Update March 13, 2018
Oh boy, a lot has changed. I have not had time to update this section, but I can tell you that not only is Hornady back up and running with .17 Mach 2 ammo showing up in many different stores, but CCI is more than likely to start running their own line again.
Here is a tip; buy as much as you can when prices under $7.00 per box. There are a few places offering it in the $6.00 something range - scoop it up. CCI has made some big advancements in their brass technology, and fingers crossed the neck splits on loaded ammunition in sealed boxes is a thing of the past. Now if your chamber is the size of the Eisenhower Tunnel, then all bets are off as to what the cases will look like after you fire the round off.
Update July 27th, 2015
Surprise..! Hornady slipped in some 17 Mach 2 through CCI's schedule and was able to release a small run of ammunition. This comes as a big surprise to me in that very little information was leaked out prior to the ammunition arriving at dealers.
The actual quantity is unknown, and from what I gather the price is around $9.00 per box. Now it remains to be seen as to how fast it will sell, if that will be relayed back to Hornady, and then possibly contribute to an increase in production. We can only hope.
If the sales are strong enough, this may even get CCI's attention and give them some time to consider running another couple of batches themselves. If nothing else, it will keep Hornady's attention on the round. Bringing cartridges back from the dead has happened in the past, such as the CCI SGB round, and there could also be some logical tie to the perceived success ( or lack there of ) for the 17 WSM, so the may be a critical turning point for the 17 Mach 2.
We will have to wait and see what happens over the fall and winter months. The .22lr market is starting to catch up, and I guess that by mid-winter there will be plenty of .17 HMR on the shelves.
s.
Update January 31, 2015
The past few weeks have been littered with more nonsense about this round on the internet that I have seen in a long while. At this recent Shot Show, I needed a raft because hip-waders weren't cutting it. The PR machines are blowing BS at an alarming rate, so let's clear this up for the good of the shooting community.
I'm gonna hit on a couple of points here, so grab a coffee and follow along....
With countless pages of the emotional outpouring on various rimfire website from guys fighting with every Walmart manager across America, writing letters to Walmart corporate headquarters accusing the stores of theft, bribery, insider trading, and possible alien intervention (ok, I added that last part in for fun), do you think CCI will all of a sudden just start running 17 Mach 2?
There are guys camping out at ammo stores waiting to buy low-grade .22lr for inflated prices, traveling around like Gypsies from store to store trolling for ammo to re-sell at the next gun show. Why would any company with the ability to manufacture .22lr going to waste five minutes even thinking about making 17 Mach 2 when in fact the very reason it is not made is because it sold so poorly?
Do you honestly think the ammunition manufacturers are gonna pause for even a moment while swimming in what appears to be an unending river of .22lr money ( especially when the black-gun market is in free-fall) to make something which sold so poorly that gun manufacturers were stuck making rifles in the middle of a production run for ammo that had been discontinued??
They stopped making it because it didn't sell.
It was discontinued by CCI before the .22lr shortage started, not after. The current .22lr craze has nothing to do with the lack of 17 Mach 2, but it will have a very negative impact on future production schedules of 17 Mach 2.
We are the problem, not them. Sure, we will blow money on total pieces of crap chambered in 17 WSM, but we won't spend money on the very ammunition we now claim to desperately need of. Every time I get mad about 17 Mach 2 production, I look in the mirror - and I purchased tens of thousands of rounds!
Just the conspiracy theories about .22lr production and distribution alone would make you think Oswald and Ruby are running ATK.
To make 17 Mach 2, CCI has to divert cases from the Stinger and HV Segmented line, then has to shut down the 17 HMR line to run the ammo. When was the last time you have seen Stingers on the shelf in most stores ( for a reasonable price if they are even there ).?
You are buying bridges if you think Hornady's piddly 1 million round "quarterly" run is gonna happen. Sure, that ammo will be delivered by Bigfoot himself. Oh, and "if" it does indeed show up, be ready to pay through the nose for it.
Wake up gang, we did this to ourselves.
s.
Update - December 15, 2014
Crickets..... The ammunition craze sweeping through rimfire has all but shut down any notion of delaying .22lr production to support a run of .17 Mach 2. I doubt the next run of 17 Mach 2 to be made for Hornady is even on CCI's schedule.
At this recent Shot Show, there was obviously no 17 Mach 2 in CCI's product line, and no solid information about the next round of production.
Many shooters have reached out to Hornady asking about the future of the round, and the answer has ranged anywhere from "We are running it quarterly" to "We will be running some soon." Both are vague enough for PR needs, and both answers nicely fill up a shooters inventory with nothing.
Knowing that CCI needs to divert the longer .22lr cases from the Stinger line and production resources from the 17 HMR line, you can see how there may be a considerable delay before the next window in the schedule opens.
That said, I'm gonna pull the barrel from one of my 17 Mach 2's and convert it over to .22lr for this next season of squirrel hunting. I don't want to do it, but if I plan on shooting the rifle, it needs to be chambered in a round that I can actually purchase.
I'm not happy about the situation.
February 27th, 2014
Hornady has released a large quantity of 17 Mach 2 to the market a few weeks ago. It is now showing up at dealers and some back-orders are now being filled.
It's my guess that this ammunition will quickly be cleaned out, and the next round of waiting for another production run will begin.
There is a pretty wide range in prices, with some retailers looking for $13.00 per box of 50. They are banking on idea that shooters will realize it is in short supply and that the higher prices will be paid. It's ultimately up to the consumer if they will pay the high prices (I won't), but everyone is allowed to make their own choices.
With any luck, Hornady will see the ammunition quickly vanish and work with CCI on establishing the next production run. If we could have a few more million rounds pumped into the market, I think the prices would fall back in line with what most shooters are comfortable spending. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Update - January 2, 2014
With the start of 2014, some new and not so great news is going to surface in the 17 Mach 2 world. While we have all followed the popularity of the round with great interest, there has always been speculation as to the long-term life cycle of the round.
The Short Version: From what I understand, CCI is going to focus 0.17” caliber production on 17 HMR for the foreseeable future and will not load the 17 Mach 2, thus dropping it from their product line. This is going to leave Hornady to decide if they will continue to have the 17 Mach 2 included in their product line, but at this time it remains a cataloged item.
After speaking with some inside contacts on Hornady’s management team today, they stated the 2014 to 2015 plans are to maintain a one to two year supply of 17 Mach 2 on hand at any time, but there will be a delay until ammunition production in all rimfire chamberings catches up to the current orders. Once the delay in production on .22lr is caught up, Hornady will continue to work with CCI to maintain an inventory volume of 17 Mach 2.
So while the 17 Mach 2 will still be made by CCI, it will only be sold under the Hornady label for the immediate future. There will be no new runs of CCI 17 Mach 2 on the production schedule for 2014 or any time further. So if you have a back-order for CCI 17 Mach 2, don't be surprised if you are sent an e-mail stating it's discontinued.
Without question this throws a major wrench into the spring varmint hunting plans of many shooters, as well the overall future of the round. Furthering complicating the issue, Winchester is pushing hard with the new 17 WSM, and while the uptake of this round is at best tepid, it still keeps the 0.17” caliber rimfire world moving in a different direction that the 17 Mach 2.
If there is a long-term solution, it’s going to be for the consumer to step in a bail out the round with spirited purchasing of any Hornady 17 Mach 2 products they can find. If the sales will support Hornady’s interest in maintaining the round, then we should still have a reliable source of ammunition.
