[commnorth]

I have a 77/22-VBZ which is the 24" target gray stainlees heavy barrel, of course in .22lr, and I'm wondering if I can put a .17HM2 barrel on it making it a " new " rifle without the cost of a " new " rifle ? Is this a simple task?

[K75RT]

You can't use the .22LR based rifle for the .17HMR; you could put a .17Mach2 barrel on it. If your VBZ was a .22WRFM you could put the .17HMR on.