I have a CZ .17hmr heavy barrel rifle for my light varmit shooting. I use Hornady ammunition for it, and haven't tried anything else, as I've had excellent performance and haven't shot out the cases I bought yet, so I haven't bothered buying anything else.
I don't have a NV optics setup on it though sadly, as shooting in the dark in Canada is a no-no. I have a PVS14 that I've used for work since 2002 ish and it still serves well, but I've got little experience or knowledge on commercial hunting NV optics. What generation tube does that digital scope on the OP's rifle equate to? If you have decent moon/starlight out can you use it without an IR illumination source and out to what range? On private property you can get away with night varmitting here in Canada, I might have to look into one of those digital hunting scopes for another 17 and 10/22 project I'm going to build up.
I agree with what others say, it's very flat shooting out to 200 yards, and has almost no recoil, but it is fairly loud for other shooters that are positioned to the side of you while varmit blasting. I find I can shoot it without hearing protection, but if somebody is shooting a 17 right beside me, I need something in or on my ears.
The bullet is notoriously light at 17 grains, and ANY crosswind will push you far FAR off target I've found. Once you get some time in shooting a 17 you start to figure out your holdovers in your optics for varying wind conditions, but if it's really windy out I don't usually bother shooting past 100 yards at anything unless I have the wind on my nose or back.
The great thing about it that I get everyone hooked on when they try my rifle is that the optics re-stabilize on your target at 100-200 yards due to the mild recoil so you can observe your rounds impacting, and due to the low sound report when behind the rifle you can hear the impacts as well. Very satisfying seeing and hearing the pop of that little speedy flying cone of metal doing it's work.