Complicating Factors
To say this is frustrating is an understatement, but in a society where half-gallon sodas are popular and station wagons can be purchased with massive V-8 engines, it’s clear that most American’s are still the people of a “bigger is better” aspect. As we know ATK is a publicly traded company, and while they have watched the ammunition sales of the 17 Mach 2 continue to decline over the past few years, they chose to maintain it in their catalog and supported the round with production runs from time to time. But after a while the numbers continued to point in the wrong direction, and as discussed before, when the 17 Mach 2 is running, the 17 HMR is not. It’s hard to convince a company to continue to spend time on a product which is not making them any money because of a lack of orders from distributors, especially with the tremendous demand for .22lr still underway.
Now some will say that they would buy ammunition if they could find it, but this is most definitely a “too little, too late” situation. Before the ammunition shortage, there was 17 Mach 2 ammunition on the market, but just not that much interest. People purchased some, keeping an average of a brick or two on hand, but since it was used as a hunting round exclusively, the “plinking” and other kinds of sport shooting was regulated to the .22lr chambering.
Of course we have to keep in mind that all modern ammo prices and recent sales forecasts are heavily warped by the insatiable appetite of hoarders and scalpers who have both completely disrupted the flow of ammunition in all calibers and systematically punished the shooters who were caught short on their inventory.
Aside from a few shooters who had squirreled away a large amount, most shooters only have a brick of 500 rounds or so, and many times the ammunition they have is Eley, which means they have not purchased newly manufactured ammunition for quite some time.
Pumping money into the Eley ammunition market does nothing for CCI’s bottom line on the round, and for all practical purposes, once Eley vacated the market, any Eley or Remington 17 Mach 2 sales are excluded from any consumer demand projections made by CCI. As far as the marketing numbers are concerned, the Eley shooters are not showing up on the radar as active users.
For some shooters, the Eley product has proven to be most accurate of the choices. As a humorous side note, many will argue that Eley is much more accurate than the Remington product, but FYI – it’s the same thing. Same loading machines, same process, just a different color bullet tip. They are more than likely measuring lot variations or basing their decision on less than precise testing methods.
But again, the Eley ammunition is being horded, sold at ridiculously inflated prices, and used sparingly. With that in mind, it’s hard to not second guess ATK’s decision when there is no cash flow supporting the round. If Eley would have been able to sell their ammunition for the price it’s demanding on the market now, they would still be in the game and we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Other Options…
For starters, this isn’t the first time CCI has dropped a rimfire offering and then brought it back later on due to customer demand. The Small Game Bullet (SGB) went through this years ago when it was dropped from CCI’s product line due to low sales. Shooters took note of this and requested its return enough that CCI brought it back to production a few years later.
Interesting, the SGB has been able to hang on since then and continue to generate sales numbers strong enough to support its existence. Now the question here is does the SGB fill a niche in the .22lr product suite any better than the 17 Mach 2 did in the 0.17” caliber product line? I don’t think so, yet it had enough followers to bring it back. So that does mean that the 17 Mach 2 could make a return to the CCI catalog in the future? Possibly, but I wouldn’t put too much stock into the idea.
Another direction is that Aguila may take up the product. They have made 0.17” caliber ammunition in the past, and possibly they may see an opportunity to pick up this part of the market.
Some ask if Eley will ever return to production of the round, and from what I have been able to learn, chances (as extremely remote as they may be) are if so, it would not be for quite a while. They’re still working hard to meet the demands of the .22lr market, and when they got out of the 17 Mach 2 market and dumped the remaining ammunition for as little as $2.50 per box, they really took a big hit and I’m not sure if the initial investment was ever recovered. Those kinds of results tend to leave a bitter taste in the mouth of any business.
What about Hornady? Many know the cartridge by the name “17 Hornady Magnum 2” (17 HM2), and it appears that at this point they remain committed to producing this round. This will be a two-way street though for long-term success. If Hornady continues to support us, the 17 Mach 2 shooters, then we need to support them.
This is all I know about the current situation, and I will update this section as more solid information becomes available. Thanks for reading.
Now on to the rest of the article.
Oh boy, a lot has changed. I have not had time to update this section, but I can tell you that not only is Hornady back up and running with .17 Mach 2 ammo showing up in many different stores, but CCI is more than likely to start running their own line again.
Here is a tip; buy as much as you can when prices under $7.00 per box. There are a few places offering it in the $6.00 something range - scoop it up. CCI has made some big advancements in their brass technology, and fingers crossed the neck splits on loaded ammunition in sealed boxes is a thing of the past. Now if your chamber is the size of the Eisenhower Tunnel, then all bets are off as to what the cases will look like after you fire the round off.
Update July 27th, 2015
Surprise..! Hornady slipped in some 17 Mach 2 through CCI's schedule and was able to release a small run of ammunition. This comes as a big surprise to me in that very little information was leaked out prior to the ammunition arriving at dealers.
The actual quantity is unknown, and from what I gather the price is around $9.00 per box. Now it remains to be seen as to how fast it will sell, if that will be relayed back to Hornady, and then possibly contribute to an increase in production. We can only hope.
If the sales are strong enough, this may even get CCI's attention and give them some time to consider running another couple of batches themselves. If nothing else, it will keep Hornady's attention on the round. Bringing cartridges back from the dead has happened in the past, such as the CCI SGB round, and there could also be some logical tie to the perceived success ( or lack there of ) for the 17 WSM, so the may be a critical turning point for the 17 Mach 2.
We will have to wait and see what happens over the fall and winter months. The .22lr market is starting to catch up, and I guess that by mid-winter there will be plenty of .17 HMR on the shelves.
s.
Update January 31, 2015
The past few weeks have been littered with more nonsense about this round on the internet that I have seen in a long while. At this recent Shot Show, I needed a raft because hip-waders weren't cutting it. The PR machines are blowing BS at an alarming rate, so let's clear this up for the good of the shooting community.
I'm gonna hit on a couple of points here, so grab a coffee and follow along....
- CCI in Lewiston, ID is the only location which can make this round now. Eley is done with it, the machines are gone, let that dream go.
- At this time, no matter what is written on the box, it all comes from Lewiston, ID plant which is CCI.
- Hornady does not have the ability to manufacture, prime, or sell a single rimfire round. They don't have the tooling to do anything rimfire. And why would they start, they are still trying to catch up on bullets and loaded centerfire? I mention this because people think that the ammo will be back "when Hornady makes some...." Hornady does not manufacture rimfire ammo.
With countless pages of the emotional outpouring on various rimfire website from guys fighting with every Walmart manager across America, writing letters to Walmart corporate headquarters accusing the stores of theft, bribery, insider trading, and possible alien intervention (ok, I added that last part in for fun), do you think CCI will all of a sudden just start running 17 Mach 2?
There are guys camping out at ammo stores waiting to buy low-grade .22lr for inflated prices, traveling around like Gypsies from store to store trolling for ammo to re-sell at the next gun show. Why would any company with the ability to manufacture .22lr going to waste five minutes even thinking about making 17 Mach 2 when in fact the very reason it is not made is because it sold so poorly?
Do you honestly think the ammunition manufacturers are gonna pause for even a moment while swimming in what appears to be an unending river of .22lr money ( especially when the black-gun market is in free-fall) to make something which sold so poorly that gun manufacturers were stuck making rifles in the middle of a production run for ammo that had been discontinued??
They stopped making it because it didn't sell.
It was discontinued by CCI before the .22lr shortage started, not after. The current .22lr craze has nothing to do with the lack of 17 Mach 2, but it will have a very negative impact on future production schedules of 17 Mach 2.
