Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles THE .17 REMINGTON

Hi Folks,

I actually had some time to get down to the range today and enjoy the beautiful weather ( A clear, sunny 75 degrees <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />). My father and I rung out a new load for his 700 BDL .17 Remington.



22.5 grains of IMR 4895 with a 25 grain Hornady HP and CCI SR Magnum primers produced 3,776 fps out the spout and a .415 3 shot group average at 100yards. Not too bad for a stock factory gun and Bushnell Banner (4x 12 x 40 w/ A/O) scope.



Anybody else use the .17 for whacking small varmint type things?



Good Shooting,

HBB

Before mine grew up to be a .223AI, I used it for all sorts of critters up to coyotes. Pretty darned effective if I did my part.

Seems kind of a slow load for the .17. I used IMR 4320 and Varget and would usually get right around 4100-4150 with the 25 caliber Hornadies and usually excellent accuracy.

How is his barrel for fouling? My Rem. 700 would foul beyond usefulness within about 20 shots until I started to moly coat my bullets and pretreat my barrel. After that is wasn't any worse than any other varmint rifle for fouling and clean up.

Have a good time with the vermin elimination wars- Sheister

Sheister,
So far the barrel doesn't seem to foul any worse than other factory barrels I've seen. It's not too bad to get clean but it seems fairly cleaning sensitive. After about 25-30 rounds you see the accuracy start to go and it starts to sling shots to the left.

The load we tested is actually 22.5 instead of 23.5 grains of IMR 4895 as originally stated(My Bad on transcribing the data <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />). Our results seem in-line with the factory data. The 5th edition of the Hornady manual ( p. 79) lists 22.7 grains of IMR 4895 @ 3,800 fps.

This manual also lists good results with WIN 760. Have you tried it in a .17 before?

Also, the lower velocities may be one factor that's keeping the fouling down.

Good Shooting,

HBB

I've whacked a few whitetail deer it. And more than a few prairie dogs.

In northwest Iowa where I live and the land is expensive and heavily tilled there are about four or five farms per square mile. Fox hunting and the .17 Rem went together in this country. I had a Kimber M84 when they had a left handed model that unfortunately I got separated from. I shot many fox over a ten year period and I found it "nearly" perfect for preserving hides, low noise, little recoil, and bullet frangibility in this relatively, densely populated area.



As I recall the Remingtons chrono'd at about 3500 out of that petite rifle but IMR 4320 would boost a 25-grainer to about 4100. It was a sleeping fox's nightmare out to 350 yds and maybe longer depending on conditions.



It was the best "walk-about" variminter I've had to date. The .17 Rem is probably the first choice around here for serious hide hunters and has been for some time.



It will be interesting to see what the new .204 Ruger will do to that if anything.



GDV

PDS,
My grandfather used the .17 REM as his primary deer rifle for the last 15 years of his life. It was amazing to watch how well that tiny bullet made meat.
HBB

Goodnews, where do you live in Northwest Iowa? I grew up in West Bend. Dad ran the co-op elevator there for 35 years.

Thats good accuracy, but it's pretty slow. Using 25 gr. of IMR 4320 with a 25 gr bullet gives me 4050 fps (factory fodder is listed at 4,000 +/- also) and also very good accuracy.
I love the .17 Rem. It's so much fun to use on prairie dogs out to about a maximum of 350 yards. There's no recoil, costs peanuts to reload and you can see the results right through the scope. LOL

The 17 Rem is one of my favorite cartridges.
I just bought another 17 Rem, this one is a CZ. It has a slightly heavy barrel. It shoots loads for my other 17, under an inch so I haven't even tried working up a load for it. I shot about 50 round at the bench last week. Just kind of playing around while I was working up a load for my 6mm-250. My shot great for all 50 rounds. Remington seems to produce some rough barrels for the 17, and I believe that is where the fouling problems seem to come from.

I now believe it is the perfect cartridge for coyotes, fox, and bobcats.

Rolly--

Sorry for the delay in answering. Was in Mexico when I saw your question about NW Iowa but the server there was intermittent at best and I couldn't respond.

I'm in Sioux Center but at one time taught in Ayrshire and certianly know where West Bend is. Grew up in Orange City so although I've been gone here and there over the years the old apple rolled back pretty close to the tree.

How's Idaho? Must admit to a tad of jealousy.

George

Goodnews. Moved here about 20 years ago and work for a community college in Coeur d' Alene. Hunting here is very tough as once in the woods, your visibility goes to near zero from all of the brush. I routinely try to get back to Wyoming or Montana, but I do hunt deer and elk here. (although not very successfully) Not to complain though, 10 years ago I killed a bull elk that grossed 382. Our small game hunting here is nearly non-existent and our bird hunting is either waterfoul or else ground slusing grouse on the forest roads. I miss the deer hunting back in the midwest and also the pheasant hunting. See ya.

Rolly--

Elk hunting is therapy for me; I don't want to make you feel badly but the "good 'ol days" of pheasant hunting were almost back this year due to successive mild winters and favorable springs. The "good 'ol days" ARE back in SD with flocks of pheasants more aptly described as hordes.

It seems living anywhere is a trade-off between what you have and don't have.

Good to have "met" you.

GDV

re: W 760

I have had very good results with the very similar H414 and my 17. I was searching for a ball type powder that I didn't have to coax into the case like even the small stick type must be. I settled on H414 because it gave both good accuracy and high velocity. The only thing I don't like about the load is the fact that it is very close to max in my rifle, maybe over. I had trouble with primers containing the pressure before I switched to magnums. My original load was 25 grains H414 with CCI 400 BR primers. I later went to CCI 450s.

I have also had good luck with IMR 4198 at somewhat less velocity. 19.0 grains and a standard primer give very fine accuracy, less "pop," and, at 3700-3800 it still does well what the little 25 grain pill is capable of at a couple hundred more.