I thought this might be the best place to throw this question out to, but I have recently got a itch to buy a rifle in this caliber( a CZ 527 American to be specific) I was wondering if any of you guys had any experience with it?? Gun will be used for plinking/varminting, the ballistics sure look impressive, any input would be much appreciated. Thanks

I love my CZ .17 Hornet.  I have the CZ Model 527 Varmint, which is not much heavier than the American version they have.  I did a review, with hunt report video here. (be forewarned, it contains graphic images and video) - There is also a bobcat hunt video on the site as well.  We were testing out the lead free 15.5 grain NTX ammo from Hornady and it performed very well.



It has enough energy to harvest predator sized animals (with good shot placement), while still being a blast to shoot at varmints.  In fact, I was just out on Monday for a predator hunt, but when we came across a pocket of ground squirrels, I was able to switch up and kill a bunch without having to change rifles/calibers.



Let me know if you have any other questions.



Eric  

Thank You Sir that was very helpful, going now to check out your link

Very nice article

nice flat fast

Yes it is, I had no idea until recently that it was getting those kind of velocities, to be honest I didn't pay it that much attention.

You probably cannot pick a better rifle than the CZ 527 for this round.



The lead free bullets actually hit the 3870fps speed and they do wonders to little varmints!



If you hit my Instagram page, we also have a short (IG only allows 15 second videos) video of a mangy coyote getting shot by the 17 Hornet as well ( instagram.com/varmintermagazine ).



Eric  

Just looked up guns for this caliber. Geez they are expensive. I'd have to trade/sell an AR for one except for the savages.

The CZs run about $650 to $700.  I am not really concerned about those prices over the long run (20 - 30 years) for a great rifle.



Eric  

I am going to go over the weekend and see if the CZ is still there, pretty sure it is, I bought a 527 American in 22 Hornet from them a while back and paid $625 for it.

Just bought the rifle this morning, just got done placing a order for the dies and some ammo as well, hornady brass is crazy expensive.

The loaded ammo is very accurate and on sale right now at Midway for $18.79 a box of 25 (vs. $26.00 to $32.00 for #50 empty brass).  I would pick-up 8 boxes, shoot them, then reload them.   That's what I did and the price difference after brass, bullets, primers and powder worked out to only be about $0.15 to $0.20 more than a first time reload ($5.00 per #25).




Get the Hornady dies.




Eric  

 

I ordered 3 boxes of ammo(20gr) might go back for more later.