We are the problem, not them. Sure, we will blow money on total pieces of crap chambered in 17 WSM, but we won't spend money on the very ammunition we now claim to desperately need of. Every time I get mad about 17 Mach 2 production, I look in the mirror - and I purchased tens of thousands of rounds!
Just the conspiracy theories about .22lr production and distribution alone would make you think Oswald and Ruby are running ATK.
To make 17 Mach 2, CCI has to divert cases from the Stinger and HV Segmented line, then has to shut down the 17 HMR line to run the ammo. When was the last time you have seen Stingers on the shelf in most stores ( for a reasonable price if they are even there ).?
You are buying bridges if you think Hornady's piddly 1 million round "quarterly" run is gonna happen. Sure, that ammo will be delivered by Bigfoot himself. Oh, and "if" it does indeed show up, be ready to pay through the nose for it.
Wake up gang, we did this to ourselves.
s.
Update - December 15, 2014
Crickets..... The ammunition craze sweeping through rimfire has all but shut down any notion of delaying .22lr production to support a run of .17 Mach 2. I doubt the next run of 17 Mach 2 to be made for Hornady is even on CCI's schedule.
At this recent Shot Show, there was obviously no 17 Mach 2 in CCI's product line, and no solid information about the next round of production.
Many shooters have reached out to Hornady asking about the future of the round, and the answer has ranged anywhere from "We are running it quarterly" to "We will be running some soon." Both are vague enough for PR needs, and both answers nicely fill up a shooters inventory with nothing.
Knowing that CCI needs to divert the longer .22lr cases from the Stinger line and production resources from the 17 HMR line, you can see how there may be a considerable delay before the next window in the schedule opens.
That said, I'm gonna pull the barrel from one of my 17 Mach 2's and convert it over to .22lr for this next season of squirrel hunting. I don't want to do it, but if I plan on shooting the rifle, it needs to be chambered in a round that I can actually purchase.
I'm not happy about the situation.
February 27th, 2014
Hornady has released a large quantity of 17 Mach 2 to the market a few weeks ago. It is now showing up at dealers and some back-orders are now being filled.
It's my guess that this ammunition will quickly be cleaned out, and the next round of waiting for another production run will begin.
There is a pretty wide range in prices, with some retailers looking for $13.00 per box of 50. They are banking on idea that shooters will realize it is in short supply and that the higher prices will be paid. It's ultimately up to the consumer if they will pay the high prices (I won't), but everyone is allowed to make their own choices.
With any luck, Hornady will see the ammunition quickly vanish and work with CCI on establishing the next production run. If we could have a few more million rounds pumped into the market, I think the prices would fall back in line with what most shooters are comfortable spending. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Update - January 2, 2014
With the start of 2014, some new and not so great news is going to surface in the 17 Mach 2 world. While we have all followed the popularity of the round with great interest, there has always been speculation as to the long-term life cycle of the round.
The Short Version: From what I understand, CCI is going to focus 0.17” caliber production on 17 HMR for the foreseeable future and will not load the 17 Mach 2, thus dropping it from their product line. This is going to leave Hornady to decide if they will continue to have the 17 Mach 2 included in their product line, but at this time it remains a cataloged item.
After speaking with some inside contacts on Hornady’s management team today, they stated the 2014 to 2015 plans are to maintain a one to two year supply of 17 Mach 2 on hand at any time, but there will be a delay until ammunition production in all rimfire chamberings catches up to the current orders. Once the delay in production on .22lr is caught up, Hornady will continue to work with CCI to maintain an inventory volume of 17 Mach 2.
So while the 17 Mach 2 will still be made by CCI, it will only be sold under the Hornady label for the immediate future. There will be no new runs of CCI 17 Mach 2 on the production schedule for 2014 or any time further. So if you have a back-order for CCI 17 Mach 2, don't be surprised if you are sent an e-mail stating it's discontinued.
Without question this throws a major wrench into the spring varmint hunting plans of many shooters, as well the overall future of the round. Furthering complicating the issue, Winchester is pushing hard with the new 17 WSM, and while the uptake of this round is at best tepid, it still keeps the 0.17” caliber rimfire world moving in a different direction that the 17 Mach 2.
If there is a long-term solution, it’s going to be for the consumer to step in a bail out the round with spirited purchasing of any Hornady 17 Mach 2 products they can find. If the sales will support Hornady’s interest in maintaining the round, then we should still have a reliable source of ammunition.
Complicating Factors
To say this is frustrating is an understatement, but in a society where half-gallon sodas are popular and station wagons can be purchased with massive V-8 engines, it’s clear that most American’s are still the people of a “bigger is better” aspect. As we know ATK is a publicly traded company, and while they have watched the ammunition sales of the 17 Mach 2 continue to decline over the past few years, they chose to maintain it in their catalog and supported the round with production runs from time to time. But after a while the numbers continued to point in the wrong direction, and as discussed before, when the 17 Mach 2 is running, the 17 HMR is not. It’s hard to convince a company to continue to spend time on a product which is not making them any money because of a lack of orders from distributors, especially with the tremendous demand for .22lr still underway.
Now some will say that they would buy ammunition if they could find it, but this is most definitely a “too little, too late” situation. Before the ammunition shortage, there was 17 Mach 2 ammunition on the market, but just not that much interest. People purchased some, keeping an average of a brick or two on hand, but since it was used as a hunting round exclusively, the “plinking” and other kinds of sport shooting was regulated to the .22lr chambering.
Of course we have to keep in mind that all modern ammo prices and recent sales forecasts are heavily warped by the insatiable appetite of hoarders and scalpers who have both completely disrupted the flow of ammunition in all calibers and systematically punished the shooters who were caught short on their inventory.
Aside from a few shooters who had squirreled away a large amount, most shooters only have a brick of 500 rounds or so, and many times the ammunition they have is Eley, which means they have not purchased newly manufactured ammunition for quite some time.
Pumping money into the Eley ammunition market does nothing for CCI’s bottom line on the round, and for all practical purposes, once Eley vacated the market, any Eley or Remington 17 Mach 2 sales are excluded from any consumer demand projections made by CCI. As far as the marketing numbers are concerned, the Eley shooters are not showing up on the radar as active users.
For some shooters, the Eley product has proven to be most accurate of the choices. As a humorous side note, many will argue that Eley is much more accurate than the Remington product, but FYI – it’s the same thing. Same loading machines, same process, just a different color bullet tip. They are more than likely measuring lot variations or basing their decision on less than precise testing methods.
But again, the Eley ammunition is being horded, sold at ridiculously inflated prices, and used sparingly. With that in mind, it’s hard to not second guess ATK’s decision when there is no cash flow supporting the round. If Eley would have been able to sell their ammunition for the price it’s demanding on the market now, they would still be in the game and we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Other Options…
For starters, this isn’t the first time CCI has dropped a rimfire offering and then brought it back later on due to customer demand. The Small Game Bullet (SGB) went through this years ago when it was dropped from CCI’s product line due to low sales. Shooters took note of this and requested its return enough that CCI brought it back to production a few years later.
Interesting, the SGB has been able to hang on since then and continue to generate sales numbers strong enough to support its existence. Now the question here is does the SGB fill a niche in the .22lr product suite any better than the 17 Mach 2 did in the 0.17” caliber product line? I don’t think so, yet it had enough followers to bring it back. So that does mean that the 17 Mach 2 could make a return to the CCI catalog in the future? Possibly, but I wouldn’t put too much stock into the idea.
