AusVarmint

.17 remington question

Any here use this calibre ? Seems to be plenty of crusty old old BDL's for sale but all i have seen have had poor throats.

Does anyone here run a new .17 remington or .17 remington fireball that can compare it to the old .223 ?

Cheers

I have a sweet shooting Sako A1/L461 sporter. I have mine shooting very well with reduced loads @ ~ 3700fps. Neat little cartridge.

Same as Mulga.
Pete

I too have a sako L461.
I am running reduced loads using trailboss.
My only gripe with the 17rem is the brass. The batch i have is not up to par, the shoulders on a 10% have small wrinkles (not cracks) and one split the neck on second fire (with TB load).
I am considering turning it into 17FB or 20VT but need more range time with the current barrel to make up my mind.

Yeh the new Remington brass is crappy and you have to sort through it. I ended up buying 3 packets for $25 each reduced from $115, thieving bastards. Have you seen that Nosler is now making ammo for the 17 remington, im not sure but possibly components too.

http://www.nosler.com/Bullets/Varmageddon.aspx

Also a good article on the 17 rem
http://www.coyotegods.com/pagepart15.html

Great resource for sub calibres
http://www.saubier.com/forum.html

BTW. I use AR2208 for my loads.

I saw the varmageddon range and was a little surprised they didn't make a 17FB load too.
I wouldn't have thought it would be too difficult to source brass if they already have 221FB & 17Rem.
Whoever supplies them can form the little FB cases and can form a 17cal neck.
Another one i would have thought would make them a killing was a factory 20VT load.

So hopefully Nosler start selling the brass and more hopefully the brass is Norma made (or anything but Remington).

I've had both the 17 rem and the fireball and although i didn't chony the remington the fireball is capable of 4000fps with 20gr bullets without pressure being an issue.

my opinion is the 17 remington is over bore, high pressure and fouls a lot quicker. I'd go with the fireball and a build off a sako L461 would be very nice indeed

andrewk wrote:I'd go with the fireball and a build off a sako L461 would be very nice indeed

Ding ! now to find someone with a less than expensive action !

L461 Sako here as well. 2nd hand but fun to have. Bugger all recoil. Watch the action.

Handload only. DO NOT PRICE FACTORY AMMO WITHOUT A HEART STARTER WITHIN EASY REACH 8~)

dhv wrote:Handload only. DO NOT PRICE FACTORY AMMO WITHOUT A HEART STARTER WITHIN EASY REACH 8~)

Hopefully the nosler's are more reasonably price.

found 2 sako's in .222 - just need to negotiate a price.

Wondering whether i should just get pac-nor barrel ( group buy ) and a .17 fireball reamer.

I have a shot out .223 old remington available - but i prefer the sako L461 action.

Alternative of course is to rebarrel the savage. ( it needs a new trigger and stock )

hideous wrote:

andrewk wrote:I'd go with the fireball and a build off a sako L461 would be very nice indeed

Ding ! now to find someone with a less than expensive action !

works very well in a CZ527 222 donor

trevort wrote:works very well in a CZ527 222 donor

problem is the high costs of these cheap CZ rifles. Something that should be $500 new is $850 here.
I did notice the $1500 527 in UG in 300whisper.

Both my cheap sako <$800 rifles fell through so i am looking hard at affordable actions.

Tikka M55 maybe

since most people have a unrealistic value on their old rifles its going to be easier to buy a .17 fireball in a base remington model for $925 new with rings.

we know the older handfitted Finnish actions are better but if I hand a new $900 rifle to a gunsmith and I spend $400 on it - i have a new rifle in better steel and a handfinished by a smith.

Since most .17's i have seen so far have throat wear -they are 1970's vintage - it makes no sense to spend $1200 on an old rifle just to have it rebarrelled, giving it a $1800 price tag.

I am seriously considering buying a $925 remington and spending the money on a good gunsmith to take off the rough edges.
More aftermarket stocks, sights, accessories for a remington anyway.
Looking at most local AU "Fly shooter" gunsmiths - most would welcome the dollars.