“hmr”

Varmint and predator hunting has never been as popular as it is today. From gophers to coyotes, high volume shooting to long range sniping, no one cartridge is best for all.

.17 HMR has never been a caliber that's taken well to semi-automatic rifles—until now.

The new Savage A17 uses a delayed blowback action. A small bar in the top of the bolt slides up to fit into a slot in the receiver when the bolt is closed, locking the action. The bar cams back down upon firing to release the bolt and allow the action to cycle, but it delays the action from opening until pressure has dropped to a manageable level.

What follows is a primer on commercially available .17-caliber cartridges and their respective performance.

The world has been awash in .22 Long Rifle rimfires for decades, but few have been built as solidly as the new CZ 455 Varmint Thumbhole Fluted bolt-action. This “little twenty-two” is hefty, a “real” rifle with real rifle feel and performance to match.

The holidays are here, and there's no shortage of gifts out there for a hunter or huntress. That said, finding the right one—particularly on short notice—can be a challenge. Fortunately for you, the editors of American Hunter have assembled a few recommendations.

If it feels like everyone's getting into the suppressor market nowadays, it's because they are. SIG Sauer made waves by announcing a line of suppressors last year, and hot on the heels of that, we've now met the Silent-SR suppressor from Ruger. Wait, Ruger? Yes, you read that right.

Last year Savage Arms wowed consumers with the introduction of its A17—winner of our Golden Bullseye Award for Rifle of the Year—so a line expansion was inevitable. The company delivered the first of what should likely be many A17 variants at SHOT Show. Coming in 2016 are Sporter models of the award-winning rifle.

If you've been paying attention to AmericanHunter.org of late, you'll have heard that we announced the Savage Arms A17 would receive our Golden Bullseye Award for "Rifle of the Year" at the impending 2016 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Louisville. With all of that in mind, it should come as no surprise that, for 2016, Savage announced a line expansion. In this case, I'm talking about the new A17 Sporter and A17 Target models. Here are five things you need to know.