When I first read about Hornady’s .17 Hornet, a necked down .22 Hornet, I was skeptical. I just assumed it was the classic ammunition marketeers tactic of taking an old cartridge and necking it up or down and then telling the world it was the best cartridge ever designed. I could not have been more wrong

The .17 Hornet loaded with a 20 grain bullet performs significant better than .22 Hornet loaded with a 35 grain or 45 grain bullet. At 300 yards, a 35 grain .22 Hornet bullet will be travelling at about 1126 ft/s, (99 ft/lbs of energy). A 20 grain .17 Hornet bullet at 300 yards will be travelling almost than twice as fast, 2122 ft/s, with more than twice the energy (200 ft/lbs). At 300 yards a 45 grain .22 Hornet performs slightly better at 300 yards (127 ft/lbs of energy), but the .17 Hornet still has it beat by a large margin.

THe .17 Hornet works in the same actions as the .22 Hornet, all that is needed to convert a .22 Hornet gun to .17 Hornet is a barrel change.

The Hornady .17 Hornet is loaded with Superformance powder and a V-Max bullet. MSRP is $25.27/box.