17 Remington ammunition questions

SnowmanMo

SnowmanMo

President of Predator Masters
Staff member
I have heard that the 17 Remington is a fur friendly cartridge, so I ordered and received a 18in Specialized Dynamics, flat top upper. I took it out today, and my friend Steve shot a fox with his .223 SD flat top. After skinning it out, I test fired a couple of shots into the carcass and was AMAZED at the performance of the cartridge. It flat out devastated the carcass. I used the 20gr Remington Accu-tip, and the 25gr Hornady HP Remington ammunition. I was wondering what your results have been on fur damage with this cartridge, and with what loads are your best results?
 
I use 25 grain bergers in mine. I have had several 17's and all of them have loved these bullets, just don't shoot them in the shoulder.
 
I realy like the old 30gr berger match over 23.8 grains imr4320 the coyote and fox dont likem.great round ,ditto what bobtails said about shoulders
 
Originally Posted By: BOBTAILSI use 25 grain bergers in mine. I have had several 17's and all of them have loved these bullets, just don't shoot them in the shoulder.

+2 what BOBTAILS said.

The Hornady 25gr. hp's might work ok on Coyotes, but they probably won't for Fox. Plastic tipped bullets can be very explosive on critters on usually not very fur friendly.
 
I have killed just a couple with the 25gr and the 30gr Nagels and they worked fine. I had someone give me 200 rounds of the older Remington factory ammo loaded with the 25gr bullet that is not really a HP just a little dimple in the tip. They are sure enough critter getters. I must have shot a bunch of predators with them because I am down to the last 30 rounds and I have shot less than 20 at targets. I have used the 17 Remington DTech now for two years and it is one of my favorites to take out.

IMG_0272.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: K22
BOBTAILS said:
Plastic tipped bullets can be very explosive on critters on usually not very fur friendly.

Oh good golly yes!

I have a picture of a prairie dog that I shot with my .17 Remmy using the 20 grain Vmax bullet. Rather, I have a picture of a prairie dog's head that I shot with my .17 Remmy as that was the biggest piece of him. The range was less than 100 yards and he just disintegrated at the hit. I was borderline astonished that he blew up so much. Once the range gets out there a bit it settled down a whole lot but up close they are anything but fur friendly!
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Originally Posted By: RustydustOriginally Posted By: K22
BOBTAILS said:
Plastic tipped bullets can be very explosive on critters on usually not very fur friendly.

Oh good golly yes!

I have a picture of a prairie dog that I shot with my .17 Remmy using the 20 grain Vmax bullet. Rather, I have a picture of a prairie dog's head that I shot with my .17 Remmy as that was the biggest piece of him. The range was less than 100 yards and he just disintegrated at the hit. I was borderline astonished that he blew up so much. Once the range gets out there a bit it settled down a whole lot but up close they are anything but fur friendly!

I was hoping we'd hear from you Rustydust. Have you tried the 20gr.hp Nosler seconds on Coyote or Fox? How explosive are they? I think these are the same ones that Midsouth is selling as Varmint Extremes.
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Great info guys, thanks for the tips. The polymer tip stuff was sure impressive, it scattered teh backside of the fox. I am going to run with the remaining 25 grain HP's that I have then go looking for the 25 and 30gr Bergers, and load some up.

I am really looking forward to it being a good fur harvester, and it sounds like you guys are having great success with it.

Thanks again guys.
 
Originally Posted By: K22Originally Posted By: RustydustOriginally Posted By: K22
BOBTAILS said:
Plastic tipped bullets can be very explosive on critters on usually not very fur friendly.

Oh good golly yes!

I have a picture of a prairie dog that I shot with my .17 Remmy using the 20 grain Vmax bullet. Rather, I have a picture of a prairie dog's head that I shot with my .17 Remmy as that was the biggest piece of him. The range was less than 100 yards and he just disintegrated at the hit. I was borderline astonished that he blew up so much. Once the range gets out there a bit it settled down a whole lot but up close they are anything but fur friendly!

I was hoping we'd hear from you Rustydust. Have you tried the 20gr.hp Nosler seconds on Coyote or Fox? How explosive are they? I think these are the same ones that Midsouth is selling as Varmint Extremes.

