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  #1  
Old 06-26-2022, 04:09 PM
Stretch Stretch is offline
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Default Savage 17 WSM rifles - bolt & semi-auto

Maybe I've been distracted lately, but I just noticed last week that Savage is now offering several bolt action B.Mag rifles (sporters & heavier barrels) as well as their semi-auto (Savage A17) in the 17 WSM chambering.

I know there's no available ammo right now, but hopefully someday that will change.

Has anyone had any experience with the 17 WSM rifles?
reliability, accuracy, smoothness of the action, feeding problems, scope mounting issues, trigger issues, stock upgrades, trigger upgrades, etc.?

Thanks for sharing!
Stretch
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  #2  
Old 06-26-2022, 05:35 PM
gopher gopher is offline
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Hi Stretch
Last year I bought a new B mag that was being discontinued at a store nearby...could not pass it up. And I had been shooting a friends Ruger 77 in WSM on sage rats here in OR.
I really do like the cartridge and the extra velocity and range over the HMR. I shot rats with if for a week or so and it worked just fine. But... I sold the rifle and moved on because I just did not like the B mag action. It cocks on the down stroke of the bolt and you must focus on pushing the bolt completely forward before closing or it hangs up a bit.
Working the bolt, I was contantly moving around in the bags (dog gone good) and off the target area. The accutrigger was typical.
So for me again ... hated the rifle...like the cartridge. I moved on to the 17 Hornet so I can reload and not hunt for rare ammo. Hope this helps some.
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  #3  
Old 06-26-2022, 10:39 PM
JSH JSH is offline
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I bought a SS heavy barrel, then a stock from Boyd’s.
I was buying ammo when the price was cheap and plentiful.
I must be the only person that didn’t get warm and fuzzy over the 17HH. Mine is gone and all but dies as well.
The 17 WSM was over the top of the HMR and the 17FB could be loaded down to HH levels if I so desired. The 17 HH is ok but I found the FB to be easier to work with and get consistent results that I expected.

I did bed mine with the silly barrel rings. Several have told me it will cause issues. I got it hot a few months ago and never experienced any stringing issues.
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  #4  
Old 06-27-2022, 01:02 AM
B23 B23 is offline
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Unfortunately, the factory support for the 17 WSM isn't very good.

Savage seems to be about the only manufacture that has any interest in the 17 WSM. Ruger makes or made a few different models and I think they still show them on the Ruger web page but it has been a very long time since I've seen a new Ruger 77/17 WSM of any model for sale anywhere except maybe Gunbroker. If you want a custom 17 WSM build RimX makes actions for them and I know the RimX based builds TS Customs is making are very nice but they'll also set you back 5K too.

I'm not sure any of those new A17 17 WSM from Savage are out yet. I have one of the HB target model Savage A17's in 17 HMR and I've been pretty impressed with how well it shoots so if the 17 WSM version shoots as well they could be fun.

Then there's the sad ole Savage Bmag. What can you say about them that hasn't already been said a zillion times. The Bmag is a odd functioning inexpensively built rifle. To put it politely, it's a piss poor design all the way around and they're kinda a POS. The first time you pick one up and cycle the bolt the design of the whirly twirly flippy floppy bolt handle makes you think it's broken but, nope, that's just how they are and in factory form they're kind of fugly. The bolt handle is just flat out ugly as sin and don't even get me started on those silly looking barrel rings.

BUT, having said all that, my HB SS Bmag that I've customized and tuned on a bit is without question my favorite rimfire rifle to take sage rat shooting and though I can certainly complain about the Bmag's design and tell you about all the things I don't like, the one thing I can not complain about is how well mine shoots. All joking aside, once I shot it enough to get used to its odd-ish functioning idiosyncrasies, I've become very fond of it and it has yet to let me down. The biggest thing a Bmag shooter has to get used to is running the bolt. It's no big deal but you need to be deliberate in your movement with it because if you let your mind kind of wonder off and starting paying more attention to your next target than you are about cycling the bolt it can mess you up but I've never had a problem with mine as long as I'm paying attention. My CZ 527 17 Hornets are the same way. Those little 17 Hornet don't exactly feed smooth as silk through a CZ 527 but if you learn the tricks to cycling the bolt with them so they feed well they do fine but if I loose focus for a second and cycle a round it'll cause me grief. After you do it a few hundred rounds it kind of becomes muscle memory but every so often I'll rush things and have problems.
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  #5  
Old 06-27-2022, 01:11 PM
jimreed1948 jimreed1948 is offline
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I tried to go the 17 WSM route with a ruger. It was a bitter disappointment. Since all the ammunition is made by one company and rebranded to other manufactures names, there is no quality control. When it would shoot, it was very accurate.

