I suspect that they are really going to try a 17 Hornet in a factory loaded cartridge. If I had to guess, I would think Savage might jump on the rifle wagon.............just a wild guess.
The 17 Hornet has been around for a long time, probably the two most known are the Kilbourn and the Ackley versions. Pretty close, little different shoulder, straight body, etc.
The Hornet case is not as stout as the 223 variant cases, my opinion only. The 17 hornet is a fairly quiet shooter, probably best known with prairie dog, ground squirrel types. The new Vmax 20gr and lighter weight bullets(17 gr), have some shine with reloaders. Some are known to hot rod the case as well, speeds that would amaze, then others like myself tend to stay a bit lower because of said case and loose pockets when hotrodding.
The cost of the rimfire 17 ammo keeps me out of that line of goods, but I do enjoy the 17 KHornet and the 17 Bumble Bee in a single shot rifle; usually a No.1 or martini. The folks that favor the little 17's already have them now, so not too sure how a factory offering will do. The guys that shoot these already have the special tight spec'd chamber reamers, and make up their own rifles. Typically the factory chambers are fairly loose for various reasons. The hornet case near the rim has gotten smaller in brass over the years it seems.
I like the little 17's but not sure what the market will bear commercially in a factory offering, other than to acquaint people that these things exist and have for some time. The smaller 17's might be a bit easier to clean the barrel than the old 17 Remington types. Bullets/barrels have come a long ways in the last couple of decades in the smallish bore types. Always wanted a 14 Walker, but not yet.
time will tell.
Roof