New small caliber rifle?

allen griggs

I have a somewhat demented friend who keeps telling me that there is a new small caliber cartridge. He says it is .15 or .18 caliber and is super high velocity, 4000fps or more. He says that this is the new great sniper weapon. My buddy is a good guy and he is earnest but he is a little nutty and he is half full of bs. Is this for real?

"Not as deep as a well, or as wide as a church door, but it is enough."

Seth K. Perumeony

Think he's talking about the .17?
Not quite a sniper rifle though

Guns are good, Guns are great... please don't throw them in the lake.

allen griggs

The .17 must be the one he is talking about. What grain bullet? How many fps? Who makes it? What is it designed for?

"Not as deep as a well, or as wide as a church door, but it is enough."

aglore

17 HRM. 15 grain bullet at 2550 FPS.

AlleninAlaska

Free men are not equal and equal men are not free

pikeal1

yeah...its the .17 HMR.

the following was taken from the March 2002 issue of American Rifleman (they had an article about it which had a lot of info)

The new cartridge was designated .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire (HMR) because that company bore most of the expense and effort in the cartridge and ballistic development. As nothing similar existed, CCI agreed to supply Hornady with primed, empty rimfire cartridge cases in .22 WMR caliber. Hornady necks down the cases to .17 caliber using a 25 degree shoulder then loads them with an entirely new, 17 grain V-Max spitzer boattail bullet.

At normal maximum average rimfire pressures, muzzle velocity of the .
17 HMR is 2550 fps., compared to the advertised 1960 fps. for the .22 WMR cartridge. The increased muzzle velocity and the efficient shape of the V-Max bullet combine effectively for 24 percent higher retained velocity, 55 percent flatter mid-range trajectory and 33 percent less wind drift at 200 yards than the .22 WMR cartridge. In addition, the 17-gr V-Max bullet deposits less than half the amount of lead in the evironment than a .22 WMR 40-gr

hope this gives some insight.

allen griggs

Thanks for the great info. I will inform my buddy that the police won't be putting away their .308s.

"Not as deep as a well, or as wide as a church door, but it is enough."

Lightning

Never shot a 17 HMR but I dont see where they are that much better than the 22 Mag.
True it is a lot faster than the 1960 fps 40 gr CCI.
But not that much greater than the Federal Premium 30 gr with the Sierra JHP which is 2200 fps.
Shoot a couple boxes of them and you wont go back to CCI.

offeror

I call it the Hornady .17. Even the gun mags are referring to it as a caliber with great promise as a varmint round. A lot more shooting has to be done before we'll know what its capabilities are. It is likely to be an accurate round at short to medium distances. We'll see what happens further out, particularly on a windy day -- whether it maintains a good share of its velocity and/or accuracy.

I believe .17 is the precise dimension of a BB, so you can work from that mental image. A pointed bullet, lightweight, at 2550 fps, shot from a necked down semi-auto cartridge.

- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

leeblackman

I don't think a .17 would make a very good sniper weapon, would kinda stray off target at them long distances, and wouldn't carry enough energy to penetrate skin. I think the most you'd probably get out of one would be 200yds. Not sure though.

If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.

The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !