When the now hugely popular .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire was announced several years ago, most every gun manufacturer chambered for it right from the start in their rimfire rifles and even in some handguns. By the time the ammunition became available from Hornady, the demand for the hot new rimfire was tremendous. Just a few months after its release, there were over 12 million rounds of the ammunition on backorder! Hornady was not to be caught again in such a position, so when the new .17 Hornady Mach2 was introduced to the public at the 2004 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, great efforts were made to ensure large stocks were available for shipment to the consumer. Surprisingly this time, it was the gun manufacturers who got caught playing catch-up. Perhaps they could not imagine a cartridge less powerful than the 17 HMR capturing so much of the shooting public’s interest.
After all, with the inroads the HMR has made into the industry’s product lines, why would any shooter be interested in a less powerful load? As most everyone knows, we are always inundated with much faster, more powerful cartridges every year. Did Hornady make a mistake with the new 17 Mach2? Even I had my doubts. But then I got my first box of ammo, and was it ever a red-tipped little magnet! I carried one around everywhere, showing anyone who would listen to me. Now that I finally got my hands on some guns so chambered, I realize that it is indeed different in a useful kind of way. It can play some roles better than the .22 LR and ones that the HMR is not really well suited to.
Chapter 1: The Cartridge and Uses
Based on the CCI Stinger case which is longer than standard .22 LR brass- 0.71” vs. 0.61,” it shares the same 17-grain V-Max boattail bullet as its older brother, the .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire. Factory ballistics show it reaching 2,100 fps from a rifle-length barrel. With this speed, the little 17-grain plastic tipped bullet produces about 30 ft. lbs. more energy than a 38 grain HP high-speed .22 LR cartridge. While the bullet is but a fraction of the traditional 40-grain long rifle’s slug, what a difference in the field an over 65% increase in velocity makes, in combination with it being a pointy, boattailed projectile! Zeroed at 100 yards, the .22 has a midrange height of 2.9”. Taking aim at
the tiny target small game or pests offer, it would be easy to overshoot at close range or undershoot at longer ones. The Mach2 is only...
0.7” high at 50 yards, when zeroed at 100. That makes hits on golf ball-sized targets quite easy. Also note that at 100 yards, the Mach 2 offers the shooter around 20% less wind drift than the long rifle cartridge. Less drift means more hits.
at 100 yards, the Mach 2 offers the shooter around 20% less wind drift
When I fired a high speed hollow point bullet into water from the .22 LR, expansion with nose fragmentation was achieved. Then I shot one of the red plastic-tipped Hornady Mach2s into the water and really got doused by the spray. As you can clearly see in the photo, the Mach2 bullet expanded violently, breaking up as a varmint bullet would from the .223 Remington. If one did not know that the bullet came from a rimfire cartridge, the pieces would lead you to believe you were looking at the remains of a very frangible centerfire projectile.
The HMR offers the shooter even more speed than the Mach2. Is more not better? It depends on your intended target. The HMR is quite destructive on a prairie dog, out to 100 yards plus. In fact, its speed at that distance is about the same as the Mach2’s muzzle velocity. So what role can the Mach2 play? Its extreme accuracy and improved bullet performance over the .22 LR makes it great for head shots on small, edible game including squirrels or rabbits. Last fall, I got to take several squirrels using a friend’s Mach2 rifle. At ranges out to 50 yards, head or chest shots stopped them in their tracks. The rapid expansion always resulted in solidly anchoring the game with no travel or flipping around after the shot. With the great accuracy it delivers, keeping the bullet out
of edible portions was quite easy.
While I do not fully understand it, the noise level of the Mach2 defies conventional wisdom. In the field, I find myself happily reaching for some hearing protection when
shooting the .22 LR. While squirrel hunting with the Mach2, a few shots did not leave my ears ringing like the long rifle cartridge does. Soft spoken and accurate describes a small game hunter’s dream. So while the much slower long rifle bullet may sometimes lack anchoring power and...
accuracy, and the HMR being far too destructive on edible game, the Mach2 excels in both accuracy and game stopping power. I am convinced that it will soon become the preferred round for the small game hunter while also excelling at pest control in a softer spoken package than the long rifle or HMR cartridges.
Chapter 2: Shooting Results
I assembled two rifles and two handguns in the 17 Mach2. A sporter weight Ruger 77/17 carried a Leupold 2.5-8 Vari-X III with the Boone and Crockett reticle. I thought the additional horizontal bullet drop aiming points would be useful for various ranges. However, the Mach2 shot so flat that I never had to use them. I could use only the main intersection for close to far out shots. Thompson Center provided a G2 in two versions: a 23” barreled rifle scoped with their Hawken Hunter 3-9 scope, and a 14” Contender G2 pistol carrying their 2-7 power pistol scope. What a performance surprise the pistol turned out at the range! At my request, the G2 rifle also came with an additional HMR barrel for shooting comparisons. Taurus supplied an M-17 double action, snub-nosed revolver with fixed sights sporting a 1-3/4” barrel.
Ammunition was supplied by Hornady, Remington, and CCI, all loaded with the Hornady 17-grain boattailed V-Max bullet. Respectively, the tip colors are red, tan, and black. It was interesting that the Remington ammunition seemed to be loaded a little hotter than the others. Chronographing the ammo resulted in faster speeds only in the Rugerrifle. I did notice a very different powder aroma upon firing that ammunition although the Hornady and CCI rounds seemed to be loaded with the same powder. The Remington ammunition did require somewhat more force to be ejected from the break open rifles, and especially from the 9-shot Taurus, though none even remotely required morethan light to moderate force. Note that all three ammos in the revolver required gentle bumping on the ejector rod, to kick out the nine fired casings.
Overall, the Ruger’s 20” barrel posted the fastest velocities. It was surprising to record that the 14” G2 pistol fired two ammos brands faster than the 23” G2 rifle barrel....
I had read that the optimum length for the Mach2 cartridge is only 20”.
The Ruger averaged just 0.44” at 50 yards using the Hornady or Remington ammunition, and 0.63” with the CCI rounds. My brother shot a “screamer” 0.20” group using the Ruger and Hornady ammunition at 50 yards, the first time he ever tried the rifle! The Thompson Center G2 rifle shot almost identically with 0.44” at 50 yards, and into 0.59” at 100 yards distant. A real surprise was the 0.37” average that the Contender G-2 14” handgun turned in at 50 yards and an incredible 0.63” at 100 yards using the Remington ammunition. This is better performance than either of the two rifles!
The Thompson Center accessory barrel in the 17 HMR cartridge was then installed on the G2 rifle buttstock, turning in 0.32 and 0.35” groups at 50 yards with the 17 and 20-grain loadings by Hornady. The 17-grain bullet is of V-Max construction; the 20-grain bullet is somewhat heavier in jacket thickness which provides better penetration on heavier small game. At 100 yards, the V-Max shot into 0.73” averages with the heavier 20-grain XTP shooting into 0.98”.
With the double action only format of the snub-nosed Taurus and the fixed sighting, that revolver was only shot at 7 yards. The 1.65” 9-shot groups were nicely centered just slightly to the left and about 2” below point of aim. The short barrel resulted in a loss of around 800 fps from the 1-3/4” barrel resulting in speeds of around 1,330 fps. At that low speed, I do not believe expansion, if any at all, will be minimal at best.
Chapter 3: Summary
Initially, I thought that Hornady was pulling a marketing stunt by introducing a shorter, lighter version of the popular HMR round. Sessions at the range and hunting in the field showed me that the Mach2 can really best serve the demands of small game hunters and pest control out to 100 plus yards, and doing so with a minimum of noise and virtually non-existent recoil. Critters taken with it react as if their electrical switch has just been turned OFF!
The cartridge is certainly more accurate than a good .22 rifle shooting very accurate ammunition....
Head shots on squirrels with the 17 Mach2 out to well past 50 yards are no stretch at all for these guns and this ammunition. While the HMR does offer more speed and reach, the hunter of edible game does not always need more of either. Accuracy is most important, and the rounds can be bought for much less than the longer cartridge. It amazes me that off-the-shelf rimfires can be so accurate and be so much fun to shoot. Definitely, I can see the need for a Mach2 in my gun rack at home.