was. In my opinion, it’s a great round for ground squirrels! For the much heavier groundhog, NO, I would not recommend it. (I also feel the same way about the 22 LR.) However, it is a good 100-yard cartridge. But, in my opinion, and in the opinion of store owners I’ve talked with, it’s a cartridge that’s losing ground. One person observed that with the ammunition costing more than a box of 50 22 Long Rifle cartridges, many customers prefer the Long Rifle … and I agree. When they want something that will reach out farther and better, the 22 WMR or 17 HMR are the better choices. However, by demonstrating how this little 17-caliber stacks up regarding velocity and accuracy, such data will help you to judge if this cartridge is what would be best for your situation. As is also demonstrated, this round is quite accurate. BullBerry Barrel Works As most who manage a business
are aware, there are many companies that began as a hobby and within a few years have built a name for themselves. An example is this custom wood, barrel
and cartridge operation that was started by Fred Smith in his part time from being a Las Vegas firefighter. When he retired in 1988, he moved his family- run business to southern Utah where it is today. Where I have dealt with Fred in
the past was with Thompson/Center Contender and Encore handgun barrels. This time around, with Bullberry being a custom shop, such an operation was my only option to obtain a 22 WMR 23-inch barrel in order to keep all the barrels for the rifle comparison the same length. To obtain additional feedback
on these cartridges, I asked Fred what rimfire barrels are most popular in terms of what customers are ordering from his shop for their T/C Contender rifles. Fred said that he sees the 17 HMR declining a little in sales, which could be a result of saturation of what is a good cartridge. His other view, and that of some store owners I have consulted, was that the economy is a big factor. Concerning sale volumes of his custom rimfire barrels, Fred said that the 22 LR, 22 WMR and 17 HMR are about
equal, with the 17 Mach 2 practically a “no show.” Also, in Fred’s experience he does not see any of these rimfire car- tridges being consistently effective out there at 200 yards, and I agree from my own experience and range testing. The energy is just not there! For shots at 200 yards or more, shoot a centerfire round. Scope Mounting Tip: With scopes
that have large objective lenses, as those that offer high magnification do, mounting them as low as possible to the barrel/action is correlated to the height of the rings. When I mounted the Alpen 6-24x50 varmint scope, I had to use high rings. Even then, the front of the scope just touched the barrel … which was not a good situation. The next option I had, if I did not use Burris Signature Zee Rings with their Pos-Align Inserts, would have been to use extra high rings. To keep the scope as low as possible within the high rings, I simply added a +.02 insert on the bottom and a -.02 insert on the top of the front ring. This elevated the scope just enough so noth- ing was touching. With this done, the parallax adjustment ring could be easily
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