Anybody here got a 457 American 17HMR?

[JDHasty]

What kind of accuracy are you getting?

I was at a LGS today and they had a 457 American Combo behind the counter. I’ve never owned a 17HMR anything, and am kicking it around.

I have little to no interest in the 22LR barrel, I have a bunch of 580/581/582 Remingtons, Kimber 82, Browning 52 Sporter, Brno Model 1, Winchester 94/22, Marlin 60 and a couple 10/22s and doubt I would ever use it. But, I haven’t been able to find a straight up 17HMR American.

[Gerald D.]

There are several on Gunbroker right now, some folks rightly don't care to buy there.

[JDHasty]

If I bought one on Gunbroker it would cost more than the combo by the time I paid shipping and FFL

[JDHasty]

What I am curious about is if the 457 is what I want, or if I would be better off with a used 455, 453 or 452. I have friends with those and they are universally accurate, very accurate. The 457 is a departure from the 90 degree bolt lift and that’s a major change. Mox nix, if it doesn’t affect accuracy. If it does then I’m not really interested.

The hell of it is, I was in my truck and was going to go to Cabela’s a few years back and buy a 453 in 17HMR for about $399, the 452 was ~$350 and turned around and came home because traffic was heavy. It just was not that important to me. Kind of wish I had followed up and bought one.

[ray h]

The 453, better trigger and a great looking trigger guard one of the business sell on Rimfire Central.

[JDHasty]

The 457 is a great looking rifle with a great trigger. My buddy has a 453 and I do like that trigger. The real reason I am looking now is I’m afraid the great CZ rimfire rifles may be the next thing they go totally “updated design” on. IMHO, the last thing the world needed is another mass market rifle like the 600. W/o barrel interchangeably, it is just another choice in an already crowded field of “modern” bolt action choices that don’t have much allure to me.

[B23]

For a bone stock factory rifle I don't think the CZ 457 will disappoint. As a gunsmith friend of mine, Defensive Edge Rifles, that builds off of his own custom rimfire actions told me, "they're a fine factory rifle".

With any 17HMR or any other non 22RF for that matter, ammo, will cause accuracy inconsistencies more than just about anything else. The 22RF world has the luxury of having some unbelievably good match/target grade ammo available for it while the rest of the rimfire world, 17HMR/17WSM/22Mag, in comparison, has mediocre quality ammo. We all still love our different 17 rimfires so we just deal with the ammo that's available to use then hope and pray we get a good or decent Lot #. I one Lot # of 17HMR ammo a few years ago that had a POI literally inches different than what I'd been shooting. Generally, POI change with different Lot#'s hasn't been all that bad for me but that one particular Lot # must have been made on a Monday after a big party the day before and everyone had a hangover because it shot wayyyy different.

If you can get a 457 combo for any kind of decent price, that would be the one I'd want. You may not have any interest in the 22LR at first but find some target ammo it likes and it'll probably shock the he11 out of you with the groups it can shoot. Using the 22LR for training and honing ones centerfire shooting skills has become a very popular thing the last few years.

[Bill K]

My CZ 455 varmint barreled rifle will print 3/4 of less with the 17 grain Hornady and 1/2 of less with the 15.5 NTX bullet, very consistently .

So the 457 American should be right on it's heels.

[JDHasty]

$680 for the combo seems like a heck of a deal in today’s market. GB, I would be that plus $40 for transfer and $35 for shipping. I would much prefer to buy a straight 457 17HMR for ~$550, but will probably go ahead with that combo.

I shoot more 22LR than most folks. We buy and shoot it by the case. The only reason for the 17HMR is we should probably have one. Before I got my 22 Hornet I was going through 22 Magnum by the case. Now the 17 Hornet is our go to round unless we are shooting longer ranges.

[Gerald D.]

B23 summed it up nicely, the 457 has several improvements over the 455/452/453 rifles but every maker has a bad one slip out so no one assure you there are no less than optimal 457's out there. I'm up to 6 457's and haven't had a problem so far and all shoot good to excellent. I have over 20 452's, 8 or 9 455's as well...in the past year only two of those has seen use.