I am looking for 17 rem loads using 30 gr bullets. Preferably the Berger MEF. Any suggestions?

These loads are not for the Berger MEF, but they are for the 30 gr. Starke Red Prairie Varmint bullet which has a large hollow point hole. I have two loads that have worked well for me. This first one leaves the muzzle of my rifle at 3,631 fps and is extremely accurate in my rifle. It is 21.7 gr. of H4895 with a Remington 7 1/2 primer.

The next load is the one I use for coyotes. I use the same Starke bullet, Rem 7 1/2 primer, but load 24.6 gr. of VVN540 for it. I get a muzzle velocity of 3,900 fps with this load and very good groups. It has been a very fur friendly load and seems to knock the coyotes down on the spot, but, as with any bullet, you have to place the shot right.

I have been working with the Berger length tolerant 30 gr. bullet and have some promising loads, but I ran out of time for getting them fine tuned for this fur season. I think you may find that Varget might work OK with that bullet too.

Salixco-- Yep, Clint Starke is not longer making bullets. I am not sure that Nagel has Clint's 30 gr. bullet dies. It would be worth checking on though.



Your original question was about loads for 30 gr. Berger MEF bullets. Here are some links that may have some of the information you seek:



Reloader's Nest



Saubier.Com



HuntingNut.com



Steve's Reloading Info



Hornady's Links Page



However, like one of the other posters said, there are lots of other bullets out there that have higher BCs than the Starke bullets and several folks report having GREAT success with the knock-down power and fur-saving characteristics of these bullets.



Blaine Eddy, I believe, uses the 26 gr. RBT HP GENCO bullet. I laid in 200 of them and will do some testing with them if the weather warms up enough so I can use my chronograph.



Chappie Gennett makes .17 caliber bullets in weights from 16, 22.5, 26 FB HP, 26 RBT HP, 26.7, 29, and 32 gr. I think if you order enough, he'll even make up a custom batch for you.



Hammett makes a couple of .17 caliber bullet weights that have been reported to be excellent for coyotes. Kevin Rayhill of Stockade Gun Stocks handles these bullets and I think the 27.5 gr. and a 29 or 30 gr. are the ones coyote hunters have been having good luck with. Kevin is from Chardron, NE (308)432-5114 and he is a gunsmith and hunter too!!!



The 30 gr. Kindler Golds (Todd Kindler at Woodchuck Den) have been super for some folks and the 30 gr. Berger LTBs have received some good reviews as well.



I was fortunate enough to find two excellent loads for the 30 gr. Starke bullets and they shoot like a laser in my .17 Remington, so I'm not super interested in switching. I laid in 1,000 of them just before Clint closed up the shop and have about 900 of them left. That's probably more bullets than I'll probably shoot between now and the time I begin pushing up daisies, but if I need them, I have them