Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 17 cal fan fair

Seems the 17 caliber offerings do not get near the fan fair on this site as I would have expected. Know I am not alone yet I do recognize I am in the minority.

My personal favorites have been The 17 Fireball and the 17 HH for centerfires. Then the 17HM2 has been my favorite rimfire.

I have examples of all the 17 cal rimfire along with the 17 Hornady Hornet and a 17 Fireball.

I know there are a few of us that have been, or are quite fond of these minute calibers that efficiently get the job done for so many task that we face. For the guys saving fur, they are hard to beat. Suppose I am just surprised there are not more of us than I see. Then maybe I need to remember only a small percentage of us post here or otherwise.

I've not played with the rimfire or small 17's but got my first 17 Remington 25 years ago. Until that time I had been able to afford just one varmint gun at a time. If I wanted something different I had to trade off the one I had. What can I say, we wuz poor back then. I had a 220 Swift that I wasn't about to part with. A friend had a 17 Rem in a 700 BDL and wanted to make me a great deal on it. His arthritic fingers couldn't handle the tiny bullets well while reloading. I had been working a big coyote control job for a huge ranch as a side job and had just been paid. I bought it and began working up loads. I still had some coyote control work going and put the new 17 right to work. Right off the bat I noticed coyotes died quite suddenly to the Hornady 25 grain HP. Not spectacularly but suddenly, as if you just shut their switch off.

I used the 17 extensively for fur hunting for coyotes for several years. Out of a few truckloads of coyotes, I never had an exit with the Hornady unless I made a fringe or neck hit. Good solid chest shots never saw an exit.

I had a left handed Charles Daly mini Mauser barreled to 17 Remington by PacNor and it's at MPI being stocked right now. With our upcoming move to Idaho I'm looking forward to getting back to calling and hunting coyotes again and the 17 should be done in time for some action this year.

I haven't done much with the little 17 yet. I have a Contender in 17 Hornet. This is what it shot on my first range trip with it a few months ago. This particular load used 11.5 gr. of AA1680, CCI 450 primers. OAL of 1.790 inches. Not chronoed, but it was zipping along at approx. 3300 fps. More importantly, it shot under half an inch at 100 yd. This was the best of the targets shot that day.

Workin on it.

I've had some sort of 17M2 around the last 15 years or so

Two Savage SS/lam's........one CZ 452 Varmint......currently a 77 Ruger Lam SS with Lilja SS barrel

Never ceases to amaze me how deadly the little cartridge is......

you name it.....you hit it & its dead right now....

Always have in my SxS when I'm on 'patrol' in my fields.....

Have owned and hunted with rifles in .17 Mach 2, .17 HMR, .17 Hornet, .17 Fireball and .17 Remington. Liked them all, but for MY purposes eventually winnowed them down to a .17 HMR and .17 Hornet, because:

1) If I hunted tree squirrels more the .17 M2 would be my choice, but here in the open West a rimfire .17 is most useful for ground squirrels, whether prairie dogs or smaller species--hence the .17 HMR.

2) Loved the .17 Fireball for prairie dogs and larger varmints, but after trying the .17 Hornet found I could not tell the different between the Fireball and Hornet in the field--and the Hornet used 2/3 the powder.

3) Also really liked the .17 Remington, but eventually decided the .204 Ruger filled the same slot better--again, for MY purposes.

In general, most people who've never tried any .17 don't grasp how effective and useful they can be.

I want to try the 25 gr. Berger HPs. I think they will make a great coyote bullet out to 200 yd.

I have 200 sitting in my shop waiting.

I should try some of the Bergers but I have over 1000 of the Hornady 25 grain HP's ready and waiting for my 17 to get done.

For the guys who don't like handling the tiny 17 caliber bullets, here's my solution. RCBS 222 competition die set bullet seater with 17 and 6mm bushings and seating stems. I've since added 20 and 25 caliber for the 25-222 that's in progress and the 20-222 that will eventually join the family. Makes seating little bullets much easier.

Good idea!



Be happy that you bought 1000. Hornady stopped making the 25 gr. HPs. That's why I opted for the Bergers. The are expensive, but if they shoot, they will be worth it.

The new Berger 25 grain are not good coyote bullets. They are to explosive. The old 25 grain berger match bullet was the fur bullet for the 17 cal

I kick myself to never buying a Rem 700 Predator in 17 Fireball when they were available.

but I was in the " I don't need to buy anymore rifles" mode at the time they were readily available.

I should just get a barrel and put it on a Ruger 77 Mk 2 or maybe a Savage Axis action...

get it out of my system if nothing else.

