Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 17 Remington COAL?

Question for the 17 Rem guys. I’m pretty new to the round, only having one before the one I currently own.

I’m working up a load for 700 Classic and have a question about COAL. According to my hornady guage the 25g V-Max is into the lands at 2.215. I haven’t taken a base to ogive measurement yet as the 17cal insert is still en route from midway......Anyway; that seems kinda short to me. Looking back at my notes on my last 17 Rem, I was able to seat the bullet much longer; unless I wrote it down wrong.

I understand each rifle is different and there’s no concrete answer here but am looking on suggestions based on what YOUR 17 Rem likes in regards to seating depth.

Do you generally start start right at the lands or back off 5-10-15 thousandths? Does anyone else have a 17 Rem with what I guess you would call a tight factory chamber?

I don't know the OAL in my 700, but I could look it up. What you named sounds short. I'll go dig up the two OAL's I use, one at lands and one most accurate, which is shorter.

My lands are at a COL of 2.274" with the 25gr Vmax, and the most accurate depth I've found with a couple powders is 2.260". I shoot the 25gr Vmax moly-coated with 25.0gr Varget and Rem 7.5 as my preferred load. It shoots 1/2 to 5/8 inch groups at 100. I baby the barrel, as the rifle belonged to my father. This load produces really close to 4000fps. The last time I chrono'd, it was on the high side of 4k.

Thank you for taking the time to retrieve the information for me.

I’m a bit puzzled to say the least.

I have a bud who had a classic in 17rem. It had a really short throat and locked up on him with a starting load. He subsequently broke the bolt handle off trying to get it open before taking it to a gunsmith. They pulled the barrel and put the handle back on then fit and chambered a new barrel with a proper throat.

Maybe yours was cut with the same reamer. I hope not but just an FYI.

I’ll check OAL on some of my ammo tomorrow for you but I don’t use the Vmax, just the 25gr HP these days.

So I’m not alone. That’s what I wanted to hear. Kinda lol.

Could this rifle still shoot well even with the short throat ?

It might shoot great if the bullets are seated the right distance from the lands. But it might suck to have to figure out reduced load data to account for the short throat and deep seating. I haven’t loaded any in a while but I think the 20gr Vmax have a different ogive, maybe they would work better, or the 20gr Noslers. Maybe you can rent a throater if it comes down to it.

I just ordered 500 25 HPS too lol. I wonder if that bullet might do better than the long Vmax?

So far load work up hasn’t been that stellar. That being said the rifle needs bedded and free floated. I might give the 20s a go.

I've never seated mine out that far, then again, I don't use plastic tipped bullets either. 25gr. Nagel hp's in front of 23.9 of IMR8208 or 24.6 of 4320 are seated at 2.20. This is in a 9T Lilja barrel setup for commercial length ammo.........even though I don't shoot any. This is the same seating depth I used in a 700BDL and Model 7 rifles I used to own. In fact, that seating depth goes back to 1972 when I first started reloading for the 17 Rem.
Accuracy is excellent in mine, but then again, it is a Lillja barrel. And accuracy was great in any of the 17 Rem. I've owned over the years using that seating depth.
I've heard that the 17Rem. loves to be seated into the lands which I'm sure is true, I've just never found a need to. I prefer smooth feeding.

Just a sample...........................

Interesting K22; thanks for the insight. I’m gonna give the 25 hornady HPs a go and see what I find out.

I used the 25gr Hornady HP until the throat started to wear away a bit then the last few years i switched to the Hornady
25Gr V-max, now I run these a bit shy of touching the throat and it still shoots under an inch with CFE 223 or 4320.
And they are longer than i could have made HP loads.
As far as a measurement ? Your rifle is your rifle, load them about 5 thou short in yer gun and go shooting.

I have a custom build 17 Rem on a mini mauser Zastava action. I think I hit the lands at 2.20" (maybe a bit less) with 25 gr Bergers.