I have both the B mag varmint and the Ruger 77.B mag shot well but I sold it because I liked the Ruger better.Ruger shoots great,but I am going to cut 2" off the barrel to make it handle better,bed the gun and fix up the way the firing pin strikes the rim as you can get a lot of misfires from this cartridge if you don't.I have definitely found that the American Eagle and the hornady shoot much better than the Winchester.

The HMR is a rimfire too.Always wondered what kind of coyote gun it would make at 75 yards or less.

I have had some misfires also, if I keep it clean it seems to not have any misfires.

I was hot to buy a wsm in a Ruger 77/17 and then found a good buy on a used 77/17 in 17 HMR. Haven't regretted it a bit. Now that I have an HMR if I step up to something else in the .17 family it will be a Hornet. Never could warm up to the B Mags.

I know what it does to Mountain Lions inside 30 yards and I was pretty impressed/surprised with the terminal performance of that little VMax bullet. Big difference between a pretty controlled situation like a treed lion and a free moving coyote though. To many other good options out there to make it my first choice. If in the right situation and that is what I had in my hands...wouldn't hesitate to take the shot.

They are both rim fire. The Hornady HMR is based on .22wmr necked to .17 the win WSM is a new proprietary case that has a slightly larger capacity than the HMR. In my opinion based on history, the win WSM will be all but obsolete in ten years because of the Hornady's huge head start time wise and more major mfg making ammo and rifles for it, and the similarity In performance. The 6mm Rem vs the much more popular .243 win even though the .6mm Rem
is slightly superior to the .243. Win. 225 and 284 are other examples. You can still get .284 but not common. The .225 is dead.

I almost bought a WSM but opted for the 17 hornet at the last minute. No regrets....

I've got the Savage and have had it for two or three years now, shot several coyotes. No issues.

I have a Bmag 17 WSM also and love mine. The stock can be replaced by a nice wood stock from Boyd's for $100-180 if wanted and as for accuracy plenty of reading about simple fixes if you are having any issues with grouping on Savage 17 Bmag Forums. I havn't taken mine out yet to shoot it much and I bought it used and am very happy with it. Search youtube and watch some video comparisons of 17 wsm vs 17 hmr and 22mag. The 17 wsm is the fastest or was the fastest rimfire out when I bought mine and it is a nasty little caliber. A lot of neat youtube video out.

I watched my buddie take a young coyote at 200 yds on the run with a .17HMR, dead in his tracks. It's only downfall is that for a fatal shot you need to be in the vitals or the head, there isn't enough bullet weight or kinetic energy to help a sub par shot. Great little gun though.