Recently picked up an old Tikka M-55 that started life as a 222. It had been rebarreled with a stainless 17 Rem barrel The gentleman I picked it up from claimed factory ammo would shoot dime sized groups @ 100 yds. Loaded up test loads using 4320 and 25 Hornady HP bullets. That was a bit of an effort for anyone with big fat fingers! This little thing relly shoots. groups uner 1/2 in @ 100yds. Just curious what powder other have had sucess with in this calibre?

My old M-700 shoots well with 24 gr IMR 4895

I'm up on the North Slope and not able to access my load data but my old 17 I had for many years thrived on 4320 and Hornady 25 grain bullets. It took many a coyote with no fur damage. It was fun for ground squirrels as well.

It was a bit of a challenge to load for with the tiny bullets but well worth the effort. I intend to build a little lefty 17 in the near future. I really miss my old one. I think I'll look into a straight line bullet seater like the old Vickerman bullet seating dies.

The 17 is on very fun cartridge to play with. I never experienced any of the supposed fouling issues the 17 was supposed to be plagued with. My wife and I used it often on ground squirrel shoots when we lived in the lower 48. It wasn't uncommon for it to go 200 rounds between cleanings. The first year I used it on ground squirrels I cleaned it meticulously every 40-50 rounds, believing the fouling myths. All that cleaning cut into valuable squirrel time. I decided to see just how many rounds it took to get to the point that I felt I couldn't reliably hit a squirrel at 200 yards. After 250 rounds I gave up. The day was almost over and I was still connecting with squeaks at 200+ yards. I never did figure out how many rounds it would take to foul it bad enough to miss squeaks.

It was a great fur rifle. I used it for several years as my calling rifle. It would reliably take coyotes to 250 yards. I rarely took shots that long. Most of my called coyotes were under 100 yards. The little 25 grain hollow points rarely exited and the effect was akin to shutting off a light switch. The coyotes, hit solidly in the chest just dropped like their switch got shut off.

Regrettably, that 17 got traded off several years back. I have missed that rifle almost since the day it left. I do have an excuse now to put together a nice little lefty in 17 Remington. I still have lots of brass and bullets.

I'm sure you will enjoy your 17. They are a ball.

Mart

I found the 17 fantastic on fox sized animals and it worked for close shots on wolves and even smaller meat caribou with carefully placed shots but once velocity dropped off beyond 200 yards the little bullets lost a lot of their steam.

I used to use RL15 in mine when I still had it. I never could figure what it good for, that couldn't be done just as well or better with something else.

25.5 4320 and 20 V max in my Rem 700s

h335, but always with a remmy 7 1/2 primer

I have had good luck with AA-2495, Rem. 7-1/2 primer, and the old Rem. 25 gr. power-lokt HP. I wish they still sold that bullet.

17 calibers have been my thing for many years.

Here's a pic of my 40XBR 17 Javelina, that I use just for PD's. It's longest shot was 631 yards.....with a 20 VMax at 4200fps, and a howling cross-wind. It took me 13 shots....great fun!! Friend Of The 17, Kevin

I have an old 700 in 17 rem, I am surprised at how accurate factory stuff is in the rig. I bought 20 boxes of old and new for $5 a box, as much for the brass as anything. The darn stuff would shoot 5/8 to 3/4" 5 shot groups! 4320 and rem bullets shoot best in my rifle. As a side note, I borrowed my friends 17 while in Australia and had no problem dumping big feral goats.

Thanks for all the input guys. I made it to the range and shot the loads with 4320 & 25 gr Horn HPs. This little rig is great. Looking forward to doing some gopher hunting this summer with it.

Snowman,
My 700 likes RL 7, shoots 4 tenths @3,750.

Stepchild