My 17 FB is a LH Rem. 700 SPC. I wish it had a smaller profile barrel as carrying this around isn’t fun.

my 77 Ruger w/M2 Lilja barrel...........

sooooooooo effective & quiet

Tikka, saw a youtube video of a guy who had one in Scotland or Wales, as 223 he'd rebarreled and it had a Moderator on it...

it sounded like a spitball gun yet really reached out there...

I could easily warm up to that concept....

rebarreling is a lot cheaper than buying a Ruger 17 Hornet....

plus the barrels come off easily and are easy to put another one back on the rifle..

Like MD, I sold the 17wsm, 17 rem and furball. Down to the whore-gnat, hummer and MachII

17 WSM......may be gone someday the way of the other WSM's.......

0.24 cents a pop right now

https://www.targetsportsusa.com/fed...ain-tipped-varmint-ae17wsm1-p-57588.aspx

just this morning.......dusted another skunk while 'on patrol'

one quick shot.....one stinkin' damm skunk......

Buzzards will clean him up......

http://riflebarrels.com/rimfire-precision-barrels/

I shot this Coyote on my 65th birthday with a Kimber Montana I had barreled to 17 Rem. Like Mule Deer I'm very fond of the 204 now, but still lean in the 17 Rem. direction. I've owned a 17 Rem since 1971. I can't image not owning one.

Hunterapp: I was a bit late to the 17 caliber bandwagon myself.
I am sure I bought my first 17 caliber Rifle in 1985.
I now own a BUNCH of them.
Including the following:
17 Mach2 = 3 Rifles
17 HMR = 5 Rifles and 1 pistol
17 MachIV = 1 custom heavy Varminter
17 Remington Fireball = 1 heavy Varmint Rifle
17 Remington = 3 Rifles
They work well, lack recoil and are slow to heat barrels - lots of other good attributes as well.
Long live the 17's!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

huntsman,

The .17 WSM is a fine round, but discovered the A-17 HMR ammo came close to duplicating it in a bolt-action decided to sell my my the .17 WSM, since the A17 was more accurate.

Like any loony, I like playing with a bunch of rifles, but don't "need" a bunch in the same chambering!

John, I'm not out of the WSM gig for good. I may yet get a Ruger. But the Bmag had to go....

Exactly my experience!

Have a good buddy who has a Ruger .17 WSM. Gave him my .17 WSM ammo,and he's very happy--but so far haven't discovered an extra $800 that hasn't seemed to be more meaningfully spent on something else, whether rifles or scopes....

No kidding..... I need just one more scope before I think any further toward the Ruger. In fact, I'm thinking of putting an ad for trading into one, as the cash is depleted..... Know anyone wants to get rid of a spare LRHSi 18x for a win 1894 22 magnum?

A big fan of the .17 Remington right here. And only ever used the one load - 25gn Hornady HP and 23.7gns Varget.

Ruger 17 M2 again just this morn........

ground squirrel posed just purfect on a fence post......bang....not even a flop........

not 30 seconds later second one takes his place.......same post.......

Buzzards will be happy......diggin' SOB's

had a .17 hmr, sold it. But still have a .17 hornet, .17 fireball, .17 Rem. and a .17/204. Love me a little bullet.

yeah, but.... Your hummer WAS a savage. No loss....grin

Yea, I felt the same way about Marlin. Picked Up one of those in expensive heavy barrel rifles just for [bleep] and giggles. Despite the fact that is arguably the most accurate 100 to 150 yard rifle of any kind that I have ever owned. still not to fond of that rifle.

I played with the 17 s some never really warmed up to them...I thought the 17fb would be great but it was hard to load..finicky and I could kill more dogs with a 223... So it went the trip....it caused me to turn my nose up at the 20 cal stuff...but when a scored a Cooper in 204 cheap it was worth a try...that thing will kill like a 220 swift and has les recoil than a 223...so I immediately rebarreled my l461 to 20 tac and have forgotten the 17 cal even exists...

I'm between .17 centerfires. I've stocked up on .17 Remington brass and bullets, just need an action to build on. The action from my last .17 Remington currently wears a very accurate .204 barrel. Someday I'll get around to picking up another barrel and action.

In a way, I liked the .17 Fireball even more than the .17 Remington but mine was twitchy 'bout feeding: sometimes, maybe one time out of 20, it'd decide to spit all the cartridges from the magazine into the air, then onto the ground, all at once.

Never messed with the M2. I've got a fairly accurate Ruger 77/17 HMR with the barrel cut back to 20 inches. Sometimes I forget what a good trigger job I did on it ... couldn't probably repeat that if I tried 20 times. Pull the trigger ... makes me smile. It just sends bullets where the crosshairs meet and things die. Hard to argue with. I can't imagine ever getting rid of it.

