playing in the wind with a 17 Fireball

[magnumwheelman]

had my custom Remington 700 in 17 Fireball out yesterday... I'd had it out previously to sight in at 50 yards with my new 4.5 -14X Burris C-4 Plus scope, with wind reticle... my goal yesterday, was to get a solid sight in, at 100 yards, so I could change to the custom elevation knob I received from Burris, after I sent in my elevation, & load data...

got a good sight in, at 100 yards, even though I had quartering winds gusting from 5-20 mph across my range I decided to try the 200 yard target, & experiment with the wind reticle... I had held one hash mark at 100 yards, when sighting in ( the horizontal crosshair has hash marks all the way across on this scope to use as hold points in wind ) which I think is great for shooting 20 grain bullets... when I got out to 200 yards, & I held 2, & then 3 hash lines, then I realized I was holding down wind, not up wind

so I re-sighted at 200 yards, holding at one has mark up wind... then moved out to 300 yards, & held 3 hash marks ( up wind ) & I think, did all right, I fired 3 rounds, at 300 yards, with no elevation adjustment for distance, & got just slightly over a 1" group, 4" lower than my point of aim. shots 1 & 3 on top of each other, & shot 2 a little further down wind... then went back, & got a good zero again at 100 yards, so I could change the elevation knob out... now that I have the new custom elevation knob on, can't wait to try that out & see how close Burris got...

[Chuck]

I like Hornady VMax in my 17HMR rifle. The CCI hollow points will turn sideways at 100 Yards.

[willardotto]

I have a thing for the 17 calibers, a couple 17 HMR's, 17 Fireball, and a 17 Remington, I also had a 17 Ackley Hornet that I regrettably sold. the fireball is Remington SPS that shoots great with hand loads, the 17 Remington shoots awesome with Channing Nagels handmade bullets. Here is a 100 yard three shot group with its favorite load.

[bushog]

Great Guys!

Have a Cooper standard chambered in .17 HeeBee that is the ticket! Nice walking varminter.

3800+fps with a 25gn bullet over a heavy dose of Vit. 133.

Uses 218 bee brass that is sized, annealed and then fireformed. Maybe I'll take some pics later....

Todd Kindler's .17 bullets have the highest B.C. out there, very accurate and they make LOTS of red mist when they hit.

The 25gn gold bullets are awesome! That high B.C. in the lighter bullet going faster will help that wind problem more than you would expect.

My gun is a 1:10 twist unfortunately so that's about as good as it gets for me.

See:

www.woodchuckden.com/17cal_boat_tail.aspx

[magnumwheelman]

My 17 Fireball started out as a 17 Remington, that my FIL shot out, before it was passed to us... ( still have a 17 Remington Contender barrel though, as well as a 17 K Hornet barrel ) it was nice of Hornady to start making the 17 Hornet, as those chamber & fire form in my K Hornet... I bought a few boxes when it 1st came out, haven't seen anything since this last shortage though...

... also have a 17 Mach 2, ( 22 lr necked down to 17 ) that was built on an old Marlin bolt action... that rifle is responsible for most of the farm yard varmint work around our place, & has probably dropped more than 30 raccoons from trees the outside dog has sent up them, the last couple years... again ammo buying sucks... but I did buy 2,000 round when I built the rifle... I need to stay on top of that though, I wouldn't be surprised if that cartridge disappears from the shelves permanently, with the extended 22 lr shortage

... this Fireball seems one of the most balanced of the factory 17 cartridges, & my buddy that did the conversion for me, must have done something right, as it seems like it wants to shoot better than I'm capable of