Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 17 hornet

I evidently loaned out my Gack book. I'll probably need to order another.

MD

I would like load data for the 17 Hornet for 15.5 grain, 20 grain and 25 grain bullets. I'm using 1680 - 12 grains for 20 grain Hornady Vmax, 11 grains for Hornday 25 grain hp. I have not found data for the 15.5 grain bullets.

What is the load you would be your "go to" load for your CZ 17 Hornet for prairie dogs? Thanks.

What reloading manual would you recommend for the 17 Hornet? Thanks again.

Bugger

Hi Bugger,

In GG1 I list 12.0 1680 for 20-grain, for around 3600 from 22" barrel, a but since then CFEBLK powder appeared and have switched to 12.8 grains for about 3750 fps, with basically the same accuracy, 5 shots inside half an inch. Either would be my go-to load for prairie dogs.

For 25-grain bullets I use 12.0 Accurate 2200 for about 3100 fps, and with 30's 12.0 grains of H322 for 2900.

Have not handloaded the 15.5 NTX, as when I was working on a HANDLOADER article on "non-toxic" bullets last year I contacted Hornady, since they didn't list them as component bullet. I asked if they were possibly planning to offer them as components, and they gave me a very firm "maybe." So I bought some Hornady factory loads, which shot very well at around 3850 fps. They shot to the same place as my 20-grain handloads, and worked just as well on PD's.

Apparently you found some 15.5's to load? That would be good news.

Hornady's latest 10th manual probably has the most .17 Hornet data of any major manual, but it came out before CFEBLK, and doesn't list any data for 15.5 or 30-grain bullets.

Accurate (Western) and Hodgdon have all kinds of load data available on their websites. My "go to" load is 12.2grs 1680 and 20gr Vmax .

Where are you getting the 15.5 bullets? I talked to Hornady about them as well, their response was kinda like, "well ,maybe, but don't hold your breath."

Thanks John for posting the data you are using with the CFEBLK.. The powder has arrived but I had not gotten to that yet. Looking forward to it. What you are getting with the CFEBLK puts the Hornet within spitting distance of the Mk4. Had all but retired the Mk4 since getting the Hornet.

65x54,

Happy to post the good news.

Plus the decoppering agent works well in the .17 HH. Some handloaders report dissatisfaction with decoppering powders, because they still find some "blue" when cleaning barrels. But they don't understand they work somewhat differently in various cartridges, and the bullet itself can affect how well they work. This is due to varying bore diameters, along with the bearing surface (essentially the "fouling surface") of the bullet--and of course also depends on how a specific bore fouls.

But decoppering powders do reduce jacket fouling. I haven't bore-scoped a barrel yet that didn't show considerably less fouling when using one, though some copper often shows up, especially in the "corners" of the lands.

It's going to be difficult to completely eliminate copper fowling but to help reduce it is like lots of icing on the cake.

Thanks!

MD

I’m surprised that you don’t have the 15.5 grain bullet. I’d send you a box if you’re interested in testing them. I would think that perhaps you might wait a month or two as weather here is rather poor for testing. I suspect the same might be true in your neck of the woods.

As far as where I bought them, my best guess is that I bought them at Scheels in Sioux Falls. (5 hour drive round trip)

Bugger

Bugger,

Thanks for the offer, but all I needed to do was test the bullet in the field, so bought a few boxes of factory ammo (which as I recall was on sale for a very low price, since there's not much demand for it outside California). Probably still have some left.

But I am a little amazed that you have component bullets. Hornady doesn't list them on their website, and Googling didn't find any for sale.

I’ll look again the next time I go to the city. Big gun show this week end in Sioux Falls. Hopefully this blizzard lets up. Visibility right now about 10 to 30 feet.

How did those 15.5 grain bullets work in the field?

I’m a little concerned with testing this cartridge without a guide from someone who’s better at pressure guessing than me. By the time I’d get a sticky bolt lift on this tiny cartridge, the pressure would be tremendous. I don’t have any factory ammo, but I could buy some and measure case expansion I suppose. Also could do that with other tested hand loads.

One more question: on my CZ the action screws need to be tight or there’s lots of movement. Did you bed your CZ? When the action screws are tight mine is accurate, so I have not yet.

You must have missed this from my first post on this thread: "I bought some Hornady factory loads, which shot very well at around 3850 fps. They shot to the same place as my 20-grain handloads, and worked just as well on PD's."

Your chronograph is your best pressure sign. One approximate formula I've used for years for coming up with loads for bullet weights where there's no available data, is adding their weight to a conventional weight, dividing by two, then dividing the result by the "new" bullet weight. In this instance that would be 15.5+20/2 = 17.75. Divide that by 15.5 and you end up with 1.145. Multiply the 20-grain load's charge weight by 1.145, using the common 12.0 grain charge for A1680 for 20-grain bullets (Hornady lists 12.4 as maximum) this results in a maximum for the 15.5 grain bullet of 13.74 grains.

Hornady's listed factory velocity for the 15.5 NTX ammo is 3870 fps, and does just about exactly that in my rifle. I'd start with 12.0 (or maybe 12.5) grains of 1680, and work up with that as the maximum velocity for safe pressures. Unless, of course, you see obvious "pressure signs" below 13.7 grains. I doubt you will.

In my particular rifle the Remington 7-1/2 primer works best. Hornady used the Winchester SR primer, which is a sort of compromise between a standard and magnum primer, which might change things a little.

This is JB with a clicker. The reason, it is so few on it, JB only counts misses...

Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiing😀

I’m using Remington 7 1/2 BR primers. Thanks for the advice.