17 Remington

my dad had a few shot good but would foul very quick, one was only a 7 or 8 shot gun before the barrel needed cleaning. if i got a 17 think i'd get a 17 hornet, 222 would be next. what are your plans with it.

17 Rem is a fast, explosive varminter and a great low round count caliber. Again, the problem is when it fouls. If you're testing handloads, it can be hard to tell whether it's the load, the barrel heat, the wind, or the barrel fouling that enlarges your groups. It's the only caliber where the powder charge is typically a bigger number than the bullet weight in grains.

I had a 700BDL 17 Rem. back in the day, I didn't find it to be bad at fouling the bbl... I never had to do a lot of bbl. scrubbing with it and I had it for a number of years.

It shot well and I did shoot it al lot, I just wasn't that fond of 17 cal., but it wasn't a bad cartridge...

DM

I have a Remington 700 Light Varmint chambered in 17 Remington. It was a good shooter to begin with but got alot better after I free floated the barrel and replaced the trigger.

With the light barrel, accuracy begins to wander after a few shots until the barrel cools back down. When I decided to go on prairie dog hunt, I considered taking the 17 Remington but felt ballistically it would poop out when the range approached 500 yards or so. I felt the 204 Ruger with a 39-40 grain bullets was a better choice. I've shot a few dogs out to 600-700 yards with the 204 Ruger.

My light barreled rifle would be a great walk-about varminter out to 300-400 yards.

There used to be some bullets available for 17 Remington that were heavier than 25 grains. About the time I wanted to try them, the supply dried up. I think, for longer ranges, the 17 Remington would benefit from a bit more bullet weight.

I'm sure there are some small bullet companies that make a heavier bullet for 17 caliber but I've lost interest.

Edit, I forgot, I also have a 24" heavy barrel AR-15 chambered in 17 Remington. It is a hoot to shoot. With the heavy barrel, it does not have the accuracy drift of the slender barreled bolt rifle.

Know someone who has and loves shooting the 17 Remington. Would love to own one sooner or later.

Guy I worked with over 20 years ago had one , a Mod. 700, that he had picked up used. Nice enough gun but when he got it he had no cleaning rod that would fit a 17 cal. bore. He quickly discovered he needed one badly, as I guess all those accounts of copper fouling quickly are true. Other than that they seem nice.

cfullgraf said:

I also have a 24" heavy barrel AR-15 chambered in 17 Remington. It is a hoot to shoot. With the heavy barrel, it does not have the accuracy drift of the slender barreled bolt rifle.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a neat setup. Never thought about being able get a 17 in an AR.

cfullgraf said:

When I decided to go on prairie dog hunt, I considered taking the 17 Remington but felt ballistically it would poop out when the range approached 500 yards or so.

Click to expand...

I quickly learned that the 17 "poops out" LONG before 500 yards!!

DM

andrews1958 said:

I am looking for something a little different to shoot at the cub and the 17 Remington has my interest? Looks like a nice round but so many others are going with the other 17 calibers and the 204. Your thoughts on the 17 Remington?

Click to expand...

