I just acquired a 17 Remington rifle, along with a nice supply of brass and bullets. Now I need some good advice on powder selection. What I'm going to load is some 25 grain Hornady HP's. I have looked up some data, and it seems like W760 is one of the powders that can be used, and I have plenty. I also have other powders as well.

So, does anyone care to share their experiences in loading this cartridge, if so, I'd appreciate it.

CFE223.

I have been shooting the 17 for a decade or a little more and have tried a dozen other powders. Nothing tops CFE and a Rem 7 1/2 for accuracy or velocity with 20 or 25 grain bullets. In my rifle at least.

I agree with The Kid. I shoot CFE and 20gr or 25gr vmax. Haven’t shot many 25 gr hornady HP but definitely prefer the 25vmax over the 20. It seems to hit stuff a lot harder than the 20. Good luck with your rifle. 17’s are zero recoil laser beams!

You said in another thread what you got was an LVSF. Ive got one as well and I had some trouble at first with that j-lock deal on the bolt. It got replaced quickly. FWIW every rifle is different but mine did not like max loads...it would blow primers, and the .17 being what it is you need to work up loads GRADUALLY.....1/2 grain can make a big difference in pressure.

27 grains Big Game powder and Hornady 20 grain VMax…

Thanks for the info. As I said, I've never reloaded for a 17, and I figured that such a small capacity case could be tricky. I intend to proceed with caution.

Shrapnel, in doing some searching on here trying to find some reloading data, I came across an old thread in which Mule Deer gave 28 grains of Big Game with a 20 grain bullet, and 26.5 grains with a 25 grain bullet. Big difference in those loads..........did someone do a typo?

Yes I did, the data I got was from John and it is 27 grains. I shoot it in both 17 Remington rifles I have with excellent results…

Thanks. I have plenty of Big Game powder, and have located some 20 grain VMax bullets. I'll try that load.

I've been shooting a Rem 700BDL(3 of them) in 17 Remington for 30 years and only ever used two powders 2208 (varget) and W760. Only ever used the 25gn Hornady HP - thankfully I still have enough to keep me out of trouble. My primary load was 23.7gns of Varget (or 26.5gns W760) which gave a velocity of around 3950fps. With velocity at or above 4000fps I found leaking primers to be a problem.

Been a while since I have ran the .17 Remington, but I have had three over time and the best was an old stainless barreled early 700 BDL that was cut to 20". I didn't find any flies on WW760 with either the 25 grain Hornady or my favorite, the 25 grain Remington when you could still get them. I was shooting 26.2 grains of 760 and even with the short barrel was running 3850 to 3900 (I think it was a fast barrel). Good luck as it sure is a fun little round and hits above its weight class IMO.

I have tested 4 powders in my rifle so far. Some 30 year old IMR4320 was by far the worst, with Benchmark giving the best group, half inch at a 100 yards. I then tried Big Game and W760, with the 760 being the best there. I only have a half pound of Benchmark, so if I keep the rifle and shoot it much, I'll soon be looking for more. On the other hand, I have plenty of 760.

I've been shooting the .17 since Remington came out with it. My favorite load for years was 24.5 imr 4320 with the Hornady 25hp
Now I seem to like CFE 223 with a Hornady 25gr V-max.@ 24.9 gr's. I also like 23.5 IMR 4166 with the same bullet.
I still shoot IMR 4320 when I shoot 25 Hornady's 25gr HP's. Easier to get the 25 gr v-max, & I have the 1 in 9 twist barrel and they work pretty good. If you have the 1 in 10 twist you might like the 20 gr V-max better. I have used ww 760 way back in the day.
I have the charge weight written down. Most my loads through a chronograph, IMR 4320's load is the speed king with 4150 fps with nice 5 shot groups. With WW 760 was fine IIRC & I was getting average fps of around 3900 with Max loads. Same as 4166 also.
All I ever use is rem 71/2 primers, never a problem. 4320 is no more, I have plenty but I like it in 223 with heavy bullets.
I think cfe has some value in the 17 for handling copper smear @ 4000fps so I use it now a day's, even though
I don't shoot it much anymore unless I see a critter off in the distance from my house.

If you've been shooting then since introduction, how long does a barrel last? I just got into the .17 Rem a couple years ago and absolutely love it and love shooting it, but am curious when I'll have to rebarrel my first one. ( Ive got 2 now...)and FWIW I dont run them hot...all my loads are around 3600 fps.

I'm wondering what rate of twist my 700 LVSF is. I have read where it's 1-9, and I tried doing the cleaning rod twist, but I don't trust myself to come up with the right answer. Anyone know?

I never checked it in my LVSF but it stabilizes and shoots 30 gr. bergers just fine, so I'm just guessing 1 in 9

That rifle looks familiar!

If I did the cleaning rod test correctly, my barrel is a 1-10 twist. Doesn't really matter, as I'm going to be shooting the 20 and 25 grain bullets.

I just scoured the net and the consensus of opinion says its a 9 twist, as are the BDLs...Ive got one of each, they both handle 25 and 30 gr. bullet great,so there you go FWIW

I was expecting to find a 1-9, because that's what I'd read as well. I'd like to find someone that bought a 17 LVSF new, and still had the box because Remington usually put the ROT on there. I bought a LVSF in 243 new, and it shows a 1-9 2.5 ROT, as does every other 700 in 243 that I've seen.

When rem switched to 1in 9 I sent it back for a barrel. The throat is eroded out a bit on the 1 in 9 & one of the reasons the 25gr Hornady V-max shoots better than the Horn HP. It's a long bullet for the weight. I can seat it out there a ways. The Remington bullet was a stub, it shot good, took a lot of fox, chucks & crows with em. Never shot them a bunch for grp, most for load development. The 1 in 10's had issues with Rem's short bullets and also had rough barrels, it was well publicized & they fixed it, bugs were ironed out. I started using 25 Hornady HP"s as soon as they came out, liked em took a lot of varmints, coyotes too. Still never shot to much from bench, just load work & hunt and settled on 4320 pretty quick. Then CFE came which I like. So 2 barrels, 1st under warranty & the 1 in 9 which I got not long after they came out with the 17 Rem. The short 25gr Hornady HP still shoots pretty good even today.
I'm 67 and won't wear it out, I use other rifles for group shooting. It still has to be cleaned of copper every 50 shots er so.
Loads of 3600fps you might not have copper issues to bad. It is a blast to shoot, I can see impact most times, & a tick for recoil.