Last Winter, I picked up this barely fired .17 Rem LVSF. Fired it a few times to check the neck diameter and functioning, then set to tweaking and rounding up components.
The B&C stock was a flippin' mess...the alum. bedding block was off axis both directions relative to the stocks centerline and the forearm was twisted about 15 degrees relative to the butt. I used a lapping bar to straighten the bedding block out and give some room for a good amt. of Pro Bed, then did a two point bedding job (no contact along the reciever sides). The barrel channel was opened up for a good amt. of clearance.
A Redding f.l. Type S. bushing die proved a good fit for the chamber. The expander ball was reduced in dia. so it doesn't contact the i.d. of the neck. A .193 bushing proved to be what the gun likes. A Wilson inline seater from Russ Haydon and a Mike Lucas bore guide completed my gear needs. I already had a Dewey rod, lots of jags, brushes, pathes and other stuff from my previous .17's. At the Postal BR matches this year, I had won a certificate for 300 Berger bullets, so they kindly sent me two boxes (400) of 25 gr. match bullets.
Checking the seating depth showed a fairly short throat, with the base of the Berger 25's about halfway down the length of the neck when the bullet just contacted the lands. I cleaned the bejeezus out of the barrel with Butch's and a bronze brush, finishing up with a good JB'ing. Running a patch down the bore made me cringe as it feels rougher than a old corn cob. I wasn't expecting it to be like the Shilen and Lilja .17 barrels I used on my customs, but this was rough even when compared to other factory .17 barrel from Remington in the '80's and '90's. Oh well....
My custom barrels always liked WW760, but this one sure didn't. Three shot groups wouldn't go smaller than the big .6's to low .7's. IMR4320 has always been the classic powder for the .17 Rem, so that where I went next. My experience before with other factory .17 Rem. barrels was that they
start to shoot well with the powder around the 24.0 gr. mark. This
proved to be the case here, as well. At 24.0, 24.3 and 24.5 it shoots three shot groups in the mid to big .5's, with a best of a .485 @ 24.0 gr. Two seperate range sessions confirmed this load at temps from 50 degrees to 80.
Surprisingly, as rough as the barrel feels...it really doesn't copper foul badly. After 35 rounds, a few wet patches and 20 strokes with a brush gets the copper out. Just goes to show that 'ya never know how a barrel will perform until you wring it out.
So here it is: A Weaver V16 with Bal. Plex. reticle in Talley LW's is a nice optical setup for a rig like this. It's not particularly light, tipping the scale at 7lbs, 12oz. ready to go. But it's compact, is just heavy enough to settle well off hand and is well balanced. Once the temps drop into the 30's, I'll establish the 'zero' and see how the reticle stacks up. My initial thought is that the spacing is a bit much for the .17 Rem. Can't wait to get after some fox this Winter.
Anyway...good shootin'. -Al
The B&C stock was a flippin' mess...the alum. bedding block was off axis both directions relative to the stocks centerline and the forearm was twisted about 15 degrees relative to the butt. I used a lapping bar to straighten the bedding block out and give some room for a good amt. of Pro Bed, then did a two point bedding job (no contact along the reciever sides). The barrel channel was opened up for a good amt. of clearance.
A Redding f.l. Type S. bushing die proved a good fit for the chamber. The expander ball was reduced in dia. so it doesn't contact the i.d. of the neck. A .193 bushing proved to be what the gun likes. A Wilson inline seater from Russ Haydon and a Mike Lucas bore guide completed my gear needs. I already had a Dewey rod, lots of jags, brushes, pathes and other stuff from my previous .17's. At the Postal BR matches this year, I had won a certificate for 300 Berger bullets, so they kindly sent me two boxes (400) of 25 gr. match bullets.
Checking the seating depth showed a fairly short throat, with the base of the Berger 25's about halfway down the length of the neck when the bullet just contacted the lands. I cleaned the bejeezus out of the barrel with Butch's and a bronze brush, finishing up with a good JB'ing. Running a patch down the bore made me cringe as it feels rougher than a old corn cob. I wasn't expecting it to be like the Shilen and Lilja .17 barrels I used on my customs, but this was rough even when compared to other factory .17 barrel from Remington in the '80's and '90's. Oh well....
My custom barrels always liked WW760, but this one sure didn't. Three shot groups wouldn't go smaller than the big .6's to low .7's. IMR4320 has always been the classic powder for the .17 Rem, so that where I went next. My experience before with other factory .17 Rem. barrels was that they
start to shoot well with the powder around the 24.0 gr. mark. This
proved to be the case here, as well. At 24.0, 24.3 and 24.5 it shoots three shot groups in the mid to big .5's, with a best of a .485 @ 24.0 gr. Two seperate range sessions confirmed this load at temps from 50 degrees to 80.
Surprisingly, as rough as the barrel feels...it really doesn't copper foul badly. After 35 rounds, a few wet patches and 20 strokes with a brush gets the copper out. Just goes to show that 'ya never know how a barrel will perform until you wring it out.
So here it is: A Weaver V16 with Bal. Plex. reticle in Talley LW's is a nice optical setup for a rig like this. It's not particularly light, tipping the scale at 7lbs, 12oz. ready to go. But it's compact, is just heavy enough to settle well off hand and is well balanced. Once the temps drop into the 30's, I'll establish the 'zero' and see how the reticle stacks up. My initial thought is that the spacing is a bit much for the .17 Rem. Can't wait to get after some fox this Winter.
Anyway...good shootin'. -Al
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