17hmr Archives

Preface

Precision rimfire rifles are possibly the most fun you can have outside the house, and they are getting better. I kinda skipped the rimfire rifles in my younger years when most people get good with them. Circling back to rimfire as an adult when you have adult money is more fun anyways. Today I am doing exactly that, and I look forward to sharing the experience with you. Today’s subject is the Savage B17 Precision rifle, a bolt-action .17 HMR in an MDT chassis from the factory.

I’ve played with these Savage rimfire rifles before, and when coupled with a good chassis and scope I was excited for some great results. I was expecting a squirrel-sniper, the next few days would show if I’d garner my quarry for stew.

The Savage B17 Precision

The B Series Precision rifles uses Savage’s unique rimfire action, unique in that the cocking piece rides in the bold-handle raceway. This results in a slightly longer action than some other models. I’ve always preferred the cleaner design that mimics centerfire actions, but this little Savage might change my mind.

The B series uses the very popular Accutrigger from Savage, something I again never cared for aesthetically but have no real problem with. On top of the action, you’ll find an included picatinny scope rail for easy mounting.

The rifle feeds from a curious polymer 10-round rotary magazine. The curious design uses a spring-tensioned rotor with cutouts for each round. The magazine has a spring loaded retention-clip at one end and is canted into the chassis to seat the mag. It is an interesting design, and I looked forward to putting it into action.

The MDT chassis definitely sets this rifle apart from its competition, MDT is one of the biggest names in chassis-guns and competition rifles. Bringing their engineering expertise to this little rimfire rifle could be a match made in heaven. With an adjustable buttstock and cheek-rest, you can make this rifle fit most shooters. The rigid chassis also has M-Lok slots up front for adding any of your favorite accessories.

Specifications

Savage B17 Precision
Caliber	17 HMR
Length	36.6 Inches
Weight	7.3 Pounds
Trigger	1.5-4 Pound Adjustable Accutrigger
Chassis	One-Piece Aluminum MDT
Length of Pull	12.75-13.75 Inches
Magazine	Detachable Rotary 10-round Polymer
Barrel Length	18-Inches
Barrel Twist Rate	1:9 Inches
Muzzle Threads	½-28 with thread protector
Finish	Black Matte
MSRP	$679

Range Ready

Prior to shooting, this little rifle would need a good scope. I happened to have a brand new Bushnell R5 6-18 x 50 which would make a great choice for the little rifle. The illuminated DOA-LRH800 reticle would allow a great many holdover points for the little .17 HMR cartridge. I mounted the scope using a one-inch scope mount, which might have been a touch high. But the adjustable comb of the rifle made short work of that issue.

I’d also add a couple other accessories, first would be a Harris bipod. I would be doing a lot of supported shooting, and its hard to beat a bipod for for that purpose. The last thing would be a suppressor, and for that I chose the SilencerCo Spectre II. It would take the M out of the HMR and make it a little more pleasant to shoot.

On the Range with the Savage B17

My initial trip with the Savage B17 would be to my local range. I’d brought along everything to get the rifle zeroed and tested, what I needed more of was self control due to range squirrels.

I’d brought three types of ammunition to shoot in the rifle, some OG Hornady 17 grain ammo, some CCI TNT 17 grain hollow points, and some Federal V-shock 17 grain. I figured one of those would shoot well enough to match my purposes.

Savage B17, bushnell r5, 6-18, silencerco Spectre II, 17hmr, rimfire, MDT chassis, prairie dog, — we also used the B17 for a prairie dog shoot, it was very effective

I sat down on the bench and started loading the curious magazines. Ten-rounds at a time would be fine for the kind of shooting I do. I boresighted the rifle to get it as close as possible to zero before shooting a shot. After making a correction or two, the rifle was shooting right where I aimed. I tested all three ammunition types, and it seemed the one that shot the best was the original Hornady 17 grain V-max.

Into the Rockies

After getting very comfortable with the B17, it was time to take it into my Rocky Mountain haunt to do some field shooting. And with any luck, get those squirrels that the .17 is just perfect for. Armed to the teeth and with my squirrel hound at my heels, we pursued the distant chirps of our prey.

