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Posted by: Doug Rumbaugh ® 02/20/2002, 10:19:11 Author Profile |
I have some questions for those out there shooting a .17 Remington with Remington brass. How many reloads do you get out of your brass? When the brass goes what happens; split necks, open primer pockets, poor accuracy? What level of accuracy can be expected from this caliber with reloads? What is poor and what is exceptional? What powders work best for you? I have "The Sensational Seventeens" which seems to recommend AA2700, VihtaVouri N-135, Win760 but I have heard from other sources that Varget is really good. I like Win760 but it makes for a very dirty barrel. N-135 seems a lot cleaner but I want something a little slower to fill up my case. Varget falls in between them so maybe that is the ticket. Shooting Berger 30 grainers at 3750 fps, what is my maximum range on eastern groundhogs? Thanks. |
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Posted by: corbin shell 02/20/2002, 11:09:01 |
Doug,
Brass will out last the barrel many times over. Provided you do not over load. Everyones definition of accuracy is different. With a good set up (optics, bedding, trigger and barrel) you should be able to shoot under 1" at 200 yards in good conditions. At 600 yards 4-7" being the norm on calm conditions. I was using Win 760 but ran out. Then I switched to Varget sense that was what I had on hand. Both shoot the same size groups in my rifle. You will be fine with N-135. It is almost the same burning rate as Varget. You should not plan on shooting the 30gr bullets faster than about 3800fps. If you do you WILL loose one every now and then. The more the barrel gets fouled the more often this will happen. I cannot comment on the effective range on a ground hog as I do not shoot animals. I can speak from experience that the 30gr bullet that impacts a 1 gallon milk jug full of water at 625 yards will completely mushroom and often looses its core. The jug will split on the back side from the hydrostatic shock. Corbin Shell |
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Posted by: Drifter 02/20/2002, 14:46:52 |
Doug, I am with Corbin on brass life, if you don't load them too hot they will last a long long time. I have 100 rem cases that I have been cycling through and have probably reloaded each case 8 times with no problems at all. For full power loads with 25 gr starke bullets I like 24 gr of IMR 4320, that will shoot .50" or better at 100yds consistantly in my rig. But that is a destructive load. I have loaded strictly 10 gr of bluedot under a 25 gr starke for the last 500 or so rounds and plan on sticking to this load. it pushes the 25g bullet right at 3000fps and is a great fox load. that is my only critter that I hunt here with the 17 and it is perfect out to 200 yds. still about 1/2" @100yds. there is little case trimming with this load. If you are at the end of case life you could expect, split necks, loose primers or gas escaping from the primer pockets.Like I said I havn't experianced any of this yet tho. on the ground hog.....I would say there would be plenty of gas left in a 29g bullet at 300 or 350yds. I limit my fox shots to 200 yds and performance is unreal for such a small bullet. see ya
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Posted by: Doug Rumbaugh ® 02/20/2002, 16:35:21 Author Profile |
Thanks for the input. I was expecting to limit my shots to around 300 yards because groundhogs are very tough critters. I never tried any blue dot loads but maybe I should to keep the noise down. Thanks again. |
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Posted by: corbin shell 02/20/2002, 15:05:23 |
Doug,
I had some N-135 laying around and decided to load up a couple and run them thur the clock. Tested about 15pc. First off I shot 2 fouler shots of another load. 30gr bullet Vit N-135
I am using a Ohler 35 with Proof channel. The spacing is exactly two feet between channels. Next I loaded up a couple to test for velocity I want to shoot at which is 3750fps.
High- 3809
Keep in mind this is only 5 shots.
Corbin
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Posted by: Doug Rumbaugh ® 02/20/2002, 16:29:48 Author Profile |
Corbin, Wow! I didn't expect anyone to go out and try the powder. Thanks. I was doing the same thing you were today. I made my brass from RWS 5.6x50 Magnum brass but my results were similar. Making the brass, I was able to fit the neck to my factory chamber (.198" in a .200 chamber) and get consistent neck thickness (+-.0003") but what a pain in the ???. The fireformed brass has a powder capacity of less than the Remington brass but, as it turned out, I can easily fit as much powder as I can safely shoot in this case. I loaded and fired the same three pieces of brass 11 times at which time the primers pockets were pretty loose. They opened up noticeably with the 21.8 Gr. load so using strictly the 21.5 Gr. load may last longer. Up until the last three groups, I was seating the bullet touching the rifling and was getting a lot of 2 touching, 1 away. On the last three groups of three, I backed the bullet off the rifling about .010" and fired them all at the same bull. The nine shots (3 3 shot groups) formed a group of just under .5" at 125 yards. That should be fine for hunting. I was measuring the powder using my RCBS balance beam scale and was not being real particular (basically I was dropping the charges from my RCBS powder measure). I checked the weight on my Ohaus digital scale and found I was off by .15 grains so subtract .15 from all the weights below. As such, the load I settled on is really 21.35 grains giving about 3750 fps which is what you suggested. One other point, right after I annealed the brass I got two very good standard deviations. I think I am going to anneal after every two loadings. Fireforming load of 20.7 Gr. V N135 behind a Berger 30 grain bullet: 3650
21 Gr. 3669
21.3 Gr. 3725
21.5 Gr. 3750
21.5 Gr. 3730
Annealed brass 21.5 Gr. 3721
21.5 Gr. 3765
21.8 Gr.
21.5 Gr. 3723
21.5 Gr. 3731
21.5 Gr. 3728
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Posted by: Nyle Howsmon ® 02/20/2002, 19:56:32 Author Profile |
Doug:
I've been using a 30 gr Berger MEF with great success. I use 23.5 grs of VVN540 for a velocity of 3760 fps, COL 2.180 which is very accurate. Rick Jamison of Shooting Times said that you need 10 times an animals weight in foot-pounds of energy (20 lb. groundhog x 10 = 200 foot pounds of energy needed for clean kills. According to my ballistic program, a 30 gr bullet with a BC of .193 at 3750 fps will give you enough energy out to 400 yards. Hope this helps. Nyle Modified by Nyle Howsmon at Wed, Feb 20, 2002, 20:24:07 |
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