Started loading for the 17 hornet and am having mixed results using 25grain Bergers would love to have a discussion with anyone who has loaded for this little round

i load for th 17 ackley hornet which is pretty similar it has been really fussy about powders. the only one that has been satisfactory is aa1680

The 17 Hornet and 17 K hornet seem to be fussy about powder. I have 2 Kimber 17 KH and they really like 4227 and the Hornady V max. A friend has a 17 Hornet and his likes Lil Gun. Mine was very inaccurate with Lil Gun while he said the same thing about his with 4227

Only powders we have available here atm are h332 and h4918 we started with h4198 haven’t done more testing to see but here’s where I think we’ve gone wrong , we found the lands and seated the pill just off at an overall length of 1.780 inches now to me it looked like the projectile didn’t have enough grab on it but my mate is convinced he would get better accuracy the closer to the lands we were so we started there , in quickload the default OAL is 1.723inches and here’s why I think I might be right with our problem , according to quickload using the same amount of powder there is a 3770psi drop in pressure on the case that is seated closer to the lands , the opposite normally happens in my experience so that’s abit weird…,
We can’t get better than a 5” group with this , I’ve told him to load the next lot at 1.723inches to see if there’s a difference and also load some up with h332 at both lengths and have also suggested we crimp them what do you think? The rifle is a weirauch and shoot 20 grain vmax factory’s at an 1” easily all day long , the projectile we are trying to load for is the Berger 25grain, be great to here some thoughts thanks steve.

I have 2 17 AH's One is throated for 25 gr bullets and one was throated for the 20gr v max. I use VV N-120 in both of them

Mine shoots really well with 1680 and the 20 gr VMax.

Some say CFE Black works equally well but I haven't tried it yet.

IMR 4198 for mine, other powders are faster, but not as accurate.

1680, never tried anything else.

10 grains of 1680 in my cz is my load. Love the 17 hornet.

I recently switched from the 25 gr Berger to 25 gr hollow point Hornady bulk bullet from Midway. Works just as well.

IMHO anything below 222 is a pain in the butt, hard to make shoot, hard to clean, need all new cleaning stuff, as they build up copper residue in a hurry, what Im saying is I will never own another..but thats just speaking for myself, oh did I add a slight breeze with blow your bullet to Baltamore from windy Idaho where I park my PU..

I know I will get hate mail for this, but I can't imagine a more useless cartridge.
But obviously some guys like it.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I know I will get hate mail for this, but I can't imagine a more useless cartridge.
But obviously some guys like it.

My buddies and I like using it. 100-200 (+/-) dead sage rats per shooter, per day at the height of the season. Also works quite well on rock chucks, badgers, and coyotes. But other than that, it's useless.

Here's yer hate mail......

Conversely......you don't see many 458's in the pd fields.

Apples/Oranges.....different strokes/different folks.

Kevin

quote:

Originally posted by rcraig:

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I know I will get hate mail for this, but I can't imagine a more useless cartridge.
But obviously some guys like it.

My buddies and I like using it. 100-200 (+/-) dead sage rats per shooter, per day at the height of the season. Also works quite well on rock chucks, badgers, and coyotes. But other than that, it's useless.

It’s a fine PD round. I would not take it coyote hunting, but if a coyote walks by, ……

It kills coyotes better than a 22 magnum, of which I've killed a number with.
I also admit, there's not a cartridge out there I cant find a use for!

Why use a caliber that seems to have so much drama to make it work, as evidenced by the first 4 posts?
And it is so small; like a BB gun.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Why use a caliber that seems to have so much drama to make it work, as evidenced by the first 4 posts?
And it is so small; like a BB gun.

Do you own one?
Have you shot one?

Try it, you might like it.

No and no. 22 is my min limit, and we have no small creatures here to shoot anyway. No rock chucks, badgers; we do have coyotes, but a 17 seems small.
I will never own one. They probably have no recoil either, which I like in rifles.

Actually it's smaller than a BB. (edit: oops......diameter, that is. )

Seeing what a 20VMax can do at about 3800fps may be quite eye-opening......and no....wind effects are not as great as Ray fears. A visit to the JBM Ballistics website would be helpful.

I do admit that the bore cleaning operation can be a bit of an artform with the larger 17 caliber cases.......not so with the 17H or 17AH.

Give one a try Tom.....it might suprise ya.

Kevin

It's fun to watch through the scope as a pigeon turns into a cloud of feathers before your eyes!

Way too small.

I could call it a 4.3 Hornet, but that doesn't sound any bigger Tom!

No; I am not interested in anything much below 33 caliber and 35 is better. 17? no. It's a BB gun, which I was not allowed to have. 22s; yes. My Mother figured I would be careful with a 22 but not a BB gun.

I have a 17 Hornet with a heavyish PacNor barrel on a martini Cadet action, and it shoots so well that if it were .243 cal about half the groups would be one-holers, and I've not noticed any copper problems. I often shoot it a hundred rounds sage rat hunting, same as my 222 and 223, and it cleans up pretty well. A neat thing is that it hardly moves when shot, and you can see the gore fly. Very rewarding.

I've also used it for prairie gods and it works fine but now and then one will drag itself into a hole.

To small for rockchucks in my opin, I use my 22BR, and still sometimes one drags itself off. I hate that.

DCPD- You're really deprived by not having a BB gun; I grew up on a farm in OR and we used to shoot grasshoppers by the thousands. Great sport.