I'm going to try and spend some more time shooting coyote's this Winter. I see Remington is advertising a .17 Fireball. The best I can tell is it's a legtimized .17 Mach IV. They claim it will send a 20 grain bullet at 4000 FPS. I'm comparing it to the old "long" Remington cartridge. As I see it, according to a Lee manual in front of me, a 25 grain bullet over 20.0 grains of H335 is good for 3680 FPS out of the Mach IV. And the same bullet over 21.0 grains of the H335 will put out 3963 from the old cartridge. So 1 grain equals just under 300 FPS on paper. So...
20 some odd grains of powder isn't alot to begin with. Not when you compare it to say a .22-250 at 35-40 grains. Now, I find this interesting. When you talk to people about the .17 Remington, everyone has an opinion. I've heard all the horror stories about poor accuracy, barrel wear, wind drift, lack of energy, ETC. And all that from people who have never shot, let alone owned one. The folks who have used them love them. My own experiance with the .17 bore is restricted to the HMR, which I never liked. But that's traveling 1500 FPS slower. Remington is offering the Fireball in the SPS Varmint, and that has really got my attention. So I'm wondering from folks have used them, will the high speed .17's perform at 300 yards? Coyote's being at the big end, gophers at the bottom. I know that a 20 grain bullet will be lacking in the energy department. I would have no reservations in the 1-200 yard range. But after that, speed would really start to drop and then what? I thought it might make a nice rifle to take out Sunday mornings when you don't want the whole country side to hear you blasting away. And that little bullet would probably stay nice and flat, too. I've owned a pair of .223's, and would like somthing just a little different. Any thoughts on this little cartridge?
20 some odd grains of powder isn't alot to begin with. Not when you compare it to say a .22-250 at 35-40 grains. Now, I find this interesting. When you talk to people about the .17 Remington, everyone has an opinion. I've heard all the horror stories about poor accuracy, barrel wear, wind drift, lack of energy, ETC. And all that from people who have never shot, let alone owned one. The folks who have used them love them. My own experiance with the .17 bore is restricted to the HMR, which I never liked. But that's traveling 1500 FPS slower. Remington is offering the Fireball in the SPS Varmint, and that has really got my attention. So I'm wondering from folks have used them, will the high speed .17's perform at 300 yards? Coyote's being at the big end, gophers at the bottom. I know that a 20 grain bullet will be lacking in the energy department. I would have no reservations in the 1-200 yard range. But after that, speed would really start to drop and then what? I thought it might make a nice rifle to take out Sunday mornings when you don't want the whole country side to hear you blasting away. And that little bullet would probably stay nice and flat, too. I've owned a pair of .223's, and would like somthing just a little different. Any thoughts on this little cartridge?
