Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 17 Rem pet loads?

I'm getting ready to load for and shoot a lovely little scrollwork-engraved Rem 700 in 17 that was one of my dad's favorites. The plan is to sell it, but I can't resist shooting it first. We'll see if I can part with it.

Pet loads, anyone? Favorite powders? I've got Hornady 20 V-max and 25 HP, both naked and moly.

Either bullet on top of 24gr's of IMR 4320 and a Remington 7 1/2 primer.

Don't sell it.



Travis

Two guns you never sell - the first one you owned and any that belonged to someone that meant something to you.

Sorry. I never owned a .17, let alone loaded for one.

+1 for 24 grains of 4320 and a 25 grain bullet. Great load in the 17.

23.7gns of Varget (2208) and a 25gn Hornady HP works for me.

If you have some, Ramshot Big Game was the best powder tried in my .17 Remington when I owned it. Ramshot doesn't have any data listed but I dared the elements and tried it anyway. I ran 28.0 grains with 20's and 26.5 with 25's.

Benchmark was second-best with 20's, and Varget with 25's, using Hodgdon data.

When loading for the .17 Remington there should be no deviation from either the 7 1/2 primer, or 4320.

The changing of these two components will likely lead to demonic possession.




Travis

Maybe, but I suspect the demons invade the moment anybody buys a .17 Remington.

I took a 700 BDL up to the then published max of 25.2 grains of IMR 4320 under a Remington 25 grain HP back when Remington made their own.

Demons FLED.

Tom

Thank you, everyone, for your input thus far!

I don't have any 4320. I'd actually wondered if it would be recommended. It was the only powder I can remember my father using. He also often complained about the small bore getting fouled quickly. I suspected the two were connected. I can get my hands on some.

I don't have any Big Game, either, and I would have guessed it would be to slow. Can't argue with results though. Hodgdon doesn't list 4320 in its online data either, and that seems to be a popular choice! I do have Varget, and Benchmark. And 2495, Tac, 322 and several others in the appropriate burn range. Had planned on starting with the 25's, and it looks like Varget and 2495. Will load these up this morning. If they don't show promise, I'll get back some 4320 that was given away.

I'm not after screaming speed, and I don't want to put a lot of wear and tear on the bore. I DO want to see 25gr bullets at 4 grand though, and I'm excited to shoot this rifle. As I said, it was one of my dad's favorites. He had two 17 Rems over the years, and he held onto this one. I don't know his reasoning, but I will say that the rifle is one of the loveliest 700's I've ever seen, with the scrollwork action and handsome, well finished wood. The trigger is adjusted to what feels to be about a pound and a half. I've got a scale around here somewhere. I've got a bit of a crush on the rifle, that deepens every time I handle it. Have seriously begun to doubt parting with it. It would be regrettable later, I suspect.

Winchester 760 is another powder worth considering with 25gn bullets.

I've shot an awful lot of 4320 through a 17 and never found it to bad for fouling. When I first had mine I fell into the 17's foul badly and need to be cleaned every 20 shots mindset. One trip to the ground squirrel killing fields cured me of that. The first day I was cleaning pretty frequently and about to swear off the 17 because of all the barrel cleaning. The next day I shot without cleaning till I ran out of squirrels and daylight. Just for grins and giggles I shot a group with it after somewhere north of 250 rounds of squirrel shooting. It was still grouping a little under 3/4", which was normal for that rifle. It would run around 1/2 to 3/4 inch groups most any day. Half inch if I was on, 3/4" if I wasn't. I quit the OCD cleaning regimen after that. Once or twice a year now whether it needs it or not.

I wouldn't stress too much about fouling.

I had one with the scrollwork and it was a shootin' sumbitch.

If you do sell it let me know. I'll buy it with the understanding that you can always buy it back if you change your mind. The BDL .17's are really cool IMO.

We've been getting a lot of 4320 up here if you need some.



Travis

Agreed.



Travis

The power of Christ compels you....

The power of Christ compels you....




Dave

HuntnShoot,

I long suspected a lot of the reason for the "fouling" reputation of the .17 Remington was due to the dirty-burning spherical powders often used in factory ammo when it was introduced. It would have been logical for Remington to load them in the .17 because they'd flow easily through the small neck.

I bought a 700 built in the second year of production to test this theory, which hadn't been shot much at all, and never had any fouling problem with Benchmark, Varget or Big Game, a very clean-burning spherical of about the same burn-rate as 760. But 760 isn't particularly clean-burning, though the latest version seems better than it used to be. I have been told, however, by people who bought early 700's that some of those barrels were pretty rough.

As for the powders such as 2495, TAC, H322, etc, that you list as "appropriate," they're actually a little fast for the .17 Remington, especially with .25's. They'll work, but they're better suited to the .223 than the .17 Remington, which has a little more powder room than the .223 with a considerably smaller bore.

Hence somewhat slower powders work better; generally powders that fill up a case, or come close, without producing excessive pressure will produce the highest velocities.

4320 is a classic, since it's a little slower than either of the 4895's, but Hornady lists 760 as producing the highest velocities in the .17 Remington with 25's, and it's slower than 4320. But even 760 still doesn't fill up the case, the reason I tried Big Game, which is just a little slower than 760. Plus, Big Game burns cleaner.

I tend to run a lot of spherical powders in .17 caliber cartridges, because when loading with a powder measure they flow through the small necks a lot easier. Finer-grained extruded powders also work well, another reason 4320 has been a classic .17 powder.

I've had good luck with AA2700 under 25gr bullets in mine. I've also had good luck but less speed with 3031, an old friend of mine used the 25 Hornady and enough 3031 for 3800fps to great effect on wolves, coyotes, foxes, and even a handful of caribou so I just had to try it. I haven't shot anything but paper, but the accuracy is there. I get outstanding accuracy with CFE223 under 20gr Hornady's. I'm using rem7 1/2s now but when I couldn't find any a couple years ago I found the heavy cup CCI 41 designed for ARs to work quite well.

Just a comment that W760, H414 and A2700 are all exactly the same powder.

Data will vary slightly in some sources because of lot-to-lot variation, but the powder is all made in the same factory, then goes into different canisters.

Somewhere, maybe around here, I've read that Shilen was supplying a good number of .17 barrels to Remington. Do you know if there's any truth to it?

I've owned and shot four .17 Remingtons and I have never experienced the fouling problems that are supposed to accompany the cartridge. I know Carmichael has written that the fouling theory was started when initial batches of Remington bullets were too thin in the jacket. This supposedly caused bullets to come unglued and the cause was mistakenly put on barrel fouling by some writers. The myth kept getting reprinted.

No idea if this is true or not but it has never been an issue for me. And I very rarely clean rifles.



Travis