Kory don't worry about the winshield and the break, I have a 416sw which is a 505Gibbs necked down to 416 and improved with the neck shortened by about 2mm(less than an 1/8") and with a load of 143grns of powder shooting from the tray of a pickup(ute in Aust) over the cab - so the muzzle break is right above the winshield with no problems, so your 223 should be fine although the paint on the bonnet/hood might not fair so well. Would suggest you use piece of leather to protect the paint work from gases. Do have a friend that gas etched the hood/bonnet of a car.

Was shooting over a freinds bonnet/hood with a 7mm Rem who already had a crack in the winshield and 1 shot was all it took to make the crack longer.

Kory: Let me relay this one Hunting experience I had with my "slow poke" 17 MachIV. My 17 MachIV was custom built on a Remington 700 action. I had it built with a HEAVY Shilen stainless barrel 26 1/2" long. It features a Jewell trigger and has a Leupold 8.5x25 variable scope on it. It weighs 12 pounds 11 ounces! It shoots Berger Moly-Coated 25 gr. MEF bullets consistently into really small 5 shot groups at 100 yards!

Anyway I had this rig along on a Varmint Safari to central Oregon a few years back! We were doing well on Rock Chucks thinning them out properly for several days on a large horse ranch. I had been noticing though a distant "rock island" in the middle of a huge pasture. This rock island had more than its share of the really big mature Rock Chucks that lived in it and whenever our shooting or presence was noted the mature Chucks would head for their dens in this island! By the time we got to it the pups were the only ones lingering out! On our last morning there I decided to take on this island and the double chubby Chucks that lived there!

I got up early and walked to the tree line that nearest approached this island. I lasered it and the island began 320 yards from where I set up inside the trees. I was fully camoflaged and layed out on my camoflaged Keb-Lab shooting mat. I chose to use my new at the time 17 MachIV and see if it would kill a Chuck at that range!

My 25 gr. Berger MEF's were only doing 3,527 FPS at the muzzle! I waited on the oblivious to me large Chucks to begin feeding in the moist morning grass!

My first shot took out the biggest of the bigs I could see! He died right where he was hit! No twitching no crawling not flagging - just instant cessation of movement! I saw the hit and saw THE EXACT POINT the bullet entered the Chuck! No recoil what so ever! Then I quickly began finding more targets for these tiny but deadly pills. My longest shot was about 335 yards and I took a total of 8 huge Chucks from that spot!

The Bergers were amazing - in that every one of those Chucks just died instantly! That is a long shot in my book with a relatively slow and small bullet! I would have expected much less lethality at that range with that speed!

I also have relayed to you in a P/M some of my experiences and opinions on the 17 Remington. I have two 17 Remington Varminters. Both are 700 Remingtons. One is the Remington Classic with 24" sporter barrel and the other is a limited edition 700 all stainless Varminter with 26" heavy stainless barrel. Both of them are virtually void of any felt recoil and sight picture is easily maintained under field conditions to allow one to spot their own shots!

I have killed Coyotes with the 17 Remingtons and they do a fine job and I would not hesitate to recommend them for Coyotes out to around 325 yards either! I am sure Jack Rabbits and Prairie Dogs will fall readily past 400 yards with a 17 Remington. I usually use my 17's on PD's out to 300 yards or a tad further.

Wind can be learned with the 17's just like any Rifle. The 17 Remington bullets travel so fast that the wind does not have much effect on them til they slow down way out there. Compare them to any Varmint cartridge in any ballistics table.

All three of my 17 centerfires are very accurate. The 17 MachIV being the clear winner in that comparison though - due mostly to scope power, Jewell trigger and maybe most of all the Shilen barrel.

I think the Cooper folks also make several Rifles in 17 centerfire calibers.

I recommend the 17 centerfires whole heartidly!

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy