.17 centrefire

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geth

geth

Well-Known Member
I have a variation through to purchase a 17 cf. Im leaning towards the 17 hornet but could go for anything in 17 cal? what would you get if you had the option? also what rifle would you go for? their dosnt seem to be a lot of option in this calibre.
 
.20 fireball aka .20VarTarg.. still really flat and can hit much harder with 40gn bullets and can still go light with 26gn... just saying..
 
Tom D said:
.20 fireball aka .20VarTarg.. still really flat and can hit much harder with 40gn bullets and can still go light with 26gn... just saying..
Click to expand...

20 VT is very nice round, but, his 17 slot on his cert. won’t allow him to buy one!
Ken.
 
The hornet is a little gem, very accurate, quite quiet, cheap to reload (15p with the 17gn bullets from Henry Krank) and the recoil is so low you can watch the bullet impact or even watch it fly if you shoot a long way. Makes my .243 feel like a blunt instrument.

I would have no hesitation in recommending it for bunnies out to 300yds.
 
cheers for the advice so far guys. To be honest, im liking the fact that the hornet is relatively on the quiet side. It sounds like just the tool for those distant crows and rabbits. i shall be in my local gun shop looking at the cz range this weekend i think.
 
17 Remington for me, zippy little thing, good for fox to 200 andvermin a bit further. Banjo string trajectory and very accurate!
 
.17 Rem with 25g bullets is a different league to .17 hmr the bullets has a much better bc and the velocity being circa 4000fps again makes it vastly superior to the rimfire. They are affected by wind but not any worse than .223 or even 22/250 up to about 250 yards. It depends what bullet they are using but the .17 25g v max is .230 bc even .22 cal 50g v max are only .250bc and the .223 will only shoot them at about 3300
(guess) so it is in the air for a longer time and more affected by the wind. .17 rem is a great cartridge.
 
geth said:
I have a variation through to purchase a 17 cf. Im leaning towards the 17 hornet but could go for anything in 17 cal? what would you get if you had the option? also what rifle would you go for? their dosnt seem to be a lot of option in this calibre.
Click to expand...

Hiya..
I have a .17 Remington c/f rifle that I bought from a friend something like ten years back. Once I sorted out which bullet&powder loads it liked (groups of 5 shots @ 100yds averaging around .70 inches - you read that correctly) I used it ALMOST exclusively for rabbit and fox destruction on nearby farmland.

I have a good quality chronograph and my original loads gave me around 4,100 fps (+/- around 30 fps) and that velocity coupled with a 20 grain Hornady V-Max bullet allowed me shots easily out to a good 250yds with virtually no allowance needed for drop from a 200yd zero. In fact, the ONLY targets I ever missed tended to be the really close ones where one DOES need to make allowances for the bullets being some 1.8 inches or so BELOW line of sight.

I shot literally thousands of rounds through that second hand rifle (and it had been shot a lot before I took it on).
Recently I changed my load to the same projectile, but pushed along at an astounding, measured average of 4,430 fps using a new(ish) powder load. Again accuracy was/is astounding, holding around .70 inches c.t.c.
There is a lot of hooey said about, and more often against this diminutive caliber, but as you can tell from my text, I rate it, highly. There IS a bit of copper deposits in the tube, and it need cleaning regularly..

My way of managing this was to clean after each shooting session unless I was load testing, and then I did quickie cleans between tests of different powder types. I am certain most reloaders have recognised that certain powders leave a lot more ash residue in the barrel than others, and a change to testing another load with different powders could possibly make a change in in-barrel resistance etc..

One cleaning AND accuracy tip is to buy or now produce your own projectiles with an effective, dry lubricant like powdered Molybdenum Sulphate - (Berger once sold 25 gr. pre-molyed .17 pellets but I can't find any anywhere now??). The moly gives the rifle bore a very light coating of lubricant and aids letting the bullet zip down the bore with minimal jacket loss to friction. Also I noted that cleaning post a shooting session could be as easy and simple as a couple of pass throughs with a bore snake or the like.