Another direction is that Aguila may take up the product. They have made 0.17” caliber ammunition in the past, and possibly they may see an opportunity to pick up this part of the market.
Some ask if Eley will ever return to production of the round, and from what I have been able to learn, chances (as extremely remote as they may be) are if so, it would not be for quite a while. They’re still working hard to meet the demands of the .22lr market, and when they got out of the 17 Mach 2 market and dumped the remaining ammunition for as little as $2.50 per box, they really took a big hit and I’m not sure if the initial investment was ever recovered. Those kinds of results tend to leave a bitter taste in the mouth of any business.
What about Hornady? Many know the cartridge by the name “17 Hornady Magnum 2” (17 HM2), and it appears that at this point they remain committed to producing this round. This will be a two-way street though for long-term success. If Hornady continues to support us, the 17 Mach 2 shooters, then we need to support them.
This is all I know about the current situation, and I will update this section as more solid information becomes available. Thanks for reading.
Now on to the rest of the article.
CCI Stinger, Eley Mach 2, PMC Moderator
Introduction
Based on the CCI Stinger case, the 17 Mach 2, also known as the 17 Hornady Magnum 2 (17 HM2), is in my opinion the best thing to hit the rimfire market since the .22lr Stinger round in 1975.
Since its inception, the 17 Mach 2 has been one of the most controversial rimfire rounds in our community. Many shooters consider it a breakthrough for the long-rifle case, while others have openly stated it’s little more than a marketing ploy riding the coattails of the 17 HMR.
Ever since my first outing with the 17 Mach 2, I became a loyal fan and found myself impressed with its performance in the field and on paper. Further, it is one chambering which always accompanies me on every varmint hunt.
While I may rotate rifles and calibers when I hunt, I always have a 17 Mach 2 in the gun case.
Even though it does have a strong and vocal minority, most rifle manufacturers have stepped away from the round by either cutting the number of rifles they offer in 17 Mach 2, or completely dropping them altogether.
This tends to be the most often cited reason for the projected demise of the round, with many shooters thinking that CCI will at some point stop producing the round. In some ways that is a logical conclusion, but in reality CCI developed the production process of both the 17 Mach 2 and the 17 HMR to smoothly work within the current .22lr and .22 WMR production line.
Let's get into the details below...
Based on the CCI Stinger case, the 17 Mach 2, also known as the 17 Hornady Magnum 2 (17 HM2), is in my opinion the best thing to hit the rimfire market since the .22lr Stinger round in 1975.
Since its inception, the 17 Mach 2 has been one of the most controversial rimfire rounds in our community. Many shooters consider it a breakthrough for the long-rifle case, while others have openly stated it’s little more than a marketing ploy riding the coattails of the 17 HMR.
Ever since my first outing with the 17 Mach 2, I became a loyal fan and found myself impressed with its performance in the field and on paper. Further, it is one chambering which always accompanies me on every varmint hunt.
While I may rotate rifles and calibers when I hunt, I always have a 17 Mach 2 in the gun case.
Even though it does have a strong and vocal minority, most rifle manufacturers have stepped away from the round by either cutting the number of rifles they offer in 17 Mach 2, or completely dropping them altogether.
This tends to be the most often cited reason for the projected demise of the round, with many shooters thinking that CCI will at some point stop producing the round. In some ways that is a logical conclusion, but in reality CCI developed the production process of both the 17 Mach 2 and the 17 HMR to smoothly work within the current .22lr and .22 WMR production line.
Let's get into the details below...
Cartridge Description
The 17 Mach 2 round is based on the CCI Stinger case, and necked down to accept a 0.17” caliber bullet. The overall length is designed to be almost identical to any standard 22lr loading, allowing it to function in the same action dimensions as the Long Rifle case.
During the manufacturing process, there is no difference between the first 75% of production between a 17 Mach 2 round and a .22lr round. The many stages of brass case formation are identical, all the way from starting with big reels of brass sheeting to case formation, and even to the priming process of the formed cases. This is all identical for the two rounds. Same goes for the 17 HMR and the .22 WMR; they follow the same process and uses the same machines.
After priming, the cases for the 17 Mach 2 are diverted from the .22lr line and sent to a special series of machines which neck the case down, charge with powder, seat the bullet, and finally roll a crimp on the case. That all happens in the final few stages of production, and CCI designed it that way so they can run the 0.17" caliber rounds along side the 0.22" caliber rounds without disruption of the production process.
For those who think they have to shut down the 0.22" caliber production lines to make the 0.17" rounds, this is incorrect. The two products almost run in tandem. It is quite amazing to see it first hand, and shows how much thought went into the production of the round as the development of the round itself.
Even with this fundamental similarity, the difference between the .22lr and .17 Mach 2 is substantial.
The 17 Mach 2 round is based on the CCI Stinger case, and necked down to accept a 0.17” caliber bullet. The overall length is designed to be almost identical to any standard 22lr loading, allowing it to function in the same action dimensions as the Long Rifle case.
During the manufacturing process, there is no difference between the first 75% of production between a 17 Mach 2 round and a .22lr round. The many stages of brass case formation are identical, all the way from starting with big reels of brass sheeting to case formation, and even to the priming process of the formed cases. This is all identical for the two rounds. Same goes for the 17 HMR and the .22 WMR; they follow the same process and uses the same machines.
After priming, the cases for the 17 Mach 2 are diverted from the .22lr line and sent to a special series of machines which neck the case down, charge with powder, seat the bullet, and finally roll a crimp on the case. That all happens in the final few stages of production, and CCI designed it that way so they can run the 0.17" caliber rounds along side the 0.22" caliber rounds without disruption of the production process.
For those who think they have to shut down the 0.22" caliber production lines to make the 0.17" rounds, this is incorrect. The two products almost run in tandem. It is quite amazing to see it first hand, and shows how much thought went into the production of the round as the development of the round itself.
Even with this fundamental similarity, the difference between the .22lr and .17 Mach 2 is substantial.
17 Mach 2 (l), 17 HMR (r)
History
The 17 Mach 2 debuted in 2004 as the collaboration between Hornady’s Dave Emary and CCI’s Senior Engineer Brett Olin, two very well respected and long-time industry leaders.
There were other industry engineers with various companies working on a similar projects, but it was CCI and Hornady efforts which ultimately invested the money, R&D’d the round, and nailed down the SAAMI approved design.
That first year, the 17 Mach 2 was quite a hit at various tradeshows and media events. The blistering 2100 fps muzzle velocity and almost nonexistent recoil gave a rifle chambered in this round the feel of a futuristic laser beam.
Its predecessor and magnum version, 17 HMR, was so well received years before that it was thought the shooting public would be ready to accept the next 0.17” caliber round with open arms.
Since most of the homework was already done with the 17 HMR in terms of establishing twist rate and bore diameter, the manufacturers took the current 17 HMR barrels, chambered them with the new 17 Mach 2 reamer, and installed them on their 22lr based bolt-action rifles.
For something this different, it could not be any simpler to execute. A number of manufacturers were already finishing up their first product run of 17 Mach 2 rifles as the ammunition rolled off the assembly lines, and it seemed like this was going to take off and become another titan for the rimfire community.
Loaded with a slightly slower powder than the 22lr Stinger, the 17 Mach 2 develops a maximum chamber pressure of 24,000 psi.
There are two offerings; the 17 grain V-Max bullet which is sold under CCI’s label and the 15.5 grain lead-free NTX bullet which is sold under Hornady’s label. Both rounds travel in the 2050 to 2100 fps range. The NTX bullet is exclusively offered by Hornady, in order to allow shooters in California to comply with the lead-free ammunition requirement enforced in some areas.
