My 17 Rem CZ should be here by the weekend!

Does anyone have a suggestion for starting loads with 20 gr V-Max in this gun?

Thanks

trshep

Hello trshep,

I have a Remington 700BDL in .17Rem. My best load is with the Hornady VMAX 20gr. pushed along by 23.0gr.
of Varget. It'll print .446" (5 at 100yds.). IMR4320 works well with the VMAX also. In fairness I have to
say that it may precede or follow that .446" group with a 1.2" group. The rifle will definitely shoot - whenever
in hell it feels like it. 1.2" looks like a very large group with those small diameter bullets. It's a very
temperamental caliber in the best of times. Most of my shooting is at the bench with near perfect
conditions so wind is not usually a factor. The rifle features a good bit of copper fouling, requiring cleaning
about every 15 rounds. Still, I like the rifle. It's neat seeing your bullets strike home, and there's no
recoil to speak of. It's certainly taught me humility. That's for sure. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I hope you enjoy yours as much as I have mine already. Don't know about the 20g's, I'm shooting 25g bergers in mine. I'm interested to know how the 20ger's shoot in it though being a 1-9 twist barrel, so let us know. I'm shooting 24.5g of varget with the 25ger's, its shooting in the .3's-4's. The action was a little rough when I first got it, but now that I've worked it a 100 times or so and shot a couple hundred rnds, its as smooth as butter.



Cal: thats interesting about your 17 being tempermental, mine sure isn't, I broke the barrel in with two boxes of factory ammo (shot consitantly 1.5" groups at 100) cleaning it down to bare metal between each shot. Switched to the moly coated bergers (groups when immediatly to .3 - .4" at 100) I go 50rnd between cleaning and get very little copper fouling. Couple wet patches of hoppes bench rest let it sit for an hour or so, another wet patch and several dry ones and its clean. Also I can sit down and shoot 5-6 groups and never get one over .5" in good conditions. Also long range groups seem to be excellent also. About 2.75" at 300 yards. Sorry to say but its more consistant than my 700 VS in 22-250? go figure

I've got the same rifle as Cal, probably a little older though (early 70's), but mine likes 24.0gr of IMR4320 with the 20gr V-Max. It stays around .5" with this load. I have never used Varget in this rifle, so I can't comment there.

I've got the same rifle, I would recommend careful break-in as bearcat mentioned. I use Dan Lilgas method: clean after every round to bare metal for the first ten, after each 3 for the next 15 and after each 5 for the next 25. Pain in the butt but sure makes a difference in the long run. Mine isn't finicky either and shoots a number of combinations well. One of the loads I tried was 25.5 grains Varget and a 20 V-Max almost touching the lands, Remington 7 1/2 BR primer. My rifle definately prefered the 25 and 30 grain Bergers but the above combo shot solidly under an inch after break in. On a hot day I think a full house load under a 20 grain bullet in a .17 Rem would sure be a throat eater if you weren't careful. As always 25.5 is a max load that worked in my CZ but I sure didn't start there. Start low and work up slow. Keep us posted.

My 17 Rem CZ showed up Tuesday instead of Friday and I got to the range today.

Tried 20 gr V-Max and 25 hp Hornadys. My loads for the 25 didn't shoot worth a s**t, but the 20 gr V-Max shot at .6 at 100 yds.

I think with a little more tinkering it will probably do better, but .6 isn't too bad for right out of the box.

My best load was 24.0 of IMR 4895, Rem brass, Rem 7 1/2 primer and 20 gr V-Max.

Now the only problem is waiting for spring and the ground squirrels!

trshep

I had pretty good results with 23.3g of Benchmark, a Remington 7-1/2 primer, and the 25g Hornady.- This load is listed by Hodgdons as Max, so creep up on it. With the 20g V-Max, I use 24.5g of VARGET, with CCI BR-4 primers. Good luck, and enjoy your new acquisition!