I sent the rifle back to ruger and they could not find any issue with it. I also sent it to a ruger person I believe in NY state and he changed the firing pin spring and did a few other things. That did help some, but I continued to have many failure to fire

From what I've read, the rim on the WSM cases are thicker than other rimfire cases. Failure to fire seems to be the number one issue with the caliber.

However, after saying all this, there are many 17 WSM shooters out there that haven't had any issues at all.
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  #6  
Old 06-27-2022, 02:23 PM
Bill K Bill K is offline
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[

From what I've read, the rim on the WSM cases are thicker than other rimfire cases. Failure to fire seems to be the number one issue with the caliber.

THey are thicker, due to the case is or was taken from the one maker of nail guns for carpentry and used for the WSM cartridge.
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  #7  
Old 06-27-2022, 02:47 PM
moorepower moorepower is offline
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I have a Bmag, blued/ fluted barrel with a very comfortable non thumbhole laminate stock. Like most I bedded it, did a trigger job and got a 1" gun. I am going to try some Loctite 638 to fill in around the front of the receiver where they butchered the threads. I can't for the life of me understand why they did not use a barrel nut on this gun like the other B series rifles. Iff you decide to pull the trigger, I would highly suggest a Glades bolt handle, as this transformed the rifle. I am a Savage guy, but this frankly is the worst rifle that they have ever designed. As far as the actual round, in the rimfire world it blows them all away in terminal performance, other than the 5mm and if you listen to those guys, it will kill an elephant, so..... I have the .17 HH and prefer it, but if you don't feel like loading up ammo, the WSM does well out to 300+ yds. I am glad I loaded up on ammo, because you will have a hard time finding any these days.
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  #8  
Old 06-27-2022, 06:50 PM
B23 B23 is offline
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Right out of the box the initial shooting with my Bmag I probably had around a 40% fail to fire ratio on first attempt. Often, I could recock the bolt and it would fire on second attempt but who wants to mess with that all the time.

Knowing that wasn't going to cut it for me I called Savage Tech and talked to them. Initially, I was thinking my Bmag was destine for a UPS big brown truck ride back to Savage but after talking to the tech for a few minutes he suggested, if I was ok doing the work myself, taking the trigger apart and cleaning/polishing up the sear contact points because his thought was if there was a tiny burr on the edge of the sear it was just kind of dragging off the sear slowing things down and reducing the force of how hard the firing pin was striking the edge of the case head.

The trigger in my Bmag, even adjusted all the way down, was heavier than I prefer and definitely wasn't smooth in fact it was a bit notchy feeling with a fair amount of creep/pretravel. I've done countless trigger jobs on my stuff over the years so I was comfortable taking this one apart and polishing things up and massaging it over. The Bmag trigger is not only easy to work on but responds very well to a little polishing and massaging because I ended up with a trigger that breaks clean as glass at just a hair under 2 lbs with zero creep and since tuning the trigger up in my Bmag I next to never get a fail to fire.

I know the Ruger 77 rimfire rifles have a notoriously horrible trigger in them from the factory. My dad has a 77/17 HMR and his was terrible in factory form too. But, with an aftermarket sear and spring kit, which is cheap and very easy to install, you can turn those crappy factory triggers in to a very nice trigger with a simple sear and spring swap and like my Bmag with the sear breaking clean and crisp, instead of dragging off the sear slowing the striking force down, it wouldn't surprise me if that drastically helped with the fail to fire issue in some of the Ruger 77 17 WSM rifles.
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  #9  
Old 06-30-2022, 12:12 AM
moorepower moorepower is offline
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I used a Hillman 882982 bronze bushing, shortened to fit to pillar bed and a Gardner Spring MCM-36011G spring for the trigger. .18x.016x.75 long spring. I dont recall if I shortened it or not honestly, but I know I am below 2 lb. I am guessing 1.5 lbs. I guess I have been lucky, because I have never had a ftf yet.
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