.17 centrefire

[Blobby159]

Hi srvet and bluesako,

After a lot of experimentation the powder I used for many years was Hodgdon H322 (which meters really well due to its tiny granular physical qualities). With the 20gr. Hornady V-Max bullet I had a very consistent load that shot tight, cloverleaf groups from my Sako Vixen .17 Rem rifle. The velocity was a pretty acceptable average around 3,950 fps with my accuracy loading.

Since the appearance of CFE 223 this has been my favourite, giving very nearly as brilliant accuracy but upping the velocity of those same 20gr. little bullets to an amazing 4,430 fps....

 

[Odders]

One thing I do know is .17 Remington is hard on brass.

Split necks on firing & buckled cases when resizing made it a right PITA.

 

[20-250]

One thing I do know is .17 Remington is hard on brass.

Split necks on firing & buckled cases when resizing made it a right PITA.

Close on 20 years of reloading the 17 Rem taught me that the Remington brass does split the odd neck and that splits at the neck/shoulder junction are certainly not uncommon. However, if buckling cases you are doing something wrong.

 

[bluesako]

in all my years of loading for my 17rem ive never had a split neck or buckled case, as above, after 7 or 8 loads i bin them and start on fresh brass, a friend called me about his split necks on his 17 rem, and i asked him how many loads he,d done with them, and he said maybe 11 or 12 he didnt know, he,d bought them as used brass, yes 17rem brass isnt the best out there, but if you look after it, its no worse than any other make, ive heard shooters complaining about lapua and norma brass, its all down to you the way you load your brass.

 

[Sauer90]

One thing I do know is .17 Remington is hard on brass.

Split necks on firing & buckled cases when resizing made it a right PITA.

I have plenty of new old stock brass, it would split the neck (age hardened), annealing put that problem to bed - I only can the brass when primer pockets give up now.

 

[Matt234]

17 Fireball a bit fiddly to load but well worth the effort and cheap to load.

 

[sir-slots-alot]

I have had all three cals ( 17 H - 17 rem and now the Furball) All of them are great on vermin.

out of the three, the hornet was my least favourite, as it was definitely most fussy to load for.
I also never really got really good consistent accuracy too, groups were on average 0.75 MOA - whereas the 17 rem was roughly half the size and my FB is about 0.5 MOA.

I also felt under gunned for a 200 yard fox and several times didn't take the shot on, whereas with the 17 rem/ FB there wouldn't of even been a thought and the fox would have dropped before the crack had died.

The 17 rem and the 17 FB are quite similar and both excellent on all vermin and as an occasional foxing rifle. Shooting the 25 grn Vmax at over 4000 fps and currently 3860fps in the FB is proper crow medicine. I noticed the 17 H more wind sensitive - but still a great rifle at shorter range to be fair and I put plenty of bunnies in the bag.

If you want you shoot over 250 yrds or have fox on the menu - I would go for either of the bigger 17 cals.


ATB
Alan

 

[Selous]

I have had all three cals ( 17 H - 17 rem and now the Furball) All of them are great on vermin.

out of the three, the hornet was my least favourite, as it was definitely most fussy to load for.
I also never really got really good consistent accuracy too, groups were on average 0.75 MOA - whereas the 17 rem was roughly half the size and my FB is about 0.5 MOA.

I also felt under gunned for a 200 yard fox and several times didn't take the shot on, whereas with the 17 rem/ FB there wouldn't of even been a thought and the fox would have dropped before the crack had died.

The 17 rem and the 17 FB are quite similar and both excellent on all vermin and as an occasional foxing rifle. Shooting the 25 grn Vmax at over 4000 fps and currently 3860fps in the FB is proper crow medicine. I noticed the 17 H more wind sensitive - but still a great rifle at shorter range to be fair and I put plenty of bunnies in the bag.

If you want you shoot over 250 yrds or have fox on the menu - I would go for either of the bigger 17 cals.


ATB
Alan

There speaks the voice of experience!!
Well done !

 

[25 Sharps]

Hi srvet and bluesako,

After a lot of experimentation the powder I used for many years was Hodgdon H322 (which meters really well due to its tiny granular physical qualities). With the 20gr. Hornady V-Max bullet I had a very consistent load that shot tight, cloverleaf groups from my Sako Vixen .17 Rem rifle. The velocity was a pretty acceptable average around 3,950 fps with my accuracy loading.

Since the appearance of CFE 223 this has been my favourite, giving very nearly as brilliant accuracy but upping the velocity of those same 20gr. little bullets to an amazing 4,430 fps....

Yikes

 

[jb1]

Yikes

Thats a "yikes" primer somewhere other than the primer pocket, and it did get on paper at 100yds.

That was using BLC2 and nearly 1 grain under max, a warm day and thicker brass (nosler custom instead of Remington) Needless to say I now either use Varget or CFE223

 

[dlz90]

I have had all three cals ( 17 H - 17 rem and now the Furball) All of them are great on vermin.

out of the three, the hornet was my least favourite, as it was definitely most fussy to load for.
I also never really got really good consistent accuracy too, groups were on average 0.75 MOA - whereas the 17 rem was roughly half the size and my FB is about 0.5 MOA.

I also felt under gunned for a 200 yard fox and several times didn't take the shot on, whereas with the 17 rem/ FB there wouldn't of even been a thought and the fox would have dropped before the crack had died.

The 17 rem and the 17 FB are quite similar and both excellent on all vermin and as an occasional foxing rifle. Shooting the 25 grn Vmax at over 4000 fps and currently 3860fps in the FB is proper crow medicine. I noticed the 17 H more wind sensitive - but still a great rifle at shorter range to be fair and I put plenty of bunnies in the bag.

If you want you shoot over 250 yrds or have fox on the menu - I would go for either of the bigger 17 cals.


ATB
Alan

There speaks the voice of experience!!
Well done !

I'll second that the 17 rem is a fantastic love mine....

 

[remy223]

17 Fireball!

 

[bluesako]

my choice on powder for the 17rem is viht135

 

[Highlander]

For those using the 17 Fireball are your rifles single shot or repeaters, and if repeaters what actions are you using and do they have any problems feeding / extracting.

Regards,

HL

 

[Tom D]

I have a .20 fireball (vartarg) it does not feed or extract all that well in a Tikka 590 action.. if I were doing it again I’d use an action with a fixed ejector (slot in bolt face) as opposed to a plunger type. In terms of feeding the single stack mag can be modded to perform but I can’t help wondering if a double stack would work better. If I find a Sako 75 action 1 in stainless I will buy it and pull the barrel off my 595. It’s not like the Tikka is a disaster, I love it, but a 75 would be perfect.

The main thing is avoid the plunger ejector...

 

[finnbear270]

.17 Fireball feeding difficulties are few, and any I may have encountered were cured by fast bolt cycle.