best 17 bullet?

Why's that? I've heard it from a lot of people, but all the coyotes I've shot with 40 and 50 grain v-max have been nothing short of spectacular, of course that was with my 22/250, I realize the 17 is a whole different ball game.
 
just trust me
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I don't have a 17 Hornet but in my 17 Remington I am having very good results from the Hornady 25 gr HP. They are readily available and very reasonably priced,
 
Yesterday I got my first chance on a coyote with my 17 Hornet (527 American). I was shooting Hornady factory ammo with 20gr Vmax, speed from my rifle is 3500 fps. Approx 150 yard shot, broadside. It dropped at the shot but got up and was back in the timber. Found a few pieces of fur but no blood or any other sign of a mortal hit. Has me questioning the 20gr Vmax, so I have my eye now on the 25gr Hornady HP. Hornady is also loading these now in their ammo, 3375 fps
 
My guess is that you got splashing on the coyote you shot. You will be happy with the Hornady HP's. I know I am very happy with them in my 17 Remington and the best thing is that they are pretty inexpensive. I think I paid a little over $18 dollars for the last box of 100 I purchased a little over a week ago.
 
I don't see how a bullet can kill a coyote any more dead than the hornady 25 hp. Not fur friendly on fox, but great on coyotes.
 
Quote:Yesterday I got my first chance on a coyote with my 17 Hornet (527 American). I was shooting Hornady factory ammo with 20gr Vmax, speed from my rifle is 3500 fps. Approx 150 yard shot, broadside. It dropped at the shot but got up and was back in the timber. Found a few pieces of fur but no blood or any other sign of a mortal hit. Maybe wasn't a mortal hit, but maybe it was. A couple of years ago I shot a broadside coyote with my .17 Rem., and if it weren't for the fact that I had tracking snow, I never would've found it. I new I had hit it because with the suppressor I heard the meat report. But I tracked it over 100 yards and not one single drop of blood, but found it piled up. Lung shot but zero blood.
On the other hand, I hit one about the same with the same rifle and bullet, I've been using the Hornday 25 hp in my .17 Rem., but this coyote left tracking blood that a blind man could've followed and made it about the same distance.
Moral of the two stories, no tracking blood doesn't mean it's not dead, it just means it didn't leave a blood trail which is quite common with the little .17's of all breeds.
I second the notion that 25 gr. is as big as I'd suggest to use in the little hornet. Leave the 30 grain bullets for the bigger .17's.
 
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I am sending my CZ 17 Hornet off to get glass bedded and cerakoted. Once it comes back I will be feeding it some of the new Hornady 25gr HP factory loads.
 
Just in case someone is contemplating using the 29 gr. Kindler BTHP based the .297 BC one poster typed earlier:

Quote:The 29gr Kindler is a good bullet with a .297 BC. They have worked awesome out of my Mach IV.

According to the information posted at Kindler's Woodchuck Den Website, that ".297 BC" was WAAAAAY off the mark. The BC for that bullet is .240. Here's the list of bullets and BCs from the Woodchuck Den Website:

Woodchuck Den 17-Caliber Match-Grade Boat-Tail bullets are available in:

21 grain (.050 boat-tail) B.C. .160 1/9 or 1/10 twist
23 grain (.050 boat-tail) B.C. .190 1/9 or 1/10 twist
25 grain (.050 boat-tail) B.C. .210 1/9 or 1/10 twist
29 grain (.050 boat-tail) B.C. .240 1/9 or 1/10 twist
25 grain Gold (.100 boat-tail) B.C. .225 1/9 or 1/10 twist
27 grain Gold (.100 boat-tail) B.C. .243 1/9 twist only
30 grain Gold (.100 boat-tail) B.C. .270 1/9 twist only

I haven't shot very many 29 gr. BTHP Kindler bullets, but they sure were accurate out of my .17 Remington!!! I have also found that the Nagel 25 gr. T-000 and the Nagel 30 gr. T-000 bullets are great for prairie dogs and the 30 gr. T-000 bullets are deadly, but fur friendly, on coyotes.

I have shot lots of coyotes with the 30 gr. FBHP bullets Clint Starke used to make. However, I don't think he makes them any longer. I'm thinking C.E. Nagel bought Clint's dies and makes both the T-000 small opening HP bullets and the larger opening HP bullets.
 
Originally Posted By: SilverfoxJust in case someone is contemplating using the 29 gr. Kindler BTHP based the .297 BC one poster typed earlier:

Quote:The 29gr Kindler is a good bullet with a .297 BC. They have worked awesome out of my Mach IV.

According to the information posted at Kindler's Woodchuck Den Website, that ".297 BC" was WAAAAAY off the mark. The BC for that bullet is .240. Here's the list of bullets and BCs from the Woodchuck Den Website:

Woodchuck Den 17-Caliber Match-Grade Boat-Tail bullets are available in:

21 grain (.050 boat-tail) B.C. .160 1/9 or 1/10 twist
23 grain (.050 boat-tail) B.C. .190 1/9 or 1/10 twist
25 grain (.050 boat-tail) B.C. .210 1/9 or 1/10 twist
29 grain (.050 boat-tail) B.C. .240 1/9 or 1/10 twist
25 grain Gold (.100 boat-tail) B.C. .225 1/9 or 1/10 twist
27 grain Gold (.100 boat-tail) B.C. .243 1/9 twist only
30 grain Gold (.100 boat-tail) B.C. .270 1/9 twist only

I haven't shot very many 29 gr. BTHP Kindler bullets, but they sure were accurate out of my .17 Remington!!! I have also found that the Nagel 25 gr. T-000 and the Nagel 30 gr. T-000 bullets are great for prairie dogs and the 30 gr. T-000 bullets are deadly, but fur friendly, on coyotes.

