17 Fireball Hits 4,132 FPS!

V

VarmintGuy

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Yikes thats fast!
And this velocity is from a 20" barreled Rifle!
In this months "Handloader" Magazine there is an EXCELLENT article on the 17 Remington Fireball.
Many interesting items were touched upon by the author including a comparison of the trajectories of the 17 Remington Fireball and the 22-250 Remington all the way out to 500 yards.
But the most amazing thing I thought was the speed the author achieved in his 20" barreled Rifle with 20 gr. bullets - 4,132 F.P.S.!
Thats smokin, AND, that speed will translate into enhanced lethality on Varmints and way flat trajectories over normal Varminting distances.
It makes me wonder what kind of velocities I will be able to get out of my Remington 700 VSF (with its 26" barrel) in 17 Fireball?
To date I have been shooting 25 gr. Berger bullets in my handloads. Yesterday though I traded into some Hornady 20 gr. V-Max bullets and I already have some H-322 powder (the powder used to obtain the super-velocity) on hand. I will get to work on my own 20 gr. loads as soon as I get a break from Spring Bear Hunting and Ground Squirrel Hunting!
Another powder that performed well velocity wise in the authors tests was H-4198. With velocities right on the heels of the H-322 powder, and in the authors Rifle, accuracy was even better with the H-4198 powder.
I have some of that on hand as well.
This "handloading hobby" can certainly be a busy endeavor at times.
Long live the 17 Remington Fireball.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
 
Varmintguy,

A couple of years ago I had two different 17 Mach IV's which as you know are for all intents and purposes the same same thing as the 17 Fireball.

In one rifle I used 25 grain Berger (moly) with Benchmark powder and achieved exceptional accuracy at around 3850fps. The other rifle seemed to have a strange hunger for powder and was happy consuming at least half a grain more Benchmark with the same Berger for a genuine, chronied on several ocassions, 3950fps !!

With 25 grain bullets give Benchmark a try, start around 17.8 grains and work up in 0.2 grain steps up to around 18.8 grains. The load is pretty warm but not crazy hot.

Benchmark is probably to slow with 20 grain bullets and the faster powders you mention are probably better choices, I don't know if you'd get enough Benchmark in the case to get high pressure with 20's. Do give Benchmark a try with the 25's though, it is a good choice for high velocity and accuracy.

The small case 17's are fun aren't they ! I only got rid of the Mach IV's to pay for a Cooper Varmint Extreme in 17 Ackley Hornet. I had the 17AH up for sale recently but am now pleased it didn't get a buyer, a keen rifleman has to have at least one 17 centrefire.

Bryce
 
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My experience has been the .17 AH has much more range with the 25 gr. pills than the 20s. The same with .204 Ruger...39 SBKs at 3900 will get you farther than 32s at 4100.
 
BJS6: Bryce, yes I am very "keen" on the 17 centerfires. I have become very enthralled with them.
They suit a LOT of my purposes to a "T"!
Thanks for the tip on the BenchMark powder - I will put that on my list for the 25 grainers to try.
I have copied your loads and inserted them in the proper place in my handloading log.
I also got started with the 17 MachIV in the 17 caliber line - it is an amazingly lethal round even though the terminal ballistic effects are not as graphic as some of my other cartridges. That suits me fine.
Sounds like I am going to have to put the 17 Ackley Hornet on my list.
I'll take you guys's recommendation as gospel. I have always wanted a "Hornet something" that would shoot well - I have had the worst luck with the 22 Hornets I have tried over the years.

Tylerw02: I appreciate your point on the higher B/C bullets doing better out there farther. And I agree with your point.
But let me refer you to the 2,008 Remington catalog, page 88, lines 1 & 2 and then lines 5 & 6. (Also peruse the 17 Remington trajectories on lines 3 & 4).
Lets assume the prudent folks at Remington have loaded the rounds on those lines to the same (approximate) pressures - IF they have, it shows (on lines 1 & 2) the 17 Fireball using the 20 gr. bullets shooting FLATTER out to 500 yards than with the 25 gr. bullets!
Then on lines 5 & 6 with the 204 Ruger cartridge it shows the 32 gr. bullets shooting flatter than the 40 grain bullets out to PAST the 400 yard mark and at 500 yards the 40 grain bullet is only 0.8" flatter than the 32 grainers! Virtually the same trajectory out to there in other words.
To tell the truth 98% of my field shooting is at or under 500 yards.
So for my intended usages and ranges the lighter faster bullets with the flatter trajectories has me using them.
I have shot both 39 and 40 grain bullets in my 204's and they worked great and were accurate but the lethality and the flat trajectory of the 32 grainers is working really well for me.
My local pawn/sport shop has "a" box of 20 caliber 50 grain Berger bullets on their shelf and I have been trying to figure out a use for them - if you want to try them I would gladly obtain them for you (at your expense) and I would pay the shipping to you so you could try them.
I will be Hunting Spring Bear from 0400 hrs tomorrow til after dark so can't work on the bullets til Friday (May 16th) if you are interested.
More later
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
 
Thanks for the offer, but running the numbers I never saw any advantage to the 50s.

What I've always liked about the 39s and 25s is they are more wind resistant. Elevation is the easy part for me. As far as the 50 gr Bergers, the reason they don't really sell, at least in my opinion, is that they don't offer any real BC advantage over the 39 gr Sierra. I forget the difference, but for all practical purpose, it is the same. The advantage with the 39 over the 50 gr is they have the same BC and the 39 is faster.
 
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Good luck with the testing VG, do approach the upper end of the load range with Benchmark carefully, I doubt you'd have any problems but the top end is getting warm enough to exercise normal care, work up slowly looking for pressure indicators.

The 17AH - I have had around half a dozen 22 Hornets over the years, everything from an neat old BRNO ZKW465 to a Walther heavy barrel target rifle in a Walther silhouette thumbhole stock. Not one of them could even come close to my Cooper 17AH for accuracy. Sub half inch very easily and has gone as small as quarter inch on more than a few ocassions with a couple of different loads. If you don't mind a few extra steps to form brass you'd love a 17AH. Very mild to shoot and the barrel will last forever. 3775fps with a 20 grain VMax and N120 and a mild target load with the 25 grain Berger at 3300fps also with N120.

If you have TC's it'd be as easy as a new custom barrel but personally I'd favour a bolt action for accuracy. There are not a lot of actions that will feed well from a magzine when rebarreled to 17AH so the Cooper M38 single shot seems like the perfect choice to me.

The 25 grain VMax is an excellent bullet with about as good BC as you will get in the weight class. The only down side is it seems to need a 9 inch twist to be stable. Some 10's will shoot it well, not my 17AH, 2.5 inch five shot groups, with tipped bullet holes !!

Hope your bear hunting went well.

Bryce
 
I know that this is a little of topic, but I have had marvellous results using ADI's Benchmark 2 (sold as benchmark to you guys) with 25 grain bullets in my .17 rem. Starting loads were yeilding close to 3900fps, with HEAPS of room to get faster if you wanted, also with 50 grain Nosler BT bullets in a .22-250, max'd out close to 3900 fps.

Steve
 
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