[Okiecruffler]

I'm not talking about that goofy little rimfire thangy, I'm taking about that turbo charged gnat, the .17 Remington. I noticed reloading components at 3 small town gunshops the other day and it got me thinking that it must be more popular than I thought. What's the barrel life like on those things?

[P95Carry]

Don't have one but .. a buddy has (had?) and he reckoned barrel life could be as short as 2,000 rounds!!!!

Think I'll take a rain check on that.:p

[cratz2]

My father-in-law's brother has both a 17 Remington and a 17 Mach IV. He just loves that Mach IV. He probably has 40 rifles but the only two centerfires he ever shoots are the 17 Mach IV and a custom Mauser in 270. Says the Mach IV will do about 95% of what the Remington will do but with less powder, less noise and less recoil of that's possible.

[cratz2]

Speaking of barrel life, he replaced the barrel on the 17 Remington after two or three years. The Mach IV has the same barrel it's had since before I was born, I'm pretty sure.

[RCL]

Okie,
I had one, foolishly traded it off. It was a T/C Contender Carbine with a 21" .17 Rem. barrel, 3x9 scope. It took handloads to bring out the best in it; seems like it was 24.5 grains of IMR4320 and the 25 grain Hornady bullet. I never clocked it but I figure (from info in the load manual) that I was doing 3500 fps+. Most people won't believe me when I tell them that little T/C would group 3 shots under an inch at 200 yards.
Now for the two problems with this gun. It didn't like to be cleaned; it liked a copper fouled barrel. I cleaned it like I was told to by someone who said they had done a lot of shooting with the .17, after ten shots run a patch soaked in Sweets down the bore, then dry patches until clean. After that it started shooting patterns, took 20-25 rounds to get the thing to group again. I could live with that minor glitch though. What I really had a problem with was the wind. Any kind of cross breeze at all and the groups would open up(I'm talking going from 7/8" to 5" at 200 yards), and there is almost always some kind of wind blowing around here. That little bullet didn't do well in the wind at all.
All in all, i still wish I had it. :(

[Dave R]

I inherited a strange .17 from a friend who passed away recently. Its a .17 based on .357 mag. pistol brass. I guess its called a .357 Saunders?

Its the shortest of the "short, fat magnums".

Anyhow, the family is still cleaning up his estate and I have not found the reloading dies for it yet. So I have only fired 12 rounds to get the scope zeroed. I have found one alternate source of dies for it, and hooboy, are they expensive.

[Okiecruffler]

Well, I've added a .17 rem to my list of guns I must someday own, but it's at the bottom, and at my current rate I'll have to live to be 345 to buy them all.

[Gordon]

I have a 17 Rem and a 17 Ackley hornet. The 17 rem is a 700bdl with 12 power Leupold and has about 1200 rds thru it. It used to shoot 1/2" now shoots 3/4" so there is something to that 2000 rd life, I think. The 17 K hornet is on a bsa martini with 15 power lyman lwbr scope and no it aint for sale ever. It shoots 1/2" after 1000 rds and I think it will till I die. Incidentally 17 rem goes 3900 with 25 grain pwrlokt and 17 K hornet does 3400fps!:D

[stubby]

The one I had was fine, but I broke a half dozen cleaning rods in nothing flat. Buy several when yuo find them!!!:banghead:

[Okiecruffler]

I like the sound of that .17 K Hornet. And I've always wanted a wildcat. Maybe, maybe...