.17 Remington Bullet Selection

Lonnie

New member
I have a .17 Rem that I had re-barreled this summer with a shilen barrel and 1/10 twist. It is key holing 30 gr. gold bullets at close range. I am getting 1 1/2 groups with 25 gr vmax but the 30 gr are all over the place(only one hit on a 6" circle). A buddy told me to go to 20 gr vmax and that they kill coyotes well and group well out of this twist barrel. Has anyone else had the same problem?
 
I like the 25 gr Hornady hollow points myself. I load them down (3500-3600 fps) and don't have trouble with fur damage or accuracy out to 300.

Here's a pic of a bobcat and exit on a gray fox from these loads. The bobcat was shot right under the jaw at 125 yards with a quarter size exit. The fox was shot at 60 yards and the exit was about the size of a nickle.

Bobcat_Nite1.JPG


Gray_Fox-FoxPro_exit.JPG


Gray_Fox-FoxPro_1.JPG
 
my cz is a 1/9 twist it shoots the 20-25 vmaxs and the 25 gr hp hornady that shoots very well it does however detonate critters most of the time never shoot a dog with it it almost ripped a fox in pieces a few back Ron
 
I have good resluts with the 25gr. berger. This is in a 17 mach four with a 10 twist barrel. Also no excit holes in the hides ether.
 
I agree with Nickj1980. I also like the 25gr Hornady HP, and I slow mine down a bit too,all the way down to 3800fps. 3800 or 3600 fps either way that is pretty fast. Yeah it will do 4000 but as with most rifles .17s also typically shoot a little more accurately a bit below max speeds, and it extends barrel life too.
 
1/10 chambered for .17 Rem. is marginal for the 30 Gold. Some have success with it, but many don't. Your's is one of the many.

Berger 25 gr. Match is what I'd use for coyotes in a .17 Rem.

- DAA
 
Lonnie,
I have a Sako 75 Deluxe in .17 Rem with a 1:10 twist barrel, and it also hates 30 gr. bullets. I tried a half-dozen different powders, and no load combination produced less than 4-5" groups at 100 yards. Yet, at the same time it would consistently put factory loads (25 gr. Hornadys) into 0.6" groups. The 30 gr. Berger is my long-time favorite coyote bullet, but I have to shoot 25's in this rifle.

You should get better results than 1.5" groups out of a Shilen barrel, provided everything else is right about your rifle.

IMO, the 20 gr. VMax is too light and too frangible to be a coyote bullet. Use it on varmints. I personally don't care for VMax bullets of any weight or caliber for coyotes (flames start now). Lots of other guys use them, however.

John
 
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I personally don't care for VMax bullets of any weight or caliber for coyotes



Agreed--that goes for all the polymer tipped bullets IMO. They are accurate, but hard on fur on anything but a frontal shot and not dependable when the shot hits bone--at least in .172, .204, and .224 cal.
 
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I personally don't care for VMax bullets of any weight or caliber for coyotes (flames start now)

No flame's here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
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No flame's here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif



None from me either, They sure shoot good though.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Dave, did you kill anything with that 17 yet?
 
25 Gr Berger match is the oe to use.
From fox.cats and coyotes ad never ever a exit.
I push them at 3800 fps out of a 18 inch barrel.
And oh how they shoot great.
The match berger wont splashh like the 25 berger.
 
Lungbuster.

Nope i'm a weak suck /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Hopefully this weekend..and by the way i'm feeling the pressure..self imposed of course /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Too bad you can't get Starke bullets anymore ! I usually use Berger or Nagle 25 grain bullets in my 17 Remington's now . I sure do miss those Starke's though !

You might want to go over to :

Small caliber website

Ther are some very knowledgeable small caliber guys over there too .
 
Lonnie.i'm sorry i never tried to answer you're question..

I'm pretty new to the .17 world..i'll try though.

What powder..or..powder's have you tried with the 25 grain v-max ?? i still think i'd use another bullet,as suggested.

When i started loading for the .17 a friend suggested Winchester 760 or Imr 4320.

My 1st load's were 25 grain hornady h.p's & 760,they shot well,i played a little with Hodgdon's Benchmark with o.k. result's.

When i decided to try some Nagel 30's i thought i'd try Hodgdons' Varget..they shoot well thru my rifle.

These are my experiance's so far @ shooting paper.
 
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Too bad you can't get Starke bullets anymore ! I usually use Berger or Nagle 25 grain bullets in my 17 Remington's now . I sure do miss those Starke's though !





I have not used the Nagle's, but I know that Mr. Nagle bought and is using Clint Starke's old .17 dies. I believe he is using Clint's cores and the same jackets too. Which "should" make the Nagle's pretty much identical to the old Starke's. But, like I said, I have not actually used the Nagle's, so...

Clint gave me a lifetime supply of his 25 gr. bullets just before he anounced that he was closing up shop, so I'll never run out of them, even using them on prairie dogs. But, for coyotes, out of the .17 Rem., I'd still buy the Berger Match 25's rather than use the Starke's I've got. My Son sure uses a lot of those old Starke's out of my Mach IV on prairie dogs and jack rabbits though!

- DAA
 
Yep,,,,,,,Nagel's are made with Stark's dies and are the same bullet.
Chan's a friend of mine so I use his bullets exclusivly, but there's nothing wrong with Bergers. They both use J40 jackets and I truely can't tell the difference in performance on fur or accuracy.
V-Max are great bullets for Varmints,,,,period. There's a reason there's a picture of a Prarie Dog, and not a Coyote on the box.
As others have already said,,, "a 10 twist usually won't stablelize the 30's. Just use the 25's and run'em fast. Speed Kills.
 
Call me uncreative, but I just went with preferred loads from other members. I use 26.3gr. of Varget behind a 25gr. V-Max and it flat out destroys prairie dogs. For a coyote round, the 25gr. Berger Match gets the nod. These .17's sure are fun to shoot.
 
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Quote:
Too bad you can't get Starke bullets anymore ! I usually use Berger or Nagle 25 grain bullets in my 17 Remington's now . I sure do miss those Starke's though !





I have not used the Nagle's, but I know that Mr. Nagle bought and is using Clint Starke's old .17 dies. I believe he is using Clint's cores and the same jackets too. Which "should" make the Nagle's pretty much identical to the old Starke's. But, like I said, I have not actually used the Nagle's, so...

Clint gave me a lifetime supply of his 25 gr. bullets just before he anounced that he was closing up shop, so I'll never run out of them, even using them on prairie dogs. But, for coyotes, out of the .17 Rem., I'd still buy the Berger Match 25's rather than use the Starke's I've got. My Son sure uses a lot of those old Starke's out of my Mach IV on prairie dogs and jack rabbits though!

- DAA



You are a lucky man ! If I could get a lifetime supply of Starke's , I wouldn't shoot anything else . I wish I could get more 20 and 25 grain bullets from Starke !
 
DAA, you and I have discussed the 27 grain Kindler Gold as great match for a .17 Remington. Do you still like the Bergers better? The 27 Golds should still work in a 1/10 twist shouldn't they?
 
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