Gun Review: Savage Bolt Action Rifle in 17 WSM

Hey guys,
My brother in law recently bought a new gun. He offered me the opportunity wo play with it in preparation for an upcoming prairie dog hunt. The gun’s actual name is the Savage B Mag Target Bolt Action in 17 Winchester Super Magnum. Like the 17 HMR, the 17 WSM is a rimfire round. But the WSM pushes a 20 caliber bullet to 3000 fps, about 500 fps faster than the HMR. He bought the gun for prairie dog hunting. He attached a Leupold 4.5-14X scope to it. It’s a nice looking gun with a gray, thumbhole, laminate stock. The stock forend has three long cuts for ventilation of the barrel. The gun uses a plastic, rotary magazine with an 8 round capacity. The B Mag action is more robust than the usual Savage rimfire action. The bolt works fairly smoothly, although when uncocking the action, the bolt seems to jump upwards. Although it has the adjustable Accu-trigger, I left it alone since it already broke cleanly at 3.5#. The unthreaded barrel is stainless steel, fairly heavy and is 22” long. It’s a nice looking gun to me, although I’m sure some won’t like it.

Using the two boxes of ammo he supplied, I found the gun to be very accurate. Both loads use the 20 grain Hornady V-Max bullet. I was surprised to see the American Eagle was more accurate than the Winchester Elite. Once it was on target, I shot some groups at 100 yards using a bipod in front and a small sand bag at the rear. The main weakness of the 17’s is the wind; fortunately my shooting range is well protected.

17 HMR for comparison to the 17 WSM.


The makings of a nice afternoon shoot.


The Winchester round was pretty accurate. The flyer opened it up to 1.27.”


The Federal load was very accurate. I used the Federal load to sight in so I didn’t have many rounds left to shoot at 100 yds, hence the 3 shot group.

The gun shot very good on the pd hunt, as long as the wind was fairly quiet. Sighted in 1” high at 100 yards, it was only 4-5” low at 200 yards. I wouldn’t expect to shoot it further than that. Terminal performance was adequate as long as the shot was good.

All in all, it’s a nice gun with quality ammo. I’m not real fond of the feel of the bolt when uncocking the action, but that’s a personal. I’m considering getting one, but presently the only makers of 17 WMS rifles are Savage and Ruger. I’ll wait a little while to see if CZ or Tikka jump on the band wagon.