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.17 Winchester Super Magnum

The Winchester Super Magnum is one of the few popular rimfire cartridges that continue to have a place in today’s ammunition market. The .17 WSM takes the .17 HMR to a new level.

History of the .17 WSM

The .17 Winchester Super Magnum was created in 2012 by Winchester and Savage Arms. It was released at the 2013 Shot Show in Las Vegas.

While being a new round to the ammunition market it still has made a splash and a number of gun manufacturers have signed on to make guns for the 17 WSM.

Purpose of the .17 Winchester Super Magnum

The purpose of this round is somewhat disputed but one thing that isn’t disputed is the fact the round is the fastest rimfire round in the world.

17 Winchester Super Magnum

I’m a huge fan of rimfire, growing up on .22LR anything in the rimfire world is fun and piques my interest.

Performance

This cartridge should really be called the 17 Winchester Performance Magnum because that’s exactly what it delivers.

Let us dive into what makes this cartilage so special.

The two most common calibers this round is compared to are the 17 HMR and the 22 Hornet.

The velocity of the WSM is what sets it apart from the 17 HMR and the 22 Hornet

CartridgeMuzzle Velocity 50 Yards100 Yards250 Yards
17 HMR2,5502,197 ft/s1,885 ft/s1,175 ft/s
22 Hornet2,6902,337 ft/s2,026 ft/s1,278 ft/s
17 WSM3,0002,729 ft/s2,487 ft/s1,838 ft/s
150-Yard Zero

The next metric that you’d look at is the energy on target that the 22 WSM delivers.

CartridgeMuzzle Energy 50 Yards100 Yards250 Yards
17 HMR245 ft/lbs182 ft/lbs134 ft/lbs52 ft/lbs
22 Hornet723 ft/lbs546 ft/lbs410 ft/lbs163 ft/lbs
17 WSM400 ft/lbs331 ft/lbs275 ft/lbs150 ft/lbs
150-Yard Zero

As you can see from this handy chart the 22 Hornet is the clear victor on muzzle energy but the difference is the fact that the 17 WSM shoots much flatter than the 22 Hornet.

The drop on the 22 Hornet at 250 yards is 12.7 inches, yes, you read that right over a foot of drop. Compare that to the 17 WSM at 250 yards of 7.2 inches of drop.

For the 17 Win Super Mag, the most common grain weights are 20 Grain and 25 Grain.

Guns that Shoot 17 Win Super Mag

Most of the guns that shoot this round are bolt-action rifles. We will sneak one semi-auto rifle into this list but finding it might be a task.

Franklin Armory F17

Franklin Armory F17 Chambered in 17 Winchester Super Magnum

While hard to find in 2022 the Franklin Armory F17 is the only semi-auto 17 Winchester Super Mag available on the market today.

One might even say it’s not available considering the Franklin Armory website says that the F17 series of rifles will be “Coming in 2022”.

You may be able to find them on Guns.com or Gun Broker used.

Savage Arms B.MAG

Savage Arms B.Mag in 17 WSM

The Savage Arms B.Mag rifle was designed just for the 17 Win Super Mag cartridge.

It has a lot of the same Savage Arms technology, like the AccuTrigger, packed into this compact action rifle.

The gun features a center-feed rotary magazine that holds 8 roughs.

The rifle also sports a rugged synthetic stock with a blued barrel and rubber recoil bad on the stock of the rifle.

17 Super Magnum Ammo

The 17 WSM round is available from a number of companies including Winchester, Federal, and Hornady.

Price

As most rimfire rifle rounds this cartridge is extremely affordable which is why it’s extremely practical.

17 Win Super Mag

The price per round is in the neighborhood of $0.21-0.30 /per round. For a cartridge with this kind of performance, this really isn’t a bad price.

The only downside is the number of companies currently making rifles chambered in .17WSM and the availability of ammo as of this writing.

Availability

Finding this round can be difficult a quick search using AmmoSeek.com prompted no results.

However, many ammo retailers have a number of product pages that have since sold out.

17 WSM

Palmetto State Armory has one of the largest selections of 17 WSM if you can find it in stock. One of the top-rated ammo in this caliber is the Winchester Varmint-HV,

GrabAGun also has a decent selection when they have this cartridge in stock.

.17 WSM FAQ

Is 17 HMR the same as 17 Win Super mag?

No, the .17 HMR and the 17 Win Super Mag are two completely different cartridges.

What rifle shoots .17 Win Super mag?

The Savage Arms, Ruger, and Volqartsen all make rifles for the 17 WSM round.

What is the most powerful .17 round?

The .17 Winchester Super Magnum is the most powerful .17 round in terms of muzzle energy and velocity.

Do they still make 17 WSM ammo?

Yes, .17 WSM was released in 2012 and is still being produced today just in lower volumes due to the current ammunition climate.

Read more about other Winchester rounds such as the 25 WSSM.

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