Nomercy448

I spend a lot of time on Forums like this one, especially on predator hunting/calling forums, and you can guess how much traffic a new small caliber cartridge would get there.

Here's the skinny. EVERYONE criticizes the .17WSM with this same argument, "Why would we need one?", and then they tout other centerfire cartridges that do better than the .17WSM. It's only been bouncing around the rumor mill for a year or so and I'm already tired of hearing it.

Biggest driver that I see for the .17WSM: Some states, like Illinois, parts of PA, I'm sure some others, have RIMFIRE ONLY RESTRICTIONS for certain game. In these states, the .17WSM is far enough above the .22WMR that it's worth owning. Would I sell a .22WMR and go run to buy a .17WSM, probably not. But if I didn't own a coyote rifle yet, and were starting up, I'd dang sure buy a .17WSM over a .22WMR or .17HMR. The .17WSM is the next step in approaching Centerfire cartridge performance out of a rimfire.

Other 'motivation' is that we honestly have a lack of options in the rimfire market. For over 40yrs, we only had two surviving players in the rimfire world, and since the .17HMR and .17M2 came out, there are only 4. How many 30cal centerfire cartridges exist that throw a 150grn bullet between 2500-3200fps? Did we NEED all of those? No. But having a variety of options never hurt anybody.

Beyond that, not everybody reloads. I can't tell you the last time I saw .17 rem or fireball ammo on a shelf. At the price point, I'm not so sure I'd want to spend my time reloading .17rem to get the benefit it offers over the .17WSM when I could be out hunting instead. Rimfire ammo is cheap, hard to compete with rimfire ammo even with a small case centerfire round.

Frankly, I think it'll prove to be a fantastic colony varmint cartridge. I'd love to have a .17WSM on my bench tearing up prairie dogs on a sunday afternoon. Minimal heat, plenty of range and power, and cheap enough that I wouldn't worry that I can't reload the brass. I'd even be glad I didn't HAVE to reload the 200rnds I'd burn through just to come out and play again tomorrow.

I'm not necessarily counting myself as a .17WSM fan, as I could honestly care less about the cartridge itself (already have too many rimfires that I don't shoot enough as it is), but I think it's foolish for guys to sit back and say "well it ain't THAT much better than a .22WMR," or "well I'd rather have a .17 Rem"...