I can' t stand it any longer so I am thinking about getting a .17 HMR of some sort in the near future. I am leaning heavily toward the Ruger K77/17 VMBBZ which is the black laminated stock w/ target grey stainless varmint weight barrel. Anybody have any experience with this particular gun, and if so, what' s been your opinion of it?

The stepfather has one in 22mag and 17hmr and one of their 22-250' s in the bigger rifle. I kid him about being a Ruger freak but they are well made and accurate. You could' nt go wrong with one.

Sure the 17 HMR is a cool round and a little flatter than the 22mag,but to my way of thinking i' d go with a BDL 17 Rem.Its what a 17 HMR is 10 times over and can be reloaded for.I' ve owned 2 17 Rems and as far as 17,s go their awesome and very accurate,just keep the barrels clean.Just my 2 cents.

Hi MOTurkeyTamer,

I have no experience with that particular rifle....so I' ll hold commenting on it. But the .17HMR is a " blast" to shoot. I recently purchased one (Savage w/wood stock and heavy barrel), scoped it, and gave it to my brother.

This last weekend we had it out to the range and after he initially zeroed it...we had a ball. It was a cold and windy day and even at 100 yards we kept groups hovering around 1" . We did the best we could to " hold" until it wasn' t gusting and then would squeeze one off....it worked to some degree! I want to see what the rifle is capable of on a " nice" day. We were shooting Hornady ammo by the way. My brother couldn' t have been more tickled. He is planning on using it for squirrel, woodchucks (to 150 yards or so), fox, and perhaps on turkey (where legal in the fall to do so in Pennsylvania). We figure if he will shoot at the base of the neck, or broadside at the butt of the wing, it should work fine. But he will limit its use for turkey to probably less than 100 yards. Would hate to lose a fine bird because of pushing the cartridges capability! By the way....my brother' s 13 year old son is chomping at the bit waiting to try it! (I think he will have to try and pry it from my brother' s fingers!)

At any rate...it is one fun cartridge to shoot! If spending money on another toy is not an issue....I wholeheartedly recommend it!

Good luck with your decision....and have fun!

P.S. In case you' re wondering.....my brother is a " good guy" , helps whenever I ask - he' s a mechanic - and it' s just plain fun to sometimes spread a little good cheer! Besides I have a Ruger in .22 Hornet and a CZ in .223 Remington...as well as a Ruger 10/22. How many small calibers can a guy use in Alaska?!? (And we haven' t even talked about small caliber handguns.)