At this time (2013), CCI is the only manufacturer of the 17 Mach 2 round, loading both the CCI and Hornady products at their Lewiston Idaho location. Both bullet types are built by Hornady.
Link to SAAMI: http://www.saami.org/PubResources/CC_Drawings/Rimfire/17%20Mach%202.pdf
Unfortunately, the projected popularity did not last as long as hoped for.
In 2008, the year started off with some widespread concern about whether the round would even stay in production over the next 12 months. The internet was rife with a bleak outlook for the future of the 17 Mach 2 round. Most of it was completely unfounded and little more than uneducated speculation on the internet, but there was enough of it to get attention. It some ways it plays into the theory of; “If there is smoke, there must be fire.”
The 17 Mach 2 debuted in 2004 as the collaboration between Hornady’s Dave Emary and CCI’s Senior Engineer Brett Olin, two very well respected and long-time industry leaders.
There were other industry engineers with various companies working on a similar projects, but it was CCI and Hornady efforts which ultimately invested the money, R&D’d the round, and nailed down the SAAMI approved design.
That first year, the 17 Mach 2 was quite a hit at various tradeshows and media events. The blistering 2100 fps muzzle velocity and almost nonexistent recoil gave a rifle chambered in this round the feel of a futuristic laser beam.
Its predecessor and magnum version, 17 HMR, was so well received years before that it was thought the shooting public would be ready to accept the next 0.17” caliber round with open arms.
Since most of the homework was already done with the 17 HMR in terms of establishing twist rate and bore diameter, the manufacturers took the current 17 HMR barrels, chambered them with the new 17 Mach 2 reamer, and installed them on their 22lr based bolt-action rifles.
For something this different, it could not be any simpler to execute. A number of manufacturers were already finishing up their first product run of 17 Mach 2 rifles as the ammunition rolled off the assembly lines, and it seemed like this was going to take off and become another titan for the rimfire community.
Loaded with a slightly slower powder than the 22lr Stinger, the 17 Mach 2 develops a maximum chamber pressure of 24,000 psi.
There are two offerings; the 17 grain V-Max bullet which is sold under CCI’s label and the 15.5 grain lead-free NTX bullet which is sold under Hornady’s label. Both rounds travel in the 2050 to 2100 fps range. The NTX bullet is exclusively offered by Hornady, in order to allow shooters in California to comply with the lead-free ammunition requirement enforced in some areas.
At this time (2013), CCI is the only manufacturer of the 17 Mach 2 round, loading both the CCI and Hornady products at their Lewiston Idaho location. Both bullet types are built by Hornady.
Link to SAAMI: http://www.saami.org/PubResources/CC_Drawings/Rimfire/17%20Mach%202.pdf
Unfortunately, the projected popularity did not last as long as hoped for.
In 2008, the year started off with some widespread concern about whether the round would even stay in production over the next 12 months. The internet was rife with a bleak outlook for the future of the 17 Mach 2 round. Most of it was completely unfounded and little more than uneducated speculation on the internet, but there was enough of it to get attention. It some ways it plays into the theory of; “If there is smoke, there must be fire.”
Trouble Brewing
The truth was there were a few real causes behind the swirl of rumors, and many of them quite tangible.
The first was an unexpected surprise to the firearms industry finding out it was not possible to make any pistol or rifle safely and reliably function as a semi-automatic when switched over to a 17 Mach 2. It seemed as if the pressure curve was too tricky for a basic blow-back recoil system to manage, and rather than deal with upset customers, blown-up magazines, and miserable warranty repair work, the major players in the firearms industry killed off any idea of a mass-produced semi-auto platforms.
This wasn’t a random occurrence, but rather a good number of shooters were taken by surprise when their 17 Mach 2’s based on Ruger 10/22 platforms suddenly exploded out the magazine well, shattering the plastic magazine, and in many cases, getting a bullet stuck half-way down the barrel.
Problems with semi-automatic receivers cracking also surfaced from time to time, but this was far less of an event. The “out of battery” explosion which seemed to be the biggest problem was the main culprit, but the event was occurring for two different reasons.
The first problem was the chamber becoming dirty with fouling which was collecting in the shoulder area of the chamber, preventing the bolt from fully closing. A shoulder in a rimfire chamber on a semi-auto is a new thing, so shooters didn’t think to clean this area as much as they should.
Over-lubrication of the action also played into this by allowing lube to be deposited on a live round in the magazine and then get dragged into the chamber when the round is loaded, where some of it is deposited on the chamber walls. This lubrication collected carbon fouling quickly and started to form a sticky mess in the shoulder and neck area of these chambers.
When the build-up starts to prevent the bolt on the semi-auto from closing completely, the brass case will sit slightly out of battery when the firing pin makes contact. At 24,000 psi, the thin brass case opens up in the path of least resistance, and that is out the bottom of the action where the case rim is completely unsupported in most firearms.
The truth was there were a few real causes behind the swirl of rumors, and many of them quite tangible.
The first was an unexpected surprise to the firearms industry finding out it was not possible to make any pistol or rifle safely and reliably function as a semi-automatic when switched over to a 17 Mach 2. It seemed as if the pressure curve was too tricky for a basic blow-back recoil system to manage, and rather than deal with upset customers, blown-up magazines, and miserable warranty repair work, the major players in the firearms industry killed off any idea of a mass-produced semi-auto platforms.
This wasn’t a random occurrence, but rather a good number of shooters were taken by surprise when their 17 Mach 2’s based on Ruger 10/22 platforms suddenly exploded out the magazine well, shattering the plastic magazine, and in many cases, getting a bullet stuck half-way down the barrel.
Problems with semi-automatic receivers cracking also surfaced from time to time, but this was far less of an event. The “out of battery” explosion which seemed to be the biggest problem was the main culprit, but the event was occurring for two different reasons.
The first problem was the chamber becoming dirty with fouling which was collecting in the shoulder area of the chamber, preventing the bolt from fully closing. A shoulder in a rimfire chamber on a semi-auto is a new thing, so shooters didn’t think to clean this area as much as they should.
Over-lubrication of the action also played into this by allowing lube to be deposited on a live round in the magazine and then get dragged into the chamber when the round is loaded, where some of it is deposited on the chamber walls. This lubrication collected carbon fouling quickly and started to form a sticky mess in the shoulder and neck area of these chambers.
When the build-up starts to prevent the bolt on the semi-auto from closing completely, the brass case will sit slightly out of battery when the firing pin makes contact. At 24,000 psi, the thin brass case opens up in the path of least resistance, and that is out the bottom of the action where the case rim is completely unsupported in most firearms.
17 Grain V-Max
Continued...
The next cause was the semi-auto bolt being too light and not staying closed long enough during the initial increase in pressure. The bolt would move rearward too soon, resulting again in the case failing at the bottom and jetting hot gasses down into the magazine well.
Some tried heavier springs, but then there were numerous feeding problems created. The bolt did not stay black long enough for the next round to rise in the magazine and be loaded. The recoil spring was too powerful and would slam the bolt back closed, pinching the round half-way out of the magazine. That would result in a string of maddening failure’s to feed.
As a side note, there do exist heavier bolts and weighted bolt handles to help delay the actions opening, but they are of limited success. On the semi-auto conversion that do exist, there is always this underlying notion of watching to see if and when a problem will develop. Something along the lines of; “So far, so good…”
There also exists a pretty wide range in skill of the builders with rifles on both ends of the spectrum. Some of the conversions run as smooth as a little sewing machine, while others make me nervous just being within 20’ of them.
