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It is a superb small game cartridge. It is extremely accurate and easy to shoot. I would say fox is about the largest game it is good for and perhaps maybe large rabbits like the Montana Jackrabbit.

It is a touch on the expensive side for a casual plinking round, unless you have money on the shooting.

Pictures say it all.

I built my first 17Mach2 by relining a BSA Martini model 1215. I cut the barrel down to 24 inches. I had a 4X Leupold scope laying around and mounted it on the gun. Here is a five shot group fired with that setup at 25 yards.

While I was shooting I noticed a wasp crawling on the target. Now if you have spent anytime on the range you have seen this. And, if you are like me you can not resist the urge to take a shoot at it. The bug always disappears. You never know if you got a hit or not. With the little Mach2 there is no doubt.

Here is a 50 yard group.

I just got back from a trip to Montana. We took my granddaughter with us and I took her gopher hunting. I say she has never shot a gun before, but she says I let her shoot out once before. OH well.

I am building another 17Mach2 on a BSA Martini Model 12 Takedown. The gun is complete except for stock finish and metal finish. I taught her how to shoot with this Martini. Mach 2 ammo comes in the little slide top boxes of 50 rounds. I told her that if she got a hit she could put the empty case back in the box.

Here is her very first shot in her shooting lesson.

That is a Richardson Ground Squirrel, better known in Montana as a gopher. After about 3 hours of shooting her two plastic boxes of shells had 10 live rounds left, 20 empty holes and 70 fired cases. Shots beyond 100 yard were a little difficult for her first time out.

The yucky face is because grampa made her turn the guts toward her for the picture.

We moved a few miles away and gave her a shot at a Yellow Bellied Marmot--"rock chuck". She fired from a 122 laser measured yards and only had a head as a target.

I told her to aim at the yellow patch under the eye. If you look real close you will see a little reddish tinge in the yellow at the neck. It was an instant kill.

Her box now has 9 unfired, 20 empty holes and 71 empty cases in it.

One thing that we have noticed when shooting gophers with the .22 LR is that body hits sometime result in what we call crawlers.The animal isn't dead, it crawls away trying to get in its hole. These animals of course require a second shot. With the 17 Mach 2 we did not have any crawlers and no second follow up shots were required. I think the 17Mach 2 is an excellent small game round.

As a side bar, when my wife and I picked my granddaughter up from my daughter's for the trip, my daughter warned me that granddaughter had become a girly girl and probably wouldn't be interested in shooting. On the trip out Granddaughter, told me that she would shot just once so I wouldn't be disappointed. I guess camo shirt, pink collar and earrings are appropriate attire for a girly girl to shoot gophers!

Oh yes, I never fired a shot on the trip!

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DD, Ret.