17 hornet vs 204 ruger

jrock said:

I have a HMR and built my wife a .204. Now I wish I had a .204 as well. If I were to build one, I'd look into an AR platform. For longer range shooting, I'd take the 20 cal. I can reload .204 for the same price as .17HMR. I only buy that stuff when its on sale.

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I never considered an ar platform, because of our laws they're not real common in Canada, but something to look into.

A .204 AR would wipe out entire nations of varmints in a few minutes. I'm half Canadian so I feel for you.

I run both 17 Hornet and 204 Ruger for prairie dogs. The Hornet works well to around 300yds. It's lower noise level makes it a real plus under close or less than perfect weather situations. If it was the only rifle I took I wouldn't be unhappy. Something a lot of people overlook is the little 17's (Hornet/WSM/HMR) hardly warm the barrels up. That translates to a lot of shooting without worrying about overheating a barrel. I took my 25WSSM last year and after five shots the barrel would burn you helped by the real hot weather we had.

I use the 204 for the longer ones. If I do my part 600yds isn't a big deal.

I always have more fun when talking more than one gun varmint hunting. One up close and one out far.

I figure it cost me less than 30 cents to load a 17 Hornet. My CZ is a tack driver.

Dan Carey said:

I figure it cost me less than 30 cents to load a 17 Hornet. My CZ is a tack driver.

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Same here...

Creedmoor shooter said:

I haven't personally shot it, but i know a guy who has one in a savage and he likes it. Says it sends woodchucks into summer saults. I hear you about 17 hmr rounds. They're getting ridiculous

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Groundhog summersault? Must be at 5 yards. Maybe a prairie dog but not a groundhog. I shoot them with 17 Mark IV and they die on their feet and then slip to the ground straight down as their legs go. They are very dead but intact. Just picture a heart attack!

RandyinVa said:

Groundhog summersault? Must be at 5 yards. Maybe a prairie dog but not a groundhog. I shoot them with 17 Mark IV and they die on their feet and then slip to the ground straight down as their legs go. They are very dead but intact. Just picture a heart attack!

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It's what he said. Like I said I haven't used it.

The 17 hornet to 275 on prairie dogs is amazing, and the .204 past that yardage are two rifles I take.
Both the 17 hmr and the .204 get a lot of rest since starting to use the hornet, and can load the hornet for cost of hmr ammo. Still take the hmr, just don't get many shots under 150.
12.4 gr 1680 20 gr. Zmax, rem. 7.5 primer 3725 fps 1.772 col.
Cz 527 varmint
Cz 453 varmint
Remington xr100 .204 32 GR. ZMAX 4110 FPS
(A GOOD RANGE FINDER SURE IMPROVES KILL RATIOS)

Cathunter, I thought you would know these things. Messing with us, huh?LOL.
At any rate, I wonder if you looked at the 17 WSM? I have both the HMR and the WSM and the WSM is way more effective! I've killed several large groundhogs with it; and not to mention bunches of prairie dogs! I will say the groundhogs I shot close, but I did whack a PD at 300. I also have a ballistic twin (cousin?) to the 204 Ruger, a 20 Tactical. That, reloaded, gives my 39gr. pills 3800 fps. and is extremely deadly! If you are pelt hunting, I doubt it will pass through. I wouldn't go the 17 Hornet route if you can get 17WSM ammo reasonably, which I can in the States. But the 204 is always a good choice, to load or not to load. Of all my PD rifles I take to S.D., I love the WSM the most! Second would be the 20 Tac and tied with it is the 6 Creedmoor. I'm now loading the 6 and it is proving to be an extremely accurate and long rate round. Just FYI.,

I'll look into the 17wsm. Haven't bought anything yet. I always get horned up to replace the 17hmr in the spring then forget about it later on. Lol I kind of wanted to know if guys like where the 17hornet fits in or if they wish for more umph or less.

I am amazed at what the WSM can do. I shoot the 20gr. pill and they say it's going 3000fps. I reminds me of the diff of the 22rimfire vs. the 22mag. I aways thought the mag did a lot more than it looks like it could do; same for the WSM. I find it wickedly accurate and very hard hitting. But, I had to bed and do an trigger tuning on my Ruger to get the accuracy. Savage makes a very good one. Ammo down here is about $13. a 50.
Sooo, where up North are you? I used to go up for bear and once for deer.

Thanks for the info, I thought ruger made a wsm have to check out the savage.
I live in southwest sask

Canhunter35 said:

Thanks for the info, I thought ruger made a wsm have to check out the savage.
I live in southwest sask

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In the rimfire world, the 17 WSM is definitely the King of the rimfires. For just being a rimfire, the 17 WSM is a very capable round. We shoot a lot of Belding ground squirrels, AKA sage rats, where shooting 300-500 rounds per day in a hay field is often the norm. I used to exclusively shoot my 17 HMR but once I got my Sav HB SS Bmag 17 WSM, I hardly ever shoot any of my HMR's. The 17 WSM has extended my range without having to reach for a centerfire and out past 100yds the 17 WSM has a lot higher splat factor than the HMR does. I have a couple CZ 527 17 Hornets as well, and they're a lot of fun to shoot sage rats with as well. The 17 Hornet, much like the 17 WSM, extends my range and with a much harder hit, yet is still fairly inexpensive to shoot and they don't make a lot of noise, especially shooting them suppressed. I shoot my 17 WSM suppressed 100% of the time, it's very quiet, sounds about the same as a pellet gun but with a light sonic crack down range.

The heavy barrel Sav. Bmags generally shoot really well. I wouldn't really recommend one of the skinny barrel Bmags though and the Bmag certainly has some oddities to it but if you shoot one much you'll get used to it pretty quickly. I bought mine before they ever came out with the HB models with the laminated stocks so mine had the cheap plastic *** stock. I put a Boyd's Pro Varmint stock on mine and added a few other items and it turned out pretty well for a relatively inexpensive gun. This is my Sav. Bmag 17 WSM I had the barrel cut back to 20in. when it was threaded. My gunsmith used the little stub piece he cut off as a thread protector and you can't hardly even tell the barrel has been cut and threaded.