Nosir I have not. So far I have not gotten the accuracy with the Nosler seconds that I have with the Vmax bullets. And yes, I have both the Nosler and the Midsouth bullets and they appear to be exactly the same. I sure hope that I stumble across a load that shoots really well using them because I just love blowing up ground squirrels with that .17 Remmy.

But like most of the others that use a centerfire .17 on fox and yote I think your best best would be to use a 25 to 30 grain bullet and try for a chest shot. Not saying that that Vmax wont do a fine job if you can manage to slip it between some ribs, but in my personal opinion they are just too catastrophic for anything that you want to later mount on the wall.
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Originally Posted By: RustydustOriginally Posted By: K22Originally Posted By: RustydustOriginally Posted By: K22
BOBTAILS said:
Plastic tipped bullets can be very explosive on critters on usually not very fur friendly.

Oh good golly yes!

I have a picture of a prairie dog that I shot with my .17 Remmy using the 20 grain Vmax bullet. Rather, I have a picture of a prairie dog's head that I shot with my .17 Remmy as that was the biggest piece of him. The range was less than 100 yards and he just disintegrated at the hit. I was borderline astonished that he blew up so much. Once the range gets out there a bit it settled down a whole lot but up close they are anything but fur friendly!

I was hoping we'd hear from you Rustydust. Have you tried the 20gr.hp Nosler seconds on Coyote or Fox? How explosive are they? I think these are the same ones that Midsouth is selling as Varmint Extremes.

Nosir I have not. So far I have not gotten the accuracy with the Nosler seconds that I have with the Vmax bullets. And yes, I have both the Nosler and the Midsouth bullets and they appear to be exactly the same. I sure hope that I stumble across a load that shoots really well using them because I just love blowing up ground squirrels with that .17 Remmy.

But like most of the others that use a centerfire .17 on fox and yote I think your best best would be to use a 25 to 30 grain bullet and try for a chest shot. Not saying that that Vmax wont do a fine job if you can manage to slip it between some ribs, but in my personal opinion they are just too catastrophic for anything that you want to later mount on the wall.

Well darn. I'm sure you've tried about everything by now, but IMR8208XBR might get you better groups.
I wish Remington would bring back those 25gr. sps bullets they used to make. Now those worked pretty darn good on Fox. Guess I'll have to be satisfied with what I have in the cabinet.
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Thought that I would give you guys an update. Went out today, and took the 25gr Hornady HP's with me. I committed to taking at least a few foxes to see what would happen. I was not disappointed. The first fox was a one hit wonder. I was able to drop him in his tracks at about 40 yards. I found two holes, but the are very small. The damage underneath the pelt was still impressive, though not as bad as with the 20gr Accu-tip bullets, that are officially on the shelf.

The second fox was not quite what I had intended. I looked up and there it was. I got behind the scope, centered on the chest and let the round go. Don't know if it was the foxes downhill orientation to me, the fact that it was slightly above me, or if it was the range, but the shot dropped in low, and took off a hind leg, just above the knee. It turned, and before I could get another shot, Dave threw a load from his 12 gauge at it. It took a couple of pellets, squalled and spun, before a headshot from the .17 finished it.

Here are a pic of the first fox, please note the lack of damage:
IMG_0308.jpg


Here is the second fox. You can see that the left rear leg is broken, and that the head is mangled.

IMG_0317.jpg


I am very happy with the results. The 25gr Hornady's did exactly what you all reported that they would, and you were all right. I will continue to try to develop a load that is even more fur friendly, but I can rest easier with my new fur getter.
 
Mousedipper-- Nosler sometimes has the 20 gr. Nosler HP bullets at their factory outlet store. I wonder, if some of the factory seconds sold by MidwayUSA or Midsouth Shooters Supply are the Nosler bullets?

The bullet I really liked for coyotes out of my .17 Remington was the 30 gr. FBHP Starke Red Prairie Varmint bullets. I had them loaded up to leave the muzzle at 3,900 fps. Clint no longer makes bullets, but I think C.E. Nagel has his dies and makes both an open tip 30 gr. FBHP and a 30 gr. FBHP with a smaller opening as well as 25 gr. FBHP with large and/or small openings in the hollowpoint. C.E. Nagel makes a very high-quality bullet and is a heck of a nice fellow to deal with.

I believe both grain weights of Nagel's bullets would perform well on coyotes. I'm not too sure how friendly they would be on fox though.
 


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