The 17 Mach 2’s use in pistols, other than single-shots and revolvers, was pretty much dead on arrival at this point with just a few models in small production runs floating about. Kimber made a 1911 in 17 Mach 2, but it’s sort of silly to offer a semi-auto in this chambering when you think about it. You don’t have the accuracy or barrel length to make use of the inherent advantages over the 22lr loading.
Ruger and Browning avoided the plunge with their semi-auto pistols. Volquartsen offers a dedicated upper chambered in 17 Mach 2 for the Ruger MK-II frame, but I have never seen one in person and they command a hefty sum; approximately $800. Known for
accuracy in their product line, I have a feeling that this could be made into something of a long-rang rimfire hunting pistol. From the
outward appearance, it looks as if they have gone the direction of increasing bolt weight to deal with the pressure of the round.
The next cause was the semi-auto bolt being too light and not staying closed long enough during the initial increase in pressure. The bolt would move rearward too soon, resulting again in the case failing at the bottom and jetting hot gasses down into the magazine well.
Some tried heavier springs, but then there were numerous feeding problems created. The bolt did not stay black long enough for the next round to rise in the magazine and be loaded. The recoil spring was too powerful and would slam the bolt back closed, pinching the round half-way out of the magazine. That would result in a string of maddening failure’s to feed.
As a side note, there do exist heavier bolts and weighted bolt handles to help delay the actions opening, but they are of limited success. On the semi-auto conversion that do exist, there is always this underlying notion of watching to see if and when a problem will develop. Something along the lines of; “So far, so good…”
There also exists a pretty wide range in skill of the builders with rifles on both ends of the spectrum. Some of the conversions run as smooth as a little sewing machine, while others make me nervous just being within 20’ of them.
The 17 Mach 2’s use in pistols, other than single-shots and revolvers, was pretty much dead on arrival at this point with just a few models in small production runs floating about. Kimber made a 1911 in 17 Mach 2, but it’s sort of silly to offer a semi-auto in this chambering when you think about it. You don’t have the accuracy or barrel length to make use of the inherent advantages over the 22lr loading.
Ruger and Browning avoided the plunge with their semi-auto pistols. Volquartsen offers a dedicated upper chambered in 17 Mach 2 for the Ruger MK-II frame, but I have never seen one in person and they command a hefty sum; approximately $800. Known for
accuracy in their product line, I have a feeling that this could be made into something of a long-rang rimfire hunting pistol. From the
outward appearance, it looks as if they have gone the direction of increasing bolt weight to deal with the pressure of the round.
The Perfect Squirrel Round: 17 Mach 2
What About the Manual Rifles?
Manually operated rifles, such as bolt-action repeaters, single shots, falling blocks, ect, have all been very impressive with the little 17 round.
Because the psi of the round is still within the safe range per SAAMI specs, there have been few and far between reported problems in relation to the 17 Mach 2.
Often times the rifle has a problem, such a mechanical defect or failure unrelated to the round.
At this time, there is no manually-operated platform which has been chambered for this round subject to a factory recall of any kind, and I do not see that changing any time soon. Because of the limited suite of new rifles to pick from, most of these 17 Mach 2 rounds are offered in standard and well-proven actions.
In my opinion, a bolt-action repeater in this round is the zenith of squirrel hunting rifles, especially out here west of the Rockies where the fields are open and shooting out past 100 yards is common.
Manually operated rifles, such as bolt-action repeaters, single shots, falling blocks, ect, have all been very impressive with the little 17 round.
Because the psi of the round is still within the safe range per SAAMI specs, there have been few and far between reported problems in relation to the 17 Mach 2.
Often times the rifle has a problem, such a mechanical defect or failure unrelated to the round.
At this time, there is no manually-operated platform which has been chambered for this round subject to a factory recall of any kind, and I do not see that changing any time soon. Because of the limited suite of new rifles to pick from, most of these 17 Mach 2 rounds are offered in standard and well-proven actions.
In my opinion, a bolt-action repeater in this round is the zenith of squirrel hunting rifles, especially out here west of the Rockies where the fields are open and shooting out past 100 yards is common.
Price Fluxuation
Finally there was the price flux of the ammunition, and this was hands-down the most vexing of the issues. After some prying into various company affairs, I came to the conclusion that it was not the manufacturer jacking around the price, but the distributer and on down.
I noticed this for the first time by chance when I was in a local gunshop and happened to glance at the price of 17 Mach 2 ammo sitting on the shelf. Until that point, I was buying direct from wholesalers, so I didn’t really know the standard retail price. When my eyes saw $6.99 on the box, I was shocked, and this was a few years ago. I had just purchased 10,000 rounds of Eley at $2.50 per box and figured the average store price was to no higher than $5.25. Wrong.
Knowing that HMR sales online would have deals at $8.50 to $9.99 per box, who would spend nearly that much for 17 Mach 2? One of the selling points of the 17 Mach 2 was that it costs about half of the 17 HMR yet delivers 75% of the performance. But with that
advantage gone, who would buy it? Since then I have seen 17 Mach 2 as high as $12.00 per box, and that is just plain crazy. The dark side of Capitalism strikes again.
I was suspicions that the “middle men” of the deal were in a game of inching up the price to see where the breaking point was. All the while CCI and others noticed a quick drop off in orders for new inventory. Of course the gun shops watched their 17 Mach 2 rifles
collect dust while the 17 HMR’s sold, and they in turn did not order more rifles from the manufacturers.
Finally there was the price flux of the ammunition, and this was hands-down the most vexing of the issues. After some prying into various company affairs, I came to the conclusion that it was not the manufacturer jacking around the price, but the distributer and on down.
I noticed this for the first time by chance when I was in a local gunshop and happened to glance at the price of 17 Mach 2 ammo sitting on the shelf. Until that point, I was buying direct from wholesalers, so I didn’t really know the standard retail price. When my eyes saw $6.99 on the box, I was shocked, and this was a few years ago. I had just purchased 10,000 rounds of Eley at $2.50 per box and figured the average store price was to no higher than $5.25. Wrong.
Knowing that HMR sales online would have deals at $8.50 to $9.99 per box, who would spend nearly that much for 17 Mach 2? One of the selling points of the 17 Mach 2 was that it costs about half of the 17 HMR yet delivers 75% of the performance. But with that
advantage gone, who would buy it? Since then I have seen 17 Mach 2 as high as $12.00 per box, and that is just plain crazy. The dark side of Capitalism strikes again.
I was suspicions that the “middle men” of the deal were in a game of inching up the price to see where the breaking point was. All the while CCI and others noticed a quick drop off in orders for new inventory. Of course the gun shops watched their 17 Mach 2 rifles
collect dust while the 17 HMR’s sold, and they in turn did not order more rifles from the manufacturers.
Unfired Eley case
Cracked Necks
Most hated by the consumers and manufacturers alike: cracked cases. This gets more people upset than just about anything else. It is well documented that some of the older runs of ammo, both in 17 HMR and 17 Mach 2, from all manufacturers, had some issues with the lack of annealing.
The problem is that the cases are primed before they are necked down to 0.17” caliber, making it impossible to anneal the cases to relieve stress in the neck and shoulder. At some point the case necks crack while still in the box. Oddly, it seems to only affect certain lots of ammunition.
