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/