AusVarmint

I might start prepping some brass tomorrow to run up some .17Rem loads, its been quite some time since I did some loads for this little tacker and to be honest last time I just grabbed a load just a bit below max in the Alliant book with RL15 and run with that, not real sure where I got my COAL from but it seemed to work OK.

Now that I've got a chrono I have run one of the old loads over and it ticks over at a lazy 3889fps so can go a little quicker, the current load is 22.56g RL15 with a COAL of 2.165". A quick check this arvo with one of 3 rounds remaining shows there is some space left in the mag of the L461 so can go a bit longer if need be.

So is anyone else running RL15 in their .17Rems or are there potentially better options? I reckon another 100fps would be good,not overly concerned about barrel wear I don't shoot it that often and if it wears out I've had it since the late 70's so no biggie ( I guess I could always re-barrel to a .20cal hey Camel)?

Cheers,
Waldo

Waldo that would make a very nice 20/222, not quite up to the standard of the M85 Zastava, but you are getting there.

I have been using BM2 in my 17/222, got no idea of speed, and have been shooting 20gn Noslers. Maybe Barryb can give some advice, he is a very strong advocate of the 17Rem. Im sure he was using BM2 and maybe 2208. Check with him. Seating depth is a personal thing.

Your Hornady HP projectiles may start being a bit hard to find these days with all their wizbang plastic tips and all, so like I tell everyone who asks, stock up, they don't have a use-by date.

Camel wrote: Seating depth is a personal thing.

Your Hornady HP projectiles may start being a bit hard to find these days with all their wizbang plastic tips and all, so like I tell everyone who asks, stock up, they don't have a use-by date.

I'll prep some brass then split one to see how close or otherwise I was to the lands before.

I grabbed a box of the HP's a week or two ago with no problems, I think I've posted before the 25g Vmax keyhole something chronic out of this rifle. The 20g ones I assume would be a little shorter so maybe OK, one day when I'm bored I'll try some maybe.............................

Cheers,
Waldo

I could send some Nosler 20gn hp down for you to try out if you like ??

Camel wrote:I could send some Nosler 20gn hp down for you to try out if you like ??

All good thanks Camel, I have made things complicated enough as it is lately so I'll stick with what I know will work with little stuffing around.

Might load up a few to test then do a batch and find some of those rabbit or fox things to whack with it, it really is a nice little rifle I'm gonna make an effort to shoot it a little more often

Cheers,
Waldo

Hi Waldo.

in the 17 rem's i load for ive ben using AR206 H with the 25 grn HP's in th e old boys M55 Tikka and it shoots very nicely. not sure of speed but its not so much about that really.

My Brothers rem700 we have found AR2208 is the better of the two again with 25 grn HP pills but we are looking to try some 20 grain pills in it to see if it likes them better which i have an idea it will. ive not checked the twist but there is is some thing going on there. the bloke he got it off ran 22 grain pills in it. some of which we have but heavyer stuff is a little moe erratic than the light ones.

running these powders cos thats whats easy to get.

Flip

Yeh, I've got 2208 in the cupboard as well as the RL15, ADI list a higher velocity for the 2208 in comparison to Alliant with the RL15. They are just "guides" so it could vary a bit but once you're around 4000fps its zipping along regardless

The RL15 I don't use for anything else so may give that a trot first (mmmm better see how much is in the bottle otherwise it may be 2208).

I fart arsed around and came up with a distance to lands of 2.206" so have set my die for 2.186" which is about 20 thou longer than previously. Hopefully that'll be the end of load development for a while, weather is starting to cool down so better get out

Cheers,
Waldo

Im running 2 .17's, a m55 and rem700, ive used 2206, 2206h and 8208 behind the 25grn vmax all with excellent results, never tried 2208 but it should be fine.
Justin

My Sako 17 rem loved 23.5 of 2208 with the Hornady 25 HP.
Hornady 25gn V-max with 19.5 of 2207
I was running a 1 in 9 twist barrel.
Most standard barrels are 1 in 10.
So 20 gn V-Max and 25 gn HP normally work best.
Big G.

Waldo - I've used 4320 , 2208 ,2206, BM2 but lately I've found 8208 my go to powder in both Sako 461 , M55 & Savage. 2208 did work well but I considered 8208 had just a little over it. 23.2 gns of 8208 in the Tikka was getting close to 4000 fps but I have brought that back a little , at least until I officially own the rifle !! I've used 22 & 25 grain Karl Kuhne projectiles & also 25 Gn Bergers. Good luck with your load development with your little 17 , God's gift to foxes heads with bulging popped eyes.

I'm using up the last of my AR2206 in my L461 17 Rem.

An anaemic 20.5gn gives 3451 fps with the 25gn Hornady.

I've also tried 24 gns of AR2208 for 3800 using the same pill.

As I said, I'm trying to make mine last so leaning towards very mild loads.

Well I've still got a bit of RL15 laying around do put together 4 each of 22.5, 22.8, 23.0 and 23.2.
Still got 3 of the old rounds left, so ready for a range trip the next week or two.

Apologies I was gonna get a photo of my dog helping but she went outside to play

dhv wrote:
As I said, I'm trying to make mine last so leaning towards very mild loads.

I've had mine since the late 70's and still haven't shot it enough to wear it out, if I get to shoot it enough to wear it over the next "x" number of years I'll be damn happy because at least I've been using it

I finally got out to throw some of these little tackers down range, I seem to be narrowing things down so all good. All groups shot at 100m.

First group 3x old reloads (last of them) thru the clean cold barrel (good start) 22.5g RL15 COAL set at 2.165":

2nd group 4 x 22.5g RL15 COAL set at 2.186":

3rd group 22.8g RL15 2.186" again:

4th group 23.0g RL15 2.186" again:

5th group 23.2g RL15 2.186" again:


There was a couple of scope adjustments along the way which explains the POI changes for some of the loads. Seems to like a bit more go juice and going by the first 2 x groups maybe a bit more jump to the lands.

I may just run a few at either 23.0 or 23.2 and try a couple of different lengths. The rear swivel stud was kinda snagging the recently acquired rear bag a bit so maybe remove that next time.

Cheers,
Waldo

Yep, the 23.0gn load looks like it should have another run. Good vertical spread.

Any photos of the rifle.

Marcus