My thought w.r.t. .17 caliber c/f rifles (at least my .17 Rem rifle) must be obvious... I would buy another if I didn't already have one if you get my meaning??

The one caveat is that, for me it would have to be in a reasonable quality rifle. Mine is a really fine, slim, light weight SAKO VIXEN model. I say that simply due to the fact that when a wee copper jacketed projectile is travelling down quite high twist rifling (1:10 on mine) any roughness in the lands & grooves will likely pick up bullet jacket material and maybe give annoying occasional accuracy 'wildies'... I would also be happy with a TIKA if they make rifles in .17 caliber(s).

As for the actual round itself I doubt you would feel upset with the results in the field if you shelled out for that .17 Hornet (I have a .22 K-Hornet but that is another story)! As the bullets are SOOooo light 20 or 25 grains being the standard, recoil is virtually non-existant, and often I have shot at a ling range rabbit with my .17 Rem whilst holding firmly onto my rifle to see the bunny near vapourise, and due to that bullet's velocity it almost appeared to be instantaneous with the sear let-go!! Really incredible.

I hope your experience of a .17 rifle -should you buy one - is as good and productive as mine has been!!
Happy Shooting,
Steve....
 
Blobby159 said:
Hiya..
I have a .17 Remington c/f rifle that I bought from a friend something like ten years back. Once I sorted out which bullet&powder loads it liked (groups of 5 shots @ 100yds averaging around .70 inches - you read that correctly) I used it ALMOST exclusively for rabbit and fox destruction on nearby farmland.

I have a good quality chronograph and my original loads gave me around 4,100 fps (+/- around 30 fps) and that velocity coupled with a 20 grain Hornady V-Max bullet allowed me shots easily out to a good 250yds with virtually no allowance needed for drop from a 200yd zero. In fact, the ONLY targets I ever missed tended to be the really close ones where one DOES need to make allowances for the bullets being some 1.8 inches or so BELOW line of sight.

I shot literally thousands of rounds through that second hand rifle (and it had been shot a lot before I took it on).
Recently I changed my load to the same projectile, but pushed along at an astounding, measured average of 4,430 fps using a new(ish) powder load. Again accuracy was/is astounding, holding around .70 inches c.t.c.
There is a lot of hooey said about, and more often against this diminutive caliber, but as you can tell from my text, I rate it, highly. There IS a bit of copper deposits in the tube, and it need cleaning regularly..

My way of managing this was to clean after each shooting session unless I was load testing, and then I did quickie cleans between tests of different powder types. I am certain most reloaders have recognised that certain powders leave a lot more ash residue in the barrel than others, and a change to testing another load with different powders could possibly make a change in in-barrel resistance etc..

One cleaning AND accuracy tip is to buy or now produce your own projectiles with an effective, dry lubricant like powdered Molybdenum Sulphate - (Berger once sold 25 gr. pre-molyed .17 pellets but I can't find any anywhere now??). The moly gives the rifle bore a very light coating of lubricant and aids letting the bullet zip down the bore with minimal jacket loss to friction. Also I noted that cleaning post a shooting session could be as easy and simple as a couple of pass throughs with a bore snake or the like.

My thought w.r.t. .17 caliber c/f rifles (at least my .17 Rem rifle) must be obvious... I would buy another if I didn't already have one if you get my meaning??

The one caveat is that, for me it would have to be in a reasonable quality rifle. Mine is a really fine, slim, light weight SAKO VIXEN model. I say that simply due to the fact that when a wee copper jacketed projectile is travelling down quite high twist rifling (1:10 on mine) any roughness in the lands & grooves will likely pick up bullet jacket material and maybe give annoying occasional accuracy 'wildies'... I would also be happy with a TIKA if they make rifles in .17 caliber(s).

