.17 Winchester Super Mag Part II

Lock,Stock & Barrel.

- Lee J. Hoots

In Rifle No. 303 (March 2019), it was explained that the .17 Winchester Super Mag cartridge – shortly after its introduction about seven years ago – appeared to be quickly falling by the wayside in spite of being the highest-velocity rimfire cartridge ever introduced to the shooting public. There were several factors in play, including severely limited rifle options. In fact, upon the cartridge’s introduction, there were just two.

One of those was the Winchester Model 1885 Low Wall Hunter Rimfire single shot that, at the time, sold for more than $1,000. On top of that, Winchester Ammunition, for some strange reason, appeared to put little effort into marketing the new cartridge. Only today’s marketing and management teams could know why this was the case.

This odd product launch might seem to have been unusual, but it’s a growing trend. In fact, several firearms and ammunition companies now refer to this approach as a “soft introduction,” or “soft launch.” A more recent example is Nosler’s unveiling of its .24 and .20 Nosler cartridges. Why a company that sells rifles, ammunition and handloading components would use this tactic – which is quite contrary to the more modern “smack the shooting public in the face” promotion – remains a mystery.

Nonetheless, the .17 Winchester Super Mag (WSM), close on a decade later, is now gaining ground in popularity. There are additional bolt-action and autoloader rifles available, and according to my count there are at least six different loads currently offered. Before discussing them, however, and perhaps a bit redundantly, it might be worth explaining where the .17 WSM came from, on the premise that some newsstand buyers may have missed this information in the previous issue, or in reviews that have been published in the past in other Wolfe titles.