I have ammunition that is from 2007 without any problems, but every now and then I will run across a round from a different and newer lot that has a tiny crack in the case neck. Some shooters get stuck with a bad lot and half of their necks are cracked, but fortunately the manufacturers have been replacing the bad ammo with new product.
I have not seen any cracked necks in a while, and it is assumed there has been a change in the case forming process which has solved this problem. Good luck getting any of that on record, but the magical disappearance of the problem points in that direction.
More common are cracked necks after they have been fired, and I feel this is a combination of neck annealing issues and large chambers in some rifles. The large chambers allow for the brass to over-expand and ultimately crack. Cracked brass is common in some lower-end domestic rifles, but almost unheard of in high-end American made rifles and their German counterparts.
Interesting, it does not seem to throw the shot out wildly when they do crack. I think this is why many shooters have cases crack during the firing process but never notice it because the brass ends up on the ground or lost in the weeds out on a hunt. One of the most accurate rifles I shot in 17 Mach 2 was a Marlin, and while it could drop squirrels all day long at 100 yards, it spit out 17 Mach 2 brass that looked like cracked pistachio shells. I suspect it had a chamber the size of the Eisenhower tunnel.
At this point, I feel it is an issue of the past, but for those who are hoarding their ammo, I’m not quite sure what to tell you other than; “shoot it if you got it..”
I personally burn though the 17 Mach 2 way too fast to ever let it sit longer than a few years. I remember opening a bottle of wine for a special occasion, noting that the bottle’s date had 5 years on me. It had gone bad and I learned my lesson. Ammunition is meant to be used, and there are way too many squirrels running about to not be out there sending those little 0.17” caliber bullets zipping across the alfalfa fields.
Most hated by the consumers and manufacturers alike: cracked cases. This gets more people upset than just about anything else. It is well documented that some of the older runs of ammo, both in 17 HMR and 17 Mach 2, from all manufacturers, had some issues with the lack of annealing.
The problem is that the cases are primed before they are necked down to 0.17” caliber, making it impossible to anneal the cases to relieve stress in the neck and shoulder. At some point the case necks crack while still in the box. Oddly, it seems to only affect certain lots of ammunition.
I have ammunition that is from 2007 without any problems, but every now and then I will run across a round from a different and newer lot that has a tiny crack in the case neck. Some shooters get stuck with a bad lot and half of their necks are cracked, but fortunately the manufacturers have been replacing the bad ammo with new product.
I have not seen any cracked necks in a while, and it is assumed there has been a change in the case forming process which has solved this problem. Good luck getting any of that on record, but the magical disappearance of the problem points in that direction.
More common are cracked necks after they have been fired, and I feel this is a combination of neck annealing issues and large chambers in some rifles. The large chambers allow for the brass to over-expand and ultimately crack. Cracked brass is common in some lower-end domestic rifles, but almost unheard of in high-end American made rifles and their German counterparts.
Interesting, it does not seem to throw the shot out wildly when they do crack. I think this is why many shooters have cases crack during the firing process but never notice it because the brass ends up on the ground or lost in the weeds out on a hunt. One of the most accurate rifles I shot in 17 Mach 2 was a Marlin, and while it could drop squirrels all day long at 100 yards, it spit out 17 Mach 2 brass that looked like cracked pistachio shells. I suspect it had a chamber the size of the Eisenhower tunnel.
At this point, I feel it is an issue of the past, but for those who are hoarding their ammo, I’m not quite sure what to tell you other than; “shoot it if you got it..”
I personally burn though the 17 Mach 2 way too fast to ever let it sit longer than a few years. I remember opening a bottle of wine for a special occasion, noting that the bottle’s date had 5 years on me. It had gone bad and I learned my lesson. Ammunition is meant to be used, and there are way too many squirrels running about to not be out there sending those little 0.17” caliber bullets zipping across the alfalfa fields.
17 Aguila, 17 Mach 2, and 17 HMR
Why the 17 Mach 2?
So why would CCI and Hornady take such an approach to the next evolution in rimfire? Keep in mind that this is not the first 0.17” caliber round based on the long rifle case. Prior to this was the 17 High Standard and the 17 Aguila; both neat ideas, yet commercial flops in terms of sales. Most shooters today have never heard of either two rounds.
Looking back at the debut of the 17 HMR, varmint hunters were handed the fastest, flattest shooting rimfire cartridge ever developed. With the 17 HMR, a skilled shooter can easily reach out to 200 yards with power and accuracy.
Manufacturers further stepped up the game by offering a wide variety of bullets for virtually every need imaginable. Why the step in the other direction?
The 17 Mach 2 was never destined to compete with the 17 HMR, but rather it was to be compared to other 22lr hyper-velocity rounds. There was nothing made in a 22lr round which could come close to the 17 Mach 2, not even remotely.
Further, there was some fear that the 17 Mach 2 may actually be too popular and end up hurting sales of some very established 22lr loadings. I know that in my situation, once I found the 17 Mach 2, I almost never hunted again with a 22lr round outside of testing or research. The biggest reason for choosing the 17 Mach 2 over other long-rifle based loading is the extremely flat trajectory.
There is also the explosiveness of the V-Max bullet when compared to the standard lead hollow-point 22lr bullet. Again, the V-Max bullet is far more destructive to small game and varmints. In the separate ammunition reviews, you will be able to see the destructiveness of the 17 Mach 2 in the test media.
So, in that view, CCI was able to offer a superior varmint hunting cartridge based on the most common case length made, the 22lr, and not need to redesign any aspect of the firearm. Of course, the semi-auto issue threw everyone for a curve, but in bolt-action rifles, the 17 Mach 2 is amazing. All of this with “off the shelf” parts.
So why would CCI and Hornady take such an approach to the next evolution in rimfire? Keep in mind that this is not the first 0.17” caliber round based on the long rifle case. Prior to this was the 17 High Standard and the 17 Aguila; both neat ideas, yet commercial flops in terms of sales. Most shooters today have never heard of either two rounds.
Looking back at the debut of the 17 HMR, varmint hunters were handed the fastest, flattest shooting rimfire cartridge ever developed. With the 17 HMR, a skilled shooter can easily reach out to 200 yards with power and accuracy.
Manufacturers further stepped up the game by offering a wide variety of bullets for virtually every need imaginable. Why the step in the other direction?
The 17 Mach 2 was never destined to compete with the 17 HMR, but rather it was to be compared to other 22lr hyper-velocity rounds. There was nothing made in a 22lr round which could come close to the 17 Mach 2, not even remotely.
Further, there was some fear that the 17 Mach 2 may actually be too popular and end up hurting sales of some very established 22lr loadings. I know that in my situation, once I found the 17 Mach 2, I almost never hunted again with a 22lr round outside of testing or research. The biggest reason for choosing the 17 Mach 2 over other long-rifle based loading is the extremely flat trajectory.
There is also the explosiveness of the V-Max bullet when compared to the standard lead hollow-point 22lr bullet. Again, the V-Max bullet is far more destructive to small game and varmints. In the separate ammunition reviews, you will be able to see the destructiveness of the 17 Mach 2 in the test media.
So, in that view, CCI was able to offer a superior varmint hunting cartridge based on the most common case length made, the 22lr, and not need to redesign any aspect of the firearm. Of course, the semi-auto issue threw everyone for a curve, but in bolt-action rifles, the 17 Mach 2 is amazing. All of this with “off the shelf” parts.
The 17 Mach 2 & 22lr at Distance
I wanted to perform a very simple, low-tech test to demonstrate the considerable difference in trajectory between the 17 Mach 2 and 22lr high-velocity rounds.
