shooting & varmint control!
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Re: .17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

Post by Ohio3Wheels »

NavyDoc76-80 wrote:Wow, sounds like a fun little rifle. I'm not familiar with this Savage or round, I will have to check it out.
It's a 17 HMR on steroids. None of HMR's shoot the 20 gr loadings worth a darn nice to know the WSM can do the job.

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Re: .17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

Post by rman »

Ohio3Wheels wrote:
NavyDoc76-80 wrote:Wow, sounds like a fun little rifle. I'm not familiar with this Savage or round, I will have to check it out.
It's a 17 HMR on steroids. None of HMR's shoot the 20 gr loadings worth a darn nice to know the WSM can do the job.
The .17 HMR is a .22 WMR case necked down. The .17 WSM is based on a necked down .270-diameter, concrete-nail-driving industrial rimfire blank case. It is a much fatter and longer case. I wasn't too sold on the idea, but my grandson just had to have it, and it was pretty inexpensive. For someone who doesn't reload, it makes a pretty effective varmint cartridge.

He also has a Savage 93R17 FV in .17 HMR. I put a Boyd's Pro Varmint stock on it and it shoots lights out with Hornady 17 gr vmax bullets. It will consistently shoot half inch groups at 100 yards. The BMAG in .17 WSM is not nearly as accurate, but still shoots pretty well with Winchester 25 grain bullets. Groups run between 1 to 1-1/2 inches - still not bad for a rimfire. It is a fun little rifle. I'm tempted to put a Boyd's stock on it also. It is an awfully light rifle with a pencil thin barrel and the stock is pretty flimsy. After we bought his BMAG, they came out with a heavy barrel model. Most folks say they are more accurate.
Last edited by rman on 14 Oct 2015 17:53, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: .17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

Post by Mrlucky353 »

Rman, thanks for the report on the WSM.

Academy carries the WSM ammo .
It's an impressive looking cartridge.
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Re: .17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

Post by mr surveyor »

is the 17 WSM one that you should buy a lifetime supply of ammo for while it IS available?


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Re: .17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

Post by akuser47 »

Possibly as it hasn't taken a foot hold like was hoped. They were jumping onto the 17hmr bandwagon, but ammo cost differences held it back. My opinion only not fact. I love my savage bvts 17hmr it gets it done on small targets to 150 yards in optimal conditions. 100 yards Ill use it on ground hogs all day long no problem. +guns
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Re: .17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

Post by rman »

mr surveyor wrote:is the 17 WSM one that you should buy a lifetime supply of ammo for while it IS available?
jd
That's a good question. We bought our rifle in May of it's 1st year of production. We didn't find any ammo for it until March of the next year. Since then ammo has become readily available and is not a lot more expensive than .17 HMR. We have paid from $16 to $18 a box for 50 rounds. I see that Hornady and Federal have begun to make ammo for the super mag too. That is a pretty good sign. When Remington came out with their 5mm Remington Mag, no one else jumped on the band wagon.

It's going to be a wait and see proposition. Reloaders are probably not going to be impressed, because they can reload .17 Remington cheaper. The .17 HMR is an impressive little round and so far seems to be superior in the accuracy department.

Probably the best argument for the .17 WSM is that it definitely gets the job done on varmints. If you're not a reloader, it makes a pretty nice, inexpensive little outfit. There is probably no pressing need for it, but it is a fun little gun to play with. I need to buy some Hornady and Federal ammo and do some accuracy testing. Or I should say, my grandson should do this. When we do, I'll post a range report.
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Re: .17 WSM vs Rocky Racoon

Post by Mrlucky353 »

It'll be interesting to see if the ammo makers tweak the 17 WSM to optimize accuracy.

Hornady was able to do that in 22 Hornet, and their ammo got rave reviews
compared to other longstanding manufacturers like Remington and Winchester.
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