Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles New to me 700 BDL

Whats a good choice for loading ? Mainly predators and varmints, don't care about big holes.

Ah, can you give us a hint?

I would highly recommend loading cartridges into the rifle that it is chambered for. It'll tell you which ones on the barrel.

DANNYL: I own a LOT of Remington 700's including many BDL's and i wish to help with load suggestions but I need to know the caliber of your BDL - and the barrel length.
I will be patient for your response.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I think that 700-x powder was designed for the Rem. 700. A lot of powders gave trouble with the bolt handles. Might be better with a Salvage, they seem to shoot with anything. Stay away from those Sierra bullets, they can zook.Use FMJ's.

Poor guy is from New York State, and his profile says he is a retired corrections officer...

you guys could cut the guy a little slack..

Oh, thank goodness.
Hold into the self restraint.

skcunt: As usual YOU have NOTHING of importance or relevance to add to this site.
You simply are your own worst enemy AND your own just rewards!
I see you have rejected the suggestion to try and mature your self and quit the juvenile postings - again sad and pathetic of you.
And indeed, I am waiting patiently, to try and help a fellow CampFirer where you just repeatedly show your ignorance and immaturity with your worthless and irrelevant postings.
Sheesh.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Cartridge chambering will help far more than caliber.

It is rare that I agree with you, but you are right in this case. Now, the OP needs to fill us in on what cartridge he's loading for!!!

Brain cramp, it's a 17 rem 24" My first 17 and I mainly use the 223 or 22-250 and just added this one to safe.

CFE 223 under 25gr Hornadys or Bergers. I have a stash of Rem7 1/2 primers I only use in the 17 but have used CCI 41s with good results too.

Speed is your friend, the more gas you can get out of it safely the better the little bullets will kill. Those 25gr HPs are lightning death on anything from crows up to 300 pounds with good shot placement.

The 20s are great on fox and crows but they come apart too easily for my tastes on anything bigger.

Agree with The Kid. 25 grainers are the way to go, Hornadys just became available. CFE223 is good powder in the .17 but lots of others work well.The Kid made me do this with my .17 Rem..

The dude abides...

25gn Hornady HP's and 23.7gns Varget was my go to load when shooting Foxes. Luckily I still have a few hundred 25 Hornady HP's left otherwise I'd be using 25gn V-max.

I bought a bunch of the 25HP Hornady when Midway had them on close out a couple years ago. Probably last me through this barrel.

But I did find a full 200ct box of the old Berger 25gr Match HPs in a pawn shop a couple weeks ago for $20. Judging by the packaging they’re likely older than I am and I’ve heard great things about them on coyotes. Need to load some up and see.

If you can find it, IMR 4320 (discontinued) was the classic powder for .17 Remington with 25 grain bullets. It is what I've gotten highest velocity and smallest groups from. The 25 grain Remington and Hornady hollowpoints I shot in those days are discontinued as well but show up sometimes.

There's nothing wrong with the 25 grain VMAX but some of the early Remington rifles had a 1-10" twist instead of 1-9" and some won't stabilize that longer bullet. 20s work though!!

There are a lot of good powder options. Though some slower powders make more velocity, it can be a pain in the ass to get enough in the case. Thinking here of Win 760 / H414 / AA2700. A slightly faster powder, within limits, is easier to work with. H380 works well but for some reason, Hornady doesn't show load data for it. Hodgdon's web site might. Win 748. AA 2520. Varget or RL15 if you don't mind weighing powder.

Get an RCBS .17 caliber funnel .. the standard .22-.45 funnels don't work.

Remington 7-1/2 primers are great for the .17 Remington and are back in production, available off and on if you look around. I have also used WSR and Fed 205Ms .. but I've also had pierced primer issues with those in some guns which is a good way to destroy a trigger. I've considered the federal 205 AR match primer since it has a thick cup but haven't tried it. CCI 450s if you can't get anything harder.

Thanks for the patience guy, have powder, primers and will get the bullets. Around here I think furs are really prime but sale value is way low so I don;t ming cutting a coyote in half, at least it won't be back.

DANNYL: I have three Remington 700's in caliber 17 Remington (a 700 Classic, a 700 BDL and a 700 VSS) - all three of them shoot the 25 grain Berger bullets best.
And I get very pleasing accuracy with Remington brass which is hard to come by anymore, it seems.
Best of luck with your new to you 17 Remington and be sure and try the Berger 25 grainers for accuracy and lethality on Colony Varmints and predators.
Years ago I got "convinced" by a couple of long time 17 Remington shooting Varmint Hunting buddies to use the "stronger" Remington 7 1/2 primers in the 17 Remington and thats what I have used ever since.
Give those a try - if you can find any.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy