Can A Cz 455 17hmr Be Changed To A 17 Wsm

Ruger quietly appear the temporary discontinuation of its rotary-magazine, commodities-action rifle line in September 2016 to include all 77/22, 77/44, 77/17 and 77/357 variants. This unique serial dates back to the 1984 introduction of the 77/22R and RS .22 rimfires, the commencement bolt actions to incorporate the use of the Ruger 10/22 magazine. Beyond appropriately designed bolts and magazines, these rifles closely represent scaled-down versions of the original M77 centerfire rifle from the belatedly 1960s.

This Ruger 77/17 .17 Hornet with a Weaver 6-24x 42mm AO scope shoots 10-shot, sub-inch groups at 100 yards with Hornady 20-grain V-MAX Superformance Varmint factory loads. It is shown here with a nearly 40-year-old Ruger 10/22.

This Ruger 77/17 .17 Hornet with a Weaver half-dozen-24x 42mm AO telescopic shoots ten-shot, sub-inch groups at 100 yards with Hornady 20-grain 5-MAX Superformance Varmint manufacturing plant loads. It is shown here with a virtually 40-year-one-time Ruger 10/22.

In Rifle No. 291 (March/Apr, 2017), this cavalcade was used to comprehend the surprising production halt. Difficulties were encountered at the time in regard to current, detailed information, likely resulting from Ruger planning several pregnant staffing changes. This included the upcoming retirement of the visitor's CEO and resultant changes in upper management, plus further moves in its public relations staff. All of this was played out this yr about the time Apr turned into May.

As this is written in July, however, the adept news is several of these rifles have been put dorsum into product for an unspecified period of time. The following models supposedly are – or shortly will exist – on dealers' racks by the fourth dimension this issue is published.

• 77/17 .17 Hornet, stainless steel barreled action, laminated stock, 24-inch barrel

• 77/17 .17 Winchester Super Magnum (WSM), stainless steel, walnut stock, 24-inch barrel

• 77/22 .22 Hornet, blued steel, walnut stock, 20-inch butt

• 77/22 .22 Hornet, stainless steel, laminated stock , 24-inch barrel

• 77/357 .357 Magnum, brushed stainless, synthetic stock, 18.5-inch butt

• 77/44 .44 Remington Magnum; blued steel with walnut stock, matte finish with synthetic stock or brushed stainless with
synthetic stock; 18.5-inch barrel

A CZ Model 455 Varmint with a Weaver T-Series 24x 40mm AO scope with fine crosshair and 1⁄8-MOA dot reticle was used to test several .17 HMR loads. Below it is a CZ 452 Scout .22 LR.

A CZ Model 455 Varmint with a Weaver T-Series 24x 40mm AO scope with fine crosshair and 1⁄eight-MOA dot reticle was used to test several .17 HMR loads. Below it is a CZ 452 Scout .22 LR.

While the above is significant news, note there is no mention of 77/22 .22-quotient rimfire or 77/17 .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire (HMR) offerings. A source at Ruger recently indicated that when news spread of the discontinuance of the 33-yr-old, bolt-activity blueprint, fans of the rifles were upset plenty – in fact, "outraged at first" – that the rifles listed above were put back into production, and an declaration was made July 2017. As for the possibility of .17 HMR, .22 Long Rifle (LR) and .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR) models being produced in the most future, at that place was no earmarked engagement, but "the rimfire cartridges are currently being considered." All of this begged a final question: Had changes been fabricated to the relaunched rifles listed above? "No," I was told, "they are existence fabricated with the same parts."

When introducing new cartridges, Hornady Manufacturing has had a long partnership with Ruger, and the latter'south 77/17 was maybe the first walnut-stocked rifle available to accommodate the .17 HMR and the more recent centerfire .17 Hornet, a modernized (altered instance shape, new powders and bullets) version of the old .17 Ackley Hornet from the 1950s. Still more recent is the Ruger 77/17 .17 WSM, a 2013 cartridge developed by Winchester Armament and its industrial impact tools division.

Having shot all of these cartridges in bolt actions, they have proven to be authentic from several Ruger and Savage rifles, merely the only one I kept is a Ruger .17 Hornet with a 24-inch barrel. Even with its 5-pound mill trigger pull, if I do my function, information technology will group x shots under an inch at 100 yards when shot from a demote using Hornady xx-grain V-MAX Superformance Varmint factory loads that provide an average velocity of 3,755 fps equally chronographed 10 feet from the rifle's muzzle. That'south about every bit fast as the cartridge gets.

Whether Ruger expands the rotary-magazine, bolt-rifle line by bringing back the .17- and .22-quotient versions depends largely on what the shooting public requests. I suspect now, every bit was the instance last autumn, the Ruger American Rimfire rifle is notwithstanding selling well enough that it's using upwardly a lot of the company's time and energy. If rimfire fans prefer a classier burglarize with a nicely shaped hardwood stock, read on.