I laid behind the rifle, the sharp sticks and grass of the parched summer ground dug into my skin. But that’s just part of the game, I watched through the bright Bushnell scope as an adult grey squirrel popped her head above the edge of a rock. The 103 yard distance and some switchy winds might make for a little challenge, but I was ready for it.

I’d zeroed the rifle at one-hundred yards, so I simply held a little bit into the wind coming up the canyon. With the reticle dot level with my target’s nose, I began pressing the trigger. The shot broke just like hundreds before it, perfectly clean release and the rifle barely moved as I focused through the scope. I watched as the bullet impacted the squirrel right through the nut processor and some hair and other material scattered in the breeze. It was simply too much fun not to repeat the process over and over.

The balance and feel of this rifle was fantastic in field shooting. I am used to heavier guns so the seven plus pounds felt light to me. Watching impacts through the scope as this rifle churned through ammo was as close to childhood bliss as I can imagine.

Continue Reading Here

A typical 5-shot group from the Savage B17

the **Bushnell R5 6-18 scope** was a perfect match

Savage B17, bushnell r5, 6-18, silencerco Spectre II, 17hmr, rimfire, MDT chassis,

Tikka

Tikka has made a great name for themselves here in the US firearms market. Ask the question in most any forum about what is the best buy for a sharp shooting rifle, and many of the comments immediately start coming back with: Tikka, T3X, and so on. Today we are taking a look at another popular model, the Tikka T1X rimfire. The T1X maintains a great deal of Tikkas popular design and features, some of them just downsized to fit the rimfire sized action.

Opening the box

I have to admit, I was quite pleasantly surprised when I opened the box containing the T1X. The handsome little rifle had come to me married to a Boyd’s At-One hardwood stock, in a bright red color. The handsome curves of Tikka actions flow very well with the aesthetics of the stock, and the fit was good and tight as well. Of course after checking the rifle I had to get it to my shoulder and see how it felt. The thumbhole-stock was not what I call a good fit to my hand, but it was not an issue at all as I generally run my thumb parallel to my trigger finger.

Handsome polymer sections were placed at all the likely ground contact points, and dual front sling-studs for both a sling and a bipod. The polished finish of the T1X bolt-knob was reminiscent of every T3 rifle I’ve ever shot, and ran similar as well. But I was so expecting to feel what my T3 does, that it caught me off guard to have such a short bolt-throw and stroke. The trigger in the T1X is a great little single stage trigger, the clean break also reminded me of the trigger I fell in love with on my T3. The rifle came chambered with a twenty-inch .17HMR barrel with a one-in-nine twist, and as it should be, the muzzle was nicely crowned and threaded 1/2-28 which is exactly what my host-less rimfire cans need. The detachable ten-round magazine fits neatly into the bottom of the stock, and the forward mounted release tab is easily manipulated for loading. At the back of the stock, there are depressible buttons to adjust both the comb height and length of pull. This feature made the rifle easily fitted to a new shooter in just a few seconds.

Time to burn some ammo

With rifle and ammo in hand, I headed to my shooting spot to get this Tikka warmed up. I had mounted my Kahles 318i on the rifle, which is much more scope than this rifle needs. But the high quality scope made an excellent addition to the rifle and was sure to give solid confirmation on the accuracy of the T1X.
I adjusted the stock to get the best eye relief and feel, the adjustments on the stock only required that you push in and then adjust the height of the comb or length of the recoil pad. A simple depressing of a button seemed a little too simple and potentially easy to accidentally move, but to my surprise they were quite stiff. As a matter of fact, I had quite a time getting the recoil pad adjusted due to the force required to push the button. This is a small concern for me, as its not something I expect to adjust frequently.