Tom

If you can pick up a 221 fireball, this is my idea of an ideal action for a walking Varminter to build a 17 fireball on. Only problem with this IMHO is the 221 fireball's tend to be tack driver's, Thus hard to pull a barrel on one of those. I came across one that someone had already swapped barrels on & that is my favorite Varmint rifle by far.

I've had really good luck with the Berger FB Varmint on Coyotes, fox and a couple bobcat. Of course I came along to the 17s after Berger dropped the match target bullet. I think my current streak is 25 coyotes without a runner. 24gr 4320 under the Berger 17308 in my 17 Remington.

I am very pleased with the performance of the 17 Remington, giving credit to some very good bullets that go fast and punch hard. My next subcaliber fling will be with the 17 Hornady Hornet, but I want to get the newest rifle, a 20 Tactical, percolating before going back to the Hornet again. I shot a 17 Ackley Hornet for about 8 years and loved it, so the Hornady edition will be no surprise. The small 17 caliber cartridges are efficient and fun, and the rimfire HMR is making quite a dent in the local rodent population

The coyote I shot this evening fell to a very accurate load (at least in my Sako 17 Rem) of 23.4/IMR 4320/20 gr V Max/Rem BR primer/Rem brass at 4080 fps. That bullet seemed a little light, but Mr. Wiley didn't twitch. Normally it is a prairie dog load, but it was what was close at hand when needed.

i still own 3 - 17`s all in the 17 Remington cartridge the Remington 700 shoots 3/8 or less 5 shot groups at 4,000 fps 24 inch barrel ,the Sako shoots 1/2 inch groups at 3,850 fps 22 inch barrel , TC Contender with a 20 inch shoots 1 1/4 groups 3500 fps. all 3- rifles with many 5 shot groups at 100 yards,25 grain bullets. the Sako 17 rifle i used the most for hunting which i killed lots of prairie dogs,fox,coyotes even a deer and antelope. my son loved the Sako 17 at my range on pop cans filled with water when he was 10 years and older,he blew those pop cans up with that 17 Sako alot.

Saw today when I stopped at a Sportsman's Warehouse when I had to go to Potlandia today...

They had a couple of boxes of the Lead free bullet they have been putting on the 17HMR, but this was for reloader...

a 15.5 grain NTX.....being lead free the NTXs are longer than you'd expect...

in 20 caliber, the 24 NTX is longer than the 32 grain V Max and almost the length of the 40 grainer...

in 22 caliber, the 35 NTX is the length of the 50 grain V Max, or close to it..

The 24 is my favorite bullet in the 20 caliber line up...and the 35 NTX in 22 caliber, can be launched at some pretty
impressive velocity...

I don't reload for a 17 caliber, but the 15.5 grain NTX ought to obtain some pretty impressive velocities on its own...

This has been my secret to not minding reloading the 17 caliber options as well. Mine was sold as a option for the 17FB though with the right components they do interchange to cover a lot of choices.

I just have not seen much positive post lately on the 17's Seems as those who follow the fads are moving in other directions.

See the tougher pelt friendly heavy for caliber 25 & 30 grain options are being dropped by Berger & Hornady. I am curious about the true reasons for the discontinuation of the heavy jacket Berger target bullet and the 25 grain Hornady Hollow point no longer being available troubles me for those up and coming Pelt hunters. Suppose I have been enough of a hoarder that I should be GTG for as long as I am kicking.

Yet I was talking to a relative last night about our long run on low jack rabbit numbers. I feel this is due to the greater popularity of the 17 HMR over the 22 rimfire & the longer effective range of the 17 HMR

17M2 strikes again

ground squirrel hanging around the yard..........

caught him posed on top a ceder fence post....

smack......'bout 65 yds,,,,,,

diggin' SOB's

I have to wonder also on why they dropped those bullets. I never tried the 30 grain Bergers but always wanted to. I guess I should have stocked up on them when they were available. I'm sure it's a bottom line thing but with Hornady I would have thought the 25 grain HP would always be a good enough seller to stay in the line up. I'll continue to buy them when I see them. I've got around 1000 of them currently so I should have enough to get by. For a while.

I love shot situations like that.. blasting them off the top of a fence post is the most satisfying of them all....

It's Hornady. They change their bullet lineup every other month. I have completely discontinued their use because it seems as if as soon as I find a bullet/load I like, the bullet is dropped. They're too inconsistent with their products for my taste. Shame because they have put out a lot of good bullets over the years.