CZ's 455 Varmint .17 HMR

CZ sporting rifles built in the Czech Commonwealth began showing upwards in the U.S. in noteworthy numbers in the 1990s, thanks to a few intrepid importers. Past the terminate of that decade, Česká zbrojovka, Uherský Brod recognized the vast marketing potential for its guns in the U.S. and launched its own importation subsidiary, CZ-USA, commencement located in California and then moved to Kansas City, Kansas. Since and so, American shooters have grown quite fond of CZ rifles, including the Model 455 Varmint.

Today .17 HMR loads are marketed by Hornady, Federal, CCI, Remington and Winchester.

The rifle was introduced in 2012 equally a new rimfire option as the company was in the centre of phasing out its Model 452 rimfire rifles, the origin of which (the Model 451, apparently built equally a war machine preparation rifle nether the duress of war) dates dorsum to the early on 1940s. There is currently one Model 452 listed in CZ's catalog, a left-handed rifle of limited production.

At first glance, the Models 452 and 455 appear almost identical, though there are two notable differences: The 452 barreled action is held to the stock with a single screw located roughly in the center of the bottom metallic while the 455 has screws at both the front and rear of the receiver. Secondly, 455 rifles feature user-interchangeable barrels. The 455 Varmint exam rifle's heavy .17 HMR barrel (.860 inch in bore) can be swapped out with a .22 LR or .22 WMR sporter barrel and proper magazine. Unlike the 452's threaded barrel, 455 barrels are cut to provide a push button fit into the receiver and are properly headspaced and held in place with screws. Stocks for the 455 are also interchangeable and have been covered in this magazine. ( Rifle No. 283, "CZ 455 American," November/December, 2015.)

Much like Ruger, CZ-USA has had a strong relationship with Hornady, quickly introducing rifles chambered for various cartridges such equally the .17 Hornet, .204 Ruger, .17 HMR and .17 Mach2. CZ currently lists more than a dozen burglarize options for the showtime three cartridges simply none for the .17 Mach2, which never became as popular as the cartridges preceding it.

The Model 455 Varmint burglarize is quite a looker with a nicely blued barreled action and attractive stock of dark, Turkish walnut. The forend is broad enough for bench shooting, and its grip is nicely checky. It was requested to examination several current CCI and Federal .17 HMR loads. Before it was fired for accurateness, its trigger pull was weighed with a Lyman digital scale that revealed an boilerplate of 3 pounds, 1.six ounces. Pull weight can exist adapted, and doing so may have improved the group sizes listed in the accompanying table. Information technology appears appropriate, still, to review rifles for accuracy before adjusting trigger pull weight, for information technology seems to me about manufactory rifles, especially rimfires, are rarely disassembled – fifty-fifty more rarely are manufactory rimfire triggers adapted.

With a Weaver T-Series 24x 40mm AO telescopic that features a fine reticle with a ane⁄8-MOA dot, the rifle shot well enough from a portable shooting demote and sandbags. As can be seen in the tabular array, the loads tried provided proficient accuracy and velocity, only but like whatsoever other rimfire or centerfire rifle, this 455 Varmint shot smaller groups with some loads than it did with others. In fact, CCI's 20-grain FMJ loads were the only load of the five tested that have been omitted from the table, because every tertiary cartridge or then failed to extract from the rifle. There were no problems whatsoever with the four other loads listed.

The .17 HMR Arrives

Having heard conflicting stories regarding exactly who first developed a .17-caliber magnum rimfire cartridge, information technology is appropriate to say that any development preceding the .17 HMR died on the vine with no commercial viability.

1 known example includes the .17 Magnum Rimfire, or .17 FMR, Federal Cartridge was tinkering with in the early on 1990s. At that place is a short reference to this cartridge in Layne Simpson's 1992 Gun Digest "Rifle Review" column. The cartridge was also covered about the same fourth dimension in Shooting Times past Rick Jamison. Having known them both for about 16 years, conversations revealed that Federal did accept a run at it with no apparently benign outcome. This was largely due to inefficient powders available at the time. Allen Jones, who retired from CCI/Speer's evolution applied science department some years ago, also said CCI was, to some extent, "evaluating the idea" of a .17 rimfire magnum, citing several manufacturing difficulties involved in mass producing rimfire armament, not the least of which is powder bridging. Accept a .22 WMR case and neck it down to accommodate a .17-caliber bullet, and bridging of the powders available at the time became an even greater difficulty to bargain with.

Now fast-forrard about a decade, to when Hornady ballistician Dave Emary was several years into the evolution of his own .17 rimfire magnum cartridge: "I had made a test barrel and several rifles, and we were killing prairie dogs before anybody else knew virtually it," Emary said. "I did the cartridge design, chamber blueprint and ballistics." In mid-2000, Hornady approached CCI to load the .17 HMR. "Brett Olin [CCI/Speer, retired] deserves a lot of credit for taking a demonstrated concept and mass producing it," Emary said. "The cartridge was introduced in the fall of 2001."

The cartridge came to fruition due mainly to the use of newer powders, and it has been said that the pulverisation-bridging problem was solved by charging the case before necking it to .17 caliber, though that note could not be substantiated at this time; most people involved at the time have long since retired. Hornady naturally had exclusivity to market the .17 HMR for some fourth dimension, after which CCI began selling it nether its own label.