# The vercitile 17 Rem.



## J.Mark (Jan 21, 2013)

A few years back a gunsmith gave me load for the 17 rem. using 4831 powder. 3500 to 4000 f.p.s. are tough on fox, so I used 23 gr. 4831 with a 25 gr. h.p. and got 2,870 f.p.s. I did some carcass testing with tiny exits. I just shot my first to grey fox with this load. one had a tiny little exit, and the other had a dime size exit at 80 yards. The amazing thing is that a 4000 f.p.s. load hits the exact same point of impact at 100yd. No other caliber ive shot does this. This makes the 17 rem. the king of fur friendly guns in my opinion. The 3600 to 4000 f.p.s. loads drop a coyote dead in his tracks with no exit at all ranges out to 3oo yd. The two fox ran 15 and 20 yds. and fell over dead. I dont think Id shoot a coyote past the ioo yd. mark with the slow round, and if i was calling fox and saw a coyote heading in from a distance Id eject the slow round and bolt in a fast one witch Id have next inline in the magazine. The 25 gr. Berger match was the best but they quit making them. I havent tested the Hornady 25 gr. h.p. yet. I read one guy who said the rem.20 gr. b.t. works great. hope this helps someone.


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## J.Mark (Jan 21, 2013)

One thing I must say about the reduced 4831 load in the 17 rem. It really fouls the barrel fast. If you are going to use this Ioad, clean the barrel every 5 rounds. If I was buying a super friendly fur gun today for fox and coyote,Primarily fox I would get the 17 hornet. Even the 17 fireball would be easier to load a slower velocity.I am going to do some carcass testing with some mef 20 gr. to see if I can find a velocity that will not exit a fox shot through the ribs.I think that at slower speeds the mef"s should not splash on the surface as they are sometimes prone to do. anyone ever done any experimenting with this?


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## phantomfly (Jan 22, 2012)

That's versatile...thanks for info.


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