The groups were fired from common sporting rifles with basic optics, representing what the average hunter would be using in the field. Both rifles were made by CZ and the optics were 4.5-14 x 40 Leupold scopes.
In the accompanied photo, the target was placed at 50 yards and used to capture the different trajectories of the 17 Mach 2 and the CCI Velocitor 22lr high-velocity round.
The 17 Mach 2 was a CCI product with a 17 grain V-Max bullet traveling at 2100 fps while the CCI Velocitor uses a 40 grain copper-plated hollow-point bullet traveling at 1435 fps.
Each 2” blue diamond was the main aiming point, with the target being moved back each distance indicated on the target after 10 rounds were fired from each rifle.
The amount of drop is shown by the location of the 10-shot group, along with the shooting distance and measurement of drop. It is important to note that the 150 yard group from the Velocitors were off the bottom of the target, meaning that it dropped more than 15” below the blue diamond.
At 100 yards, the 17 Mach 2 rounds dropped a little more than 0.30” whereas the 22lr Velocitor dropped nearly 7.0” below the blue diamond. Out to 100 yards, you do not need a correction for trajectory with a 50 yard zero when shooting the 17 Mach 2.
There is a lot of information on the target that can be interpreted in terms of drop and group size change as the distance increases, and I will leave that to the reader to study. The part that I look at is the flat trajectory of the V-Max bullet, making squirrels much easier to connect with out in large flat fields.
I wanted to perform a very simple, low-tech test to demonstrate the considerable difference in trajectory between the 17 Mach 2 and 22lr high-velocity rounds.
The groups were fired from common sporting rifles with basic optics, representing what the average hunter would be using in the field. Both rifles were made by CZ and the optics were 4.5-14 x 40 Leupold scopes.
In the accompanied photo, the target was placed at 50 yards and used to capture the different trajectories of the 17 Mach 2 and the CCI Velocitor 22lr high-velocity round.
The 17 Mach 2 was a CCI product with a 17 grain V-Max bullet traveling at 2100 fps while the CCI Velocitor uses a 40 grain copper-plated hollow-point bullet traveling at 1435 fps.
Each 2” blue diamond was the main aiming point, with the target being moved back each distance indicated on the target after 10 rounds were fired from each rifle.
The amount of drop is shown by the location of the 10-shot group, along with the shooting distance and measurement of drop. It is important to note that the 150 yard group from the Velocitors were off the bottom of the target, meaning that it dropped more than 15” below the blue diamond.
At 100 yards, the 17 Mach 2 rounds dropped a little more than 0.30” whereas the 22lr Velocitor dropped nearly 7.0” below the blue diamond. Out to 100 yards, you do not need a correction for trajectory with a 50 yard zero when shooting the 17 Mach 2.
There is a lot of information on the target that can be interpreted in terms of drop and group size change as the distance increases, and I will leave that to the reader to study. The part that I look at is the flat trajectory of the V-Max bullet, making squirrels much easier to connect with out in large flat fields.
Top of the line 17 Mach 2's: Anschutz 1702
Looking Towards the Future
The 17 Mach 2 is an amazing round, and the more I shoot it, the more I like it. After 5 years of field experience and over 10,000 rounds of this cartridge down various barrels, I consider it my all-time favorite short-range varmint hunting round.
Barrel length and rifle design seem to be very forgiving, allowing for excellent performance from just about any properly built manually-operated firearm. I tend to favor the bolt-action repeater for most work, but did spend quite a bit of time this summer using biathlon style actions which had been re-barreled into the 17 Mach 2.
When fitted with a suppressor, the round is very mild and only needing minimal ear protection if so desired. Out in the open fields, I don’t wear hearing protection when the rifle is suppressed. The copper-jacketed bullet and CCI’s clean burning powder create minimal fouling inside the suppressor; far less than any 22lr lead bullet.
As of now, CCI’s is the only manufacturer of 17 Mach 2 ammunition in the world, and after many rounds of questioning, CCI has repeatedly stated there are no plans to ever discontinue its production**. It will always take a back seat in priority to the 17 HMR production, and this will cause some temporary lags in availability from time to time. It’s especially noticeable now, mid 2013, because of the tremendous ammunition shortages across the entire industry, but with some time the manufacturing will catch up.
** As of January 2014, this has been overtaken by events. Now Hornady is the only company offering the 17 Mach 2 product. CCI is still the manufacturer.
Since Eley’s departure from the round, Remington’s subcontract with Eley for the 17 Mach 2 has also dried up. It has been over a year since the last box of Eley was at Zanders. Considering CCI manufacturers Remington’s 17 HMR and 22 WMR ammunition, I highly doubt we will ever see the day where Remington takes that manufacturing task over.
Something else to keep in mind is that the 17 Mach 2 is built from off-the-shelf components at CCI. The cases are already made for the Stinger and Segmented HV round, and the bullets are already made for the 17 HMR, so other than swapping a few parts in the loading machine used for the 17 HMR, nothing else needs to be done to support the round. There is no special machine or components only made for the 17 Mach 2; the investment is already done.
As of now and continuing on, I plan on purchasing more 17 Mach 2 ammunition when starts finding its way back to the dealers. I won’t pay the high prices we will all see when it first comes back, but rather just wait it out until the price drops back below $6.00 per box.
The 17 Mach 2 is an amazing round, and the more I shoot it, the more I like it. After 5 years of field experience and over 10,000 rounds of this cartridge down various barrels, I consider it my all-time favorite short-range varmint hunting round.
Barrel length and rifle design seem to be very forgiving, allowing for excellent performance from just about any properly built manually-operated firearm. I tend to favor the bolt-action repeater for most work, but did spend quite a bit of time this summer using biathlon style actions which had been re-barreled into the 17 Mach 2.
When fitted with a suppressor, the round is very mild and only needing minimal ear protection if so desired. Out in the open fields, I don’t wear hearing protection when the rifle is suppressed. The copper-jacketed bullet and CCI’s clean burning powder create minimal fouling inside the suppressor; far less than any 22lr lead bullet.
As of now, CCI’s is the only manufacturer of 17 Mach 2 ammunition in the world, and after many rounds of questioning, CCI has repeatedly stated there are no plans to ever discontinue its production**. It will always take a back seat in priority to the 17 HMR production, and this will cause some temporary lags in availability from time to time. It’s especially noticeable now, mid 2013, because of the tremendous ammunition shortages across the entire industry, but with some time the manufacturing will catch up.
** As of January 2014, this has been overtaken by events. Now Hornady is the only company offering the 17 Mach 2 product. CCI is still the manufacturer.
Since Eley’s departure from the round, Remington’s subcontract with Eley for the 17 Mach 2 has also dried up. It has been over a year since the last box of Eley was at Zanders. Considering CCI manufacturers Remington’s 17 HMR and 22 WMR ammunition, I highly doubt we will ever see the day where Remington takes that manufacturing task over.
Something else to keep in mind is that the 17 Mach 2 is built from off-the-shelf components at CCI. The cases are already made for the Stinger and Segmented HV round, and the bullets are already made for the 17 HMR, so other than swapping a few parts in the loading machine used for the 17 HMR, nothing else needs to be done to support the round. There is no special machine or components only made for the 17 Mach 2; the investment is already done.
As of now and continuing on, I plan on purchasing more 17 Mach 2 ammunition when starts finding its way back to the dealers. I won’t pay the high prices we will all see when it first comes back, but rather just wait it out until the price drops back below $6.00 per box.