As for the actual round itself I doubt you would feel upset with the results in the field if you shelled out for that .17 Hornet (I have a .22 K-Hornet but that is another story)! As the bullets are SOOooo light 20 or 25 grains being the standard, recoil is virtually non-existant, and often I have shot at a ling range rabbit with my .17 Rem whilst holding firmly onto my rifle to see the bunny near vapourise, and due to that bullet's velocity it almost appeared to be instantaneous with the sear let-go!! Really incredible.

I hope your experience of a .17 rifle -should you buy one - is as good and productive as mine has been!!
Happy Shooting,
Steve....
Click to expand...

What powders are you using Steve? I am currently on Viht 140 but suspect it is a little slow. I have some 135 to try when I hav shot my loaded ammo
 
Blobby159 said:
Hiya..
I have a .17 Remington c/f rifle that I bought from a friend something like ten years back. Once I sorted out which bullet&powder loads it liked (groups of 5 shots @ 100yds averaging around .70 inches - you read that correctly) I used it ALMOST exclusively for rabbit and fox destruction on nearby farmland.

I have a good quality chronograph and my original loads gave me around 4,100 fps (+/- around 30 fps) and that velocity coupled with a 20 grain Hornady V-Max bullet allowed me shots easily out to a good 250yds with virtually no allowance needed for drop from a 200yd zero. In fact, the ONLY targets I ever missed tended to be the really close ones where one DOES need to make allowances for the bullets being some 1.8 inches or so BELOW line of sight.

I shot literally thousands of rounds through that second hand rifle (and it had been shot a lot before I took it on).
Recently I changed my load to the same projectile, but pushed along at an astounding, measured average of 4,430 fps using a new(ish) powder load. Again accuracy was/is astounding, holding around .70 inches c.t.c.
There is a lot of hooey said about, and more often against this diminutive caliber, but as you can tell from my text, I rate it, highly. There IS a bit of copper deposits in the tube, and it need cleaning regularly..

My way of managing this was to clean after each shooting session unless I was load testing, and then I did quickie cleans between tests of different powder types. I am certain most reloaders have recognised that certain powders leave a lot more ash residue in the barrel than others, and a change to testing another load with different powders could possibly make a change in in-barrel resistance etc..

One cleaning AND accuracy tip is to buy or now produce your own projectiles with an effective, dry lubricant like powdered Molybdenum Sulphate - (Berger once sold 25 gr. pre-molyed .17 pellets but I can't find any anywhere now??). The moly gives the rifle bore a very light coating of lubricant and aids letting the bullet zip down the bore with minimal jacket loss to friction. Also I noted that cleaning post a shooting session could be as easy and simple as a couple of pass throughs with a bore snake or the like.

My thought w.r.t. .17 caliber c/f rifles (at least my .17 Rem rifle) must be obvious... I would buy another if I didn't already have one if you get my meaning??

The one caveat is that, for me it would have to be in a reasonable quality rifle. Mine is a really fine, slim, light weight SAKO VIXEN model. I say that simply due to the fact that when a wee copper jacketed projectile is travelling down quite high twist rifling (1:10 on mine) any roughness in the lands & grooves will likely pick up bullet jacket material and maybe give annoying occasional accuracy 'wildies'... I would also be happy with a TIKA if they make rifles in .17 caliber(s).

As for the actual round itself I doubt you would feel upset with the results in the field if you shelled out for that .17 Hornet (I have a .22 K-Hornet but that is another story)! As the bullets are SOOooo light 20 or 25 grains being the standard, recoil is virtually non-existant, and often I have shot at a ling range rabbit with my .17 Rem whilst holding firmly onto my rifle to see the bunny near vapourise, and due to that bullet's velocity it almost appeared to be instantaneous with the sear let-go!! Really incredible.

I hope your experience of a .17 rifle -should you buy one - is as good and productive as mine has been!!
Happy Shooting,
Steve....
Click to expand...

What powders are you using Steve? I am currently on Viht 140 but suspect it is a little slow. I have some 135 to try when I hav shot my loaded ammo
 
hi srvet, ive used viht 135 in my sako vixen 17rem, for nearly 28 years, great load never let me down, so for me i would go 17rem all day long over the 17 hornet
 
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