Mr. Andrews says he is "looking for something a little different to shoot" so my first reaction is that the .17 Rem is a "little different" and will probably get considerable, well deserved comment at his club. But just between friends, I suggest he will probably be more content with a .204 Ruger. The reason being that the .204 offers a much greater variety in riffle, ammo and loading components, which make life simpler. But having said that, the .17 Rem, indeed all of the seventeens, offer many volumes of interest, and sometimes spectacular performance. I say that as one who has been tinkering with assorted .17 cal cartridges even before the .17 Rem arrived on the scene, beginning back in the '60's when I was too young to know better and invested in a used .17/222 with a 3-groove Ackley barrel, loading dies and a supply of Sisk bullets. It was a pretty thing, built on a SAKO action, and I had visions of laying waste to groundhogs around our farm. But the Ackley barrel, or the Sisk bullets, or probably both, had bad juju, and I could never get it to deliver respectable groups. Other .17 experimenters of the time were having similar similar results so I expect this was how .17's got a bad rep that continues and is often repeated by onlookers who have no firsthand experience. Not one to give up because of one disappointment, I continued to try other .17 variations, some of which are shown here. On top is a standard Rem 700, in 17 Rem, that I had to return to the factory because the blueing was shedding from the SS barrel. It was returned with a different matt coating that has stayed on. Other than adjusting trigger for lighter pull the rifle is unchanged and delightfully accurate with about every load/bullet I've tried. Next pic down is a .17.223 on top with Shilen barrel, and below is a lovely custom stocked .17/222 Mag. with Douglas. shoots as good as it looks. Next pic, shows my .17 Javelina with A&M barrel and Mannlicher style stock made by Paul Marquart, a founding pardner of A&M and his personal prairie dog rifle. And a recently put together .17 Fireball, with Douglas barrel on a salvaged Marlin rifle. All of the rifles, except the Remington, were built on SAKO Vixen actions. If I were to name three factors that have contributed to later day successful .17's: they are better barrels, bullets and cleaning rods. If someone wants more variety in their shooting life I suggest trying a .14 Cal.

DM~ said:

I quickly learned that the 17 "poops out" LONG before 500 yards!!

DM

Click to expand...

Yep. More like 300

I love my 700 VLSF in .17 remember, it's a .7 MOA rifle @ 200 and I haven't had copper fouling issues with it. But while it's a fantastic short range varmint and predator rifle, I wouldn't want it to be my only one, since shots are frequently well out of it's it's useful range. Any serious varminter has more than one rifle anyway, though, to rotate them so they don't overheat. I use the .17, a .220 Swift and a bull barrel .223 Wylde AR

I would think with my sausage fingers it would be tough to hold onto those little bullets for reloading...

shooter1niner said:

I would think with my sausage fingers it would be tough to hold onto those little bullets for reloading...

Click to expand...

They are a pain to reload, more an issue with powder getting stuck on the case mouth than handling the tiny pills, IMO. 4198 is the powder mine prefers all-around, and those long extruded granules get hung up almost every charge.

Yes, fine grain powders meter better into the tiny 17 caliber case neck than stick powders.

I have a long, clear drop tube for my powder measure that allows you to see the powder charge drop. If all of it does not enter the case, a few taps on the side of the tube and/or case gets the rest to drop. It makes using stick powders in the 17 Remington less frustrating.

If I remember, I bought it from Sinclair International.

With the small bullet of the 17 Remington, i just take my time and go slow when seating the bullet. I wish RCBS made a Gold Medal seating die for 17 caliber (or they did not when I last looked a few years ago). It is slick for seating 20 caliber bullets, which are not much bigger than the 17 caliber ones.

Another memory of the previously mentioned 17 Remington my co-worker had over 20 years ago was that when we chronographed it with factory ammo (don't recall ammo details; possibly Remington ? ) it actually got the velocity that was stated on the ammo box. It was also accurate once he finally got all the copper fouling out of it. Nice little round but if I had one the bore would be cleaned very religiously and more often than usual.

They fill a niche, that is for me at least; I think the .17 Remington is a great cartridge to use when calling predators. You can see your hits and misses through the scope easily. It will not shoot through a coyote of a bobcat at any range with a 25 grainer. Makes a tiny hole and no exit. Like others have said they will run out of steam out here in the west shooting across a hay field, but for most calling situations they are ideal if you save the fur.

I shot 17 Rem back when you could buy Rem 25gr bullets and that rifle was recalled by Rem and got new barrel. I had 17 Rem build on Rem 40x action and I also build 17 mach IV and I shot Hornady and Berger in those rifles. I was shooting lot of PD's back and I'd get little shooting in before winds got bad and I finally just quit taking them. I sold all the new brass/bullets took barrel off 40x sold action/stock kept other new barrel for 222.. I kept dies/cleaning rods and everything else for 17 cal.