I have shot lots of coyotes with the 30 gr. FBHP bullets Clint Starke used to make. However, I don't think he makes them any longer. I'm thinking C.E. Nagel bought Clint's dies and makes both the T-000 small opening HP bullets and the larger opening HP bullets.

Thanks for clarifying that Silverfox. Was the listed BC for the 29gr estimated wrong by Kindler and later corrected or was I just wrong on the BC? I bought my Kindlers prob 5 or 6yrs ago and I could of swore the BC was .297 but maybe my memory is not serving me well.
 
Jay Cummings--I don't have a clue what you read or saw about the BC of Todd Kindler's bullets 5 or 6 years ago. I have no way of knowing if the BC you think you saw 5 or 6 years ago was wrong and adjusted since then or if your memory was or is serving your wrong. All I did was list the statistics on Todd Kindler's Website when I visited it before I typed my response to your post so people were not misled by what you posted. I'm sorry if that ruffled your feathers, I did not mean to do so.
 
Hey thanks you guys, I've got some 25 grain v-maxes, just because they happened to be available at my local shop, probably gonna put in an order for something different from midway soon, pretty hard to get as worked up about loading as accurate as the Hornady factory stuff is in the rifle... but keep it coming! Also looking for opinions and field experience with the 17, I like it but I'm skeptical on using as my dedicated coyote gun for now, but man I hope it pans out, I love this little thing...
 
Just my ten cents...the 17 Hornet will certainly kill 'em with perfect shot placement. But day in and day out yer just gonna lose more coyotes with a .172 caliber than you will with a .224. We all know the coyotes don't stand there for you to get that perfect shot placement. I started out callin' gray foxes as young teenager in VA. We (my uncle and I) hunted almost exclusively at night. We used all sorts of weapons trying to up our kill ration and decrease fur damage. 22 magnum rimfires allowed perfectly lung-shot foxes to run off into the dark too often. So we go to the 22 Hornet; then, perfectly lung-shot gray foxes were dead right there, but sustained unsatisfactory fur damage. Everyone knows if you shoot any varmint in the brisket while he's looking at you straight on, he'll drop like a wet rag, almost regardless of the caliber weapon. That's not what I'm talking about here. I'm just talking about upping the percentages of kills and and harvesting good fur. We finally settled on the 12 gauge using modified choke w/3" mag, #4 buck or copper plated BBs (#2ish). This was the perfect weapon for us on the gray fox night hunts in VA. For one thing, we no longer missed. The foxes died quickly with only tiny little holes in their pelts. Now fast forward 10-12 years as we experienced a significant decline in gray fox density with the increase in coyote density, the same as the entire eastern side of the country.

I'm a huge .17 cal fan and own two 17 Rems that I reload for; a Model Seven and a 700 Classic. I've taken several trips west to call call coyotes...and get some reasonable action. It's not that fun to hunt coyotes in VA & NC these days without night vision, thermal, etc. It hard hunting and a guys is lucky to kill 15 coyotes/winter without $5K worth of night gear. Anyways, I've shot several coyotes with my 17 Rems and about half didn't go right down. I've recovered all of them but I've also had to use follow up shots on several. My go to gun anymore is my .222 Rem in the east, and my 220 swift when I go coyote hunting in the west. 40 grain Sierra HPs in the 222, and 52 Amax in the swift has worked out. Each provide minimal to zero exit wounds and no runners to speak of. I'm not a high numbers guy like Borkon or some of the other guys out west so they have the best data and experience. But it just seems sensible to use a caliber you can be more sure of (.224 caliber), that hits harder and introduces the additional shock needed to down a coyote sized animal. For the bobcats, it seems like a larger case centerfire 17's with higher energy would be a better choice than a hornet based round.

Again, don't get me wrong, I love these neat little cartridges and I tinker with them continuously. But when it comes to KILLIN, they haven't shown me they are right for coyotes on a daily basis, and in most cases, cats either. Not trying to spar with anyone on opinions just sharing some experience. Albeit, I"ll be back in GA in a week and I will very likely make a few stands calling coyotes with my .17 Rem. Heck like everyone, I wanna hunt with ALL my guns.
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JB in NC
 
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Please try the Nagel bullets or Reeds custom. Kindler sold his awesome bullets to a irresponsible fella in Texas. The plastic tip bullets are accurate, but not suited for big coyotes. I have shot a bunch of coyotes with the .22 and 6mm.'s they work great (plastic tip). Stick with the heavies for the .17. Maine coyotes are large but 17's kill wolves like lightning in the heavies. I shot coyotes for the last 4 yrs. not including 2016 with the Mach 4. Stellar results out to 300 yds. after that ran out of go. Had to find a different bullet. Kindler quit, it cost me 6 coyotes. I shoot Reed's now. Nagel had no bullets. But he is a coyote hater.(Nagel) and pleasant, kind and super sharp. Reed's is a Marine. His bullets are stupid accurate. I am not going to say what their bc is because at 7200 feet above sea level a cowpie is flat. I have been gifted these last few years with stellar coyote hunting. So my results have been from luck. I'd rather be lucky than good any day! Humbly Dan Wanfalt
 
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