Is Kahles too much scope for a rimfire, no. Get one for yours

Next was bore-sighting the rifle. I’ve never seen the need for bore-sighting tools, my Grandfather taught me his method learned through an artillery sight in Korea. I simply set the rifle up on a Harris bipod, and centered an easily identified object at the center of the bore. The key here is to ensure that your eye is perfectly aligned behind the breech. The circular shapes of the action, bore, and muzzle should all be concentric, and then your distant object centered in the middle of the bore hole. That’s the easy part, once you’ve got that, you need to very carefully and without shifting the rifle in any direction adjust your scope turrets until the crosshair is centered on the same distant object in the scope. I’ve done it this way for decades now, and its always on paper, and occasionally dead nuts on target. Continue Reading Here…

SHOOTING SUPPRESSED AND OTHER RANGE NOTES

I wanted to start shooting the rifle with a bare muzzle, mainly for those of you who plan to shoot it that way, too. I only shoot loud if I must, so the majority of my shooting was done through my new Yankee Hill Machine Phantom 22 suppressor. I also find it slightly interesting to see the offset when shooting a rifle with and without a suppressor. It’s not a huge deal, but on the off chance I find myself shooting without my can, I like to know where the shift is.

Shop all Tikka rifles, you wont regret it

The T1x obviously has no real recoil. It’s not a light rifle as far as rimfires go, and the .17 HMR is basically the smallest magnum in existence. The recoil was more of a jolt in no particular direction, which makes spotting your shots easy. In no time at all, I had adjusted my K318i to zero and shot a few patterns to see how the rifle performed. I only had a couple of kinds of ammo to try – the old standard Hornady 17-grain V-Max load and the CCI 20-grain hollow-point load. Both of them shot the lights out, and there wasn’t a squirrel left in the county that was safe inside 200 yards.

Shooting the Tikka was an absolute pleasure. I like heavier-than-standard rifles because of the lack of recoil and general accuracy, and the T1x is exactly what I want in a rimfire rifle. The trigger breaking was perfect every time, and I love watching my impacts right as the trigger breaks. It’s quite a shame that it is the middle of winter. Otherwise, I would have taken the Tikka out for one of my favorite varmint hunts. Unfortunately, all my marmots are buried safely under several feet of snow.

The Tikka T1x shoots great, and 50-yard groups were easily half an inch in diameter. At 100 yards, it opened up a little bit, with 10-shot groups hovering right around 1 inch. Though, I think it does shoot a little better with the Phantom 22 installed, which doesn’t surprise me.

THE DOWNSIDE

Tikka T1x .17 HMR Bolt-Action Rifle — There were only a few small gripes that I could find, one being that the bolt wasn’t quite as smooth as expected based on my other, more expensive, Tikkas

I hoped that I would find this rifle near perfect, but I can come up with a couple of gripes for those of you looking to talk yourself out of it. I’ve mentioned the weight a couple of times. I like it just the way it is, but I can surely see somebody else thinking it’s too heavy. For youth shooters, I can definitely see it being a smidge much for the smallest framed among them. But if you fancy yourself an adult like me, then the weight is no big deal.

I never had a problem running the bolt, but it was a bit sticky for a Tikka. My other Tikka rifles have perhaps spoiled me. They are just as smooth as rifles that cost two or three times as much. I imagine this comes from the short length of the T1x bolt. There was just a little bit of a grab sometimes when running it, but I imagine I would easily get used to it with increased shooting frequency.

The Boyds stock was very sturdy and particularly handsome, but there were just a couple of things I’d change. The thumbhole stock always seems to be a love or hate thing with me. Some fit the hand well, and others just won’t. This one was a no for me, but as I mentioned, I don’t care because I don’t put my thumb through it anyway. Your results may vary.

The hard button to adjust the stock was also a little irritating but not a deal-breaker in anyway. And, lastly, there seemed to be a very small misalignment between rifle and stock, with the barrel not being perfectly centered in the stock. The T1x is mounted very well, much like a center-fire rifle would be. It probably wouldn’t take much to correct the issue, but it certainly didn’t affect the shooting enough for me to care.

CONCLUSION

My tastes in rifles may run a bit rich, but I’m okay with that. If I was buying another rimfire rifle, it would definitely be this one or one comparable to this T1x. I could even see myself buying a small collection of Tikka’s in .17 HMR and .22 LR. I think this rifle stands squarely at the front of the rifles in its price range, and it’s well worth your time if you need a new rimfire rifle.

-CBM