Anyone shoot the .17 Remington?

C

cdn shooter

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Very soon I'll be adding this chambering to the collection. I've located some dies and projectiles. But I'm curious about brass, and what bullets work best, even what powders might be best suited.

I have tons of .223 brass but don't have a 17 cal pilot for outside neck turning. Wondering if necking down requires this step.

Anyway, figured with the experience on here someone must own and load for one of these.
 
I used one once at a buddy's farm rem mdl.700 in 17 rem. I shot fox at around 90 yards. Hit dead center boy that bullet near cut him in half
 
Hahaha...bullets at 4500 fps have a tendency to do damage thats for sure.

I read a couple accounts of kills on large animals with these, one was a guy saying he took an american bison with a neck shot. And another guy said he had a one shot kill on an elk (head shot). Not that I'm supporting this type of thing....
 
The Hornady 25gr HP is a popular bullet, I have loaded a few up and plan to try them soon.
Berger makes a 25gr HP as well, I have nothing but great things to say about their varmint HP's, check them out.
There are also the 25gr Vmax and a 20gr Varmaggedon bullet from Nosler.

Put a wanted EE ad in the reloading/ammo section, you should have a good supply of brass within a week or two, that's what I did.

Seems like a lot of guys like Varget and IMR 4320. I'll try H4198 as well.
 
I had a 17 fireball for a while...... Thought it would be fur friendly on bobs and lynx but it wasnt.... Went back to a 223. I do kinda miss a 17 though!
 
cdn shooter said:
Very soon I'll be adding this chambering to the collection. I've located some dies and projectiles. But I'm curious about brass, and what bullets work best, even what powders might be best suited.

I have tons of .223 brass but don't have a 17 cal pilot for outside neck turning. Wondering if necking down requires this step.

Anyway, figured with the experience on here someone must own and load for one of these.
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.223 brass is way to much work to make quality .17 Rem brass. If you do it, neck turning and annealing, fire forming and turning again, then sort by make and work a load for each manufacturer. I wouldn't consider it for myself.

I shot a .17-222 back in 1966 and made my own bullets. When Remington came out with the .17 Remington and Hornady with the 25 grain bullet I switched to that combination using a Shilen match grade stainless blank. What a performer it was... Groups in the low .300's and extremely flat to 250 yards...only 1/2 inch mid range trajectory. I used BLC2 or Win748 at about 4000 f/s. Remington 7 & 1/2 primer is a must have... very tough primer handles pressures better than others.

Shot a lot of coyotes... broadside out to 300 yards worked beautifully... pretty much a failure on a coyote running dead away. Gophers at 100 yards became red mist... it was glorious with the sun in the background and a 10 power scope.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
Hey Cdn Shooter,
Let me know how much w760 you try in the 17rem?
I'd like to try it out as well but have no clue where to start.
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That is why they publish loading manuals...

17's can peak extremely quickly. Use published data, don't substitute components and work a load up, don't start up.
 
guntech said:
.223 brass is way to much work to make quality .17 Rem brass. If you do it, neck turning and annealing, fire forming and turning again, then sort by make and work a load for each manufacturer. I wouldn't consider it for myself.

I shot a .17-222 back in 1966 and made my own bullets. When Remington came out with the .17 Remington and Hornady with the 25 grain bullet I switched to that combination using a Shilen match grade stainless blank. What a performer it was... Groups in the low .300's and extremely flat to 250 yards...only 1/2 inch mid range trajectory. I used BLC2 or Win748 at about 4000 f/s. Remington 7 & 1/2 primer is a must have... very tough primer handles pressures better than others.

Shot a lot of coyotes... broadside out to 300 yards worked beautifully... pretty much a failure on a coyote running dead away. Gophers at 100 yards became red mist... it was glorious with the sun in the background and a 10 power scope.
Click to expand...

Thanks, some great info there.
 
I know a guy on the BC coast who uses his for Sitka blacktails on remote islands.
 
cdn shooter said:
17 remington wasn't even on my radar, but a 21" .17 rem barrel for a T/C contender showed up on the EE and you know how that goes.
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A friend had a .17 Contender. It was very sensitive to fouling build-up. Had to be thoroughly cleaned after less than 30 rounds fired, otherwise it would blow primers.
 
Well I got my dies tonight. First attempt at forming the .223 case went ok. I ran the .223 case into a .222 die and pushed the shoulder back as much as I dared. Then I ran it into the .17 die in stages and came out with a pretty well formed case. The neck is longer on one side so I'll need a .17 pilot to trim ( need that anyway). Now all I need is the barrel to see how tight the neck of the chamber is, and whether or not I need to neck turn.
 
Although I don't own a 17 Remington, I do own a 17 Remington fireball that will run 20gr noslers @4050 fps consistently. Like any light bullet, the 17s get pushed in the wind very easily. Although great gopher guns, I found them to be really inconsistent for coyote shooting. You either get them loaded to the point they cut everything in half that they hit, or you hit them 3 times and finally find the coyote dead 200 yards away. Still fun for gophers. I never got any form of good accuracy from Berger 25gr HP out of any gun I've owned, the 25gr hornady HP are a good one though. Fowling is terrible, every 100 rounds or less needs a full cleaning... but you should enjoy it for varmints!
 
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