I have TWO .223 Remingtons, and that should be enough, BUT I'm still drawn to the .17 Rem for some reason. For those of you with experience in comparing these two particular calibers, could you give me some feedback about pros and cons please???

I played with it when they first came out, they suck on a windy day. The .204 Ruger is a big improvement over the .17 in my opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:
I played with it when they first came out, they suck on a windy day. The .204 Ruger is a big improvement over the .17 in my opinion.

I've heard the same thing about the wind doping problem with the .17 cal. Only thing in my mind though is that if I am looking at a .204 Ruger, I'd might as well stick with my .223s and load them with light bullets.

THANKS for the response.

i also owned one in a bdl 700 remington,pros very fast flat shooting no recoil,cons very very wind sensitive,in all fairness i gave up on it way too early and bought a 220 swift,yes your 223 with lite bullets won''t be far off in the speed department, truth be known the Australians keep this round alive buy useing it on fox''s down under, regards jjmp

About 20 years ago I was deep into woodchuck hunting here in the Berkshires. My partner had a sweet shooting Sako in .17 Remington, and we loaded the Hornady bullets with IMR 4320. Accuracy was very good, but field performance was definately lacking. The .223 is a better killer and easier to handle all around. That's my 2 cents.

The .17's now have better bullets to use, such as the new 25gr Vmax, and the 30gr Bergers. Both offer better BC's, thus reduced wind drift.

I don't have a 17 Rem, but do shoot a 17 MachIV and a 17 Ackley Hornet. The MachIV shoots extremely flat out to 250+yds, and it takes a brisk crosswind to really bother it.
Plenty of calm days around here to have plenty of fun with my .17's...launching a 25gr on top of 18.5gr of powder, at near 3900fps is a hoot!

At least no one mentioned the fouling myth of 17's; just like all other calibers, it is the barrel quality that determines fouling.

http://www.6mmbr.com/20caliber.html

Woods: this is one of several sites that indicates the 223 Rem has a hard time keeping up with the 204R in drift and drop, when comparing varmint weight bullets.
Additional bullets available for the .20's include the Nos 40, and the Horn 45gr.

I love the 223 Rem (have 4 of `em), but the 204R is quite wicked!

quote:

For those of you with experience in comparing these two particular calibers, could you give me some feedback about pros and cons please?

While shooting prairie dogs with all three of these cases...223, 204, and 17 Rem there appears to be little difference in practical range but on windy days the lighter bullets don't get around as well. Then the 223 don't do well either and the 25-06 comes out.

With the 223 one can still shoot 3,800'/sec with 40 grain bullets and also get 3,300 with 55 grain bullets and these work very well producing results. The 223 is easy to reload and is dirt cheap to shoot. That's the kicker right there....cheap!!!!!

I would much rather have a 204 than a 17 Remmy.

I shoot 50gr V-Max in my 222,223 and 20gr
V-Max in the 17MachIV just got some 25gr V-Max to try in the 17Rem. Very little hold over need with the 17Rem to around 300yds so I kind of limit my range to that but I've taken afew at 300yds plus. I tried some 500/600yds just to see how far the bullet drops was interesting much prefer my 6mmreAI.
I don't let the wind be an issue with me as I always take along another rifle. My 17Rem is build on a 40x action.

Woodsracer: I have a pair of Varmint Rifles in caliber 17 Remington. Along with 8 or 9 Varminters in 223 Remington.
I love the 17 calibers for Varminting!
The 17 Remington has lots of attributes that make me VERY happy with it - not the least of which is its sensational lethality on Varmints and small game.
I Hunt on just as many windy days as everyone else does - maybe more! The speedy little projectiles from my 17's get to the target in a hurry and I think you should take your own trip over to a good trajectory table to compare it with the 223!
Some of the other attributes that make the 17 Remington place so high on my list of favorite calibers is its absolute lack of recoil! No reason to drag along a spotting buddy when using this round!
This round is also fur friendly and lots of Coyote, Fox and Bobcat Hunters like them for this.
Varmint bullets from a 17 Remington just DON'T ricochet! This makes it a very safe cartridge for high volume shooting - in my experience at least!
I have been happy (blessed) to have had a VERY easy time finding accurate loadings in both my 17 Remingtons!
Brass life with my 17's has been about infinite so far for me!
Be sure and check the trajectory tables when comparing the 17 Remington and the 223 Remington!
The 17 shoots "pretty" flat for "pretty" far!
It would be a toss up for me to choose which caliber to take along on a one Rifle Varmint sojourn (between the 223 and the 17 Remington!).
They are both excellent rigs to take afield.
I say go for one and if you have any dissatisfactions with it they are easy to resell!
Best off luck if you decide to try one!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Varmint Guy, well said! I got on board the 17 Remington around 5-6 years ago and have not looked back yet! the bullet selection is great but you have to look a little harder than say the 22 cal. while I am a huge fan of the 22-250 I feel and have seen that the little 27.5gr. Hammett bullet has been a great yote gitter and with only a .17 cal hole in and nothing out it's about a fur freindly as you can get. While I may take a hit on this I have not taken the 22-250 out yote hunting in many years I just have more faith in the 17 making a DRT than the 22-250. Take the 17 out in the p-dog fields an you will fall in love, I have and like the 223 but it take some getting used to when going back to the 17 Rem to KEEP THE CROSSHAIRS ON TARGET! like the 223 you have to do some holdover but the little 17 Rem most times you hold off fur you'll miss.
Is the 17 Rem right for everyone? NOPE! but for me I just love it. Now most of the folks I hear that hate the 17 Rem own Remington rifles and they did not do a great job the little 17 cal barrels so I went with the CZ, as long as I keep the velocity under 3900fps I can shoot a long time in between cleanings. I would recommend finding someone around your area that will let you try out thier rifle and make your own decision, it took me over 4 years to get on the waggon but I can garranty I will not be without a 17 Rem again. Later,

Kirk