A quick look at the speedy but moody .17 Remington.
The .17 Remington was introduced in 1971 as a new chambering for Remington’s 700 series bolt-action rifles. The case is based on the .223 Remington necked-down to .17 caliber, with the shoulder moved back .087 inch to lengthen the neck while retaining the same shoulder angle. The .17 Remington is similar but not identical to the .17-223 wildcat developed about 1965.
Experiments with .17-caliber rifles go back to 1944, when P.O. Ackley, the well-known gunsmith and experimenter, developed the .17 Ackley Bee based on necking down the Improved .218 Bee case. There are a number of other .17-caliber wildcat cartridges made by necking down .22-caliber centerfire cases, such as the .221 Remington Fireball, .222 Remington and more. Remington, New Ultra Light Arms, Wichita and Sako offer rifles in this chambering.
The .17 Remington has had a steady, though unspectacular, sales record since its introduction. Its greatest drawback is that it is a special-purpose cartridge suited almost exclusively for varmint shooting. For the sportsman who wants a rifle only for that purpose, this is not a disadvantage, but those requiring a rifle for both varmint and deer hunting would be better served with some other cartridge.
With the 25-grain hollow-point bullet loaded by Remington and similar bullets available for handloading by Hornady, the .17 Remington must be rated as a short-range varmint cartridge. On the other hand, it has certain advantages, such as minimal recoil and ricochet probability, and a very flat trajectory due to the high initial velocity of over 4,000 fps.
Disadvantages of the chambering include rapid barrel fouling, extreme sensitivity to slight charge weight variation and limited component availability. Factory-loaded ammunition is available from Remington and in the Nosler Varmageddon line. Moly-plated bullets and cleaner-burning powders can eliminate the rapid fouling problem.
.17 Remington Loading Data and Factory Ballistics
| Bullet (grains/type) |
Powder | Grains | Velocity | Energy | Source |
| 25 HP | IMR4064 | 22.5 | 3,800 | 801 | Hornady |
| 25 HP | IMR4320 | 24.7 | 4,000 | 888 | Hornady |
| 25 HP | IMR4895 | 23.8 | 3,900 | 845 | Hornady |
| 25 HP | IMR3031 | 21.6 | 3,800 | 801 | Hornady |
| 25 HP | N135 | 22.8 | 4,040 | 906 | Vihtavuori |
| 20 AccuTip | FL | – | 4,250 | 802 | Remington 29162 |
| 25 HP | FL | – | 4,040 | 906 | Remington 28460 |
Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt of Gun Digest’s Cartridge’s Of The World.
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