I don't just hunt coyotes, but p. dogs, ground squirrels, magpies, crows, and what ever else. I shot a load of 24.0g of IMR 4320 with the 25 Remingtons in the Sako's and had to clean the rifles every 35 shots to make sure that the bullets made it to the target. In the Rem 700's, I shot a heavy load of Win 760 with the Rem 25's, then the Berger 25's with the small HP, and waxing the bullets made huge difference in the length of shot strings that we could shoot.
Let's just list the problems incurred with the 17 Remington that Sako and Remington offers
1. Extremely long throat-can't touch lands with 25g Bullet
2. rough bores, that need cleaing every 25-65 rounds or
the bullet may just hit the ground 35 yards in front of
you or never make it to the target
3. whippy cleaing rods that are sure to be bent
4. finicky load development, that may or may not repeat
on the next time to the range on factory rifles.
5. you have to accept the fact that from time to time
shots may just disappear when shooting a factory 17 Rem=
lost animal. Again, custom barrels with minimum spec
chamberes do away with a lot of problems.
6. Coyotes shot in the rear when they are running away, may
not be found (25's)
7. coyotes shot in the rear of the stomach, many not be
found(running or trotting shots where you don't leade
them enough).
8. foxes can be shot all to heck with the 25's at 4000+ fps
17 Ackley Hornet best for foxes
In summary, the long throat, over sized chamber that work hardens the necks on the brass, and the rough bores on the factory rifles, make load development a real pain that only the most determined and experienced reloaders usually master. Once you learn the in's and out's of the 17, things
get easier.
I never had any problems killing coyotes with the Custom 17 Rem, but I had rather own a 17 Mach 4 on a Sako hands down.
The 17 Rem on a trued 700 that I built with a Shelin barrel, match chamber performed the way a gun is supposed to perform, 3/8" groups first time to the range.
I have known a bunch of people that have struggled to get factory guns to group well in the 17 Remington, the best thing you can do is re-barrel them. Many of the folks that owned the factory guns, gave up in disgust and sold the guns.
I shot Benchrest for 8 years, made my own bullets, chambered guns...Learned my way around all kinds of custom wild cats 20 years ago.
I have spend many, many hours trying to help a fellow shooter to get his 17 Rem to shoot that were factory guns...many hours...no other caliber gives a shooter fits like a factory 17 Rem.
No other caliber has a cult like following like the 17 Remington, and no other group of shooters have ever been such a state of denial of what their rifles are actually doing. They don't remember the shoots that they missed where the bullet just disappears, or the shots that hit the ground 25 feet in front of them, nor the bullets that hit a twig and never hit the animal.
I found out in my Remington 700 -17 Rem, that if I loaded with 22.0-23.0g of AA2015 with the 25's and waxed the bullets that I could get strings of 125 rounds before the bores "fouled" out.
No doubt that the 17 Remington is one of the very best "Hide" calibers on the market today, but in the factory guns, they CAN be the biggest sack of heck that anyone could lay down their hard earned cash on.
I have been on the board of directors for 3 gun clubs and try to help shooters with their problems. No one factory rifle in particular has given more people fits like a FACTORY 17 Rem....that's the truth.
If a guy a hide hunter and wanting a 17 Rem, it is a very good investment to order a Lilja barrel and have a gunsmith put a new barrel on his rifle with a minimum spec chamber with a short leade...best money you ever spent.
I have never shot the 30g bullets, which no doubt puts the 17 Rem in a different league in as far as killing power and copper fouling also in a factory barrrel.
For a hide rifle, another caliber that should really start making a name for its self is the 20 Vartarg with the 32g Buillets at 3400-3500 fps.
