.17 Rem and the Hornady 25gr Vmax.

[STOMP442]

Hornady has disappointed me again. I picked up a really sweet old Remington 700 a few years ago chambered in .17 Remington. At the time, the Berger 17cal offerings were unobtanium and all I could find was the Hornady 25gr stuff. After a little load work I finally settled on 24gr of CFE223 and with less than half inch groups I was very satisfied. I have mostly just used this rifle for shooting water bottles at the range and everything has worked fine. This weekend, I decided to take it out for a serious day of Coyote hunting and was less than pleased with my results. The bullets that managed to make it to the coyotes splashed horribly and resulted in giant puff balls of fur flying off the dogs but with little to no penetration into the coyotes at all. Resulting spinners were having to be dispatched by my brother with his Hornet. He would claim when I shot he could see large trails of grey dust follow all the way to the coyotes and a few mid air puffs of the bullets coming apart. Looks like I will be switching to the Bergers from here on out. I keep the rifle well taken care of and give it a good cleaning about every 50 rounds to keep the fouling down. There was only about 8 rounds down the barrel at the time of the hunt since last cleaning just to verify zero before we left the following day. Anyone else having less than stellar results with this bullet? According to the Sierra manual I should be right around the 3850fps mark. I haven't ran it over the Garmin yet.

 

[L.Sherm]

Despite what some say I wouldnt use V- Max's on coyotes maybe going slower but never out of a 17 Remington.
I would move on to some Black hole or some Bergers if you can find them

 

[STOMP442]

Bergers are on the way. Blue Collar had some.

 

[BAM]

Try the non tipped HP from hornady..... As others have said stay away from the Vmax

 

[L.Sherm]

Bergers are on the way. Blue Collar had some.

I think you will be happy with them every Berger I have shot have shot well in multiple calibers.

 

[Tommie]

That bullet is crazy explosive - as you’ve witnessed. On colony rodents it’s amazing but for larger quarry there are better choices. I agree a Berger bullet would be a better choice for coyotes.

 

[Stormbringer]

I would also recommend the 40 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips. They stay together much better.

 

[Tommie]

I would also recommend the 40 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips. They stay together much better.

In a 17 Remington?

 

[L.Sherm]

Not a direct comparison but years ago the worst bullet failure I've ever had was a Nosler balistic tip on a deer, its why today if I want penetration I stay away from plastic tips.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

The Berger 25 gr varmint/mef is not a great coyote bullet, for me here in Mn. Thick winter hair results in poor penetration. The plain Hornady 25 hp is better, as is the discontinued Berger 25 match target hp(great coyote bullet). 3850 is slower than any bullet I have run out of my 17 rem, but will not matter inside 200 yards. I never seen any 17 bullet come apart in flight and I run 20gr bullets over 4200, not sure why your barrel would be damaging bullet jackets. I run 29-30 gr bullets out at 3950(26" 1/9 twist barrel). My first M700 17 rem(new in the 80's) barrel showed accuracy issues at 14-15 shots with W760. I wonder if you have a hard carbon or corrosion issue part way down the barrel.

 

[swd]

The old Hornady 25gr hollow point was a good coyote bullet. The VMax is great on squirrels and rock chucks. If you come across the 25gr hollow point somewhere try them.

 

[SSL]

I miss the old Remington soft points. They shot reasonably well and thought they were big game bullets. Good penetration and expansion. These days it's the Hornady hollowpoints for anything bigger than a groundhogs and 25-grain VMax for groundhogs on down.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

If your barrel is a 1 in 9 in twist, you could contact Blackhole bullets for some 30 gr hp. Rem had 1/10 and 1/9 barrels. I would figure out the barrel issue first.

 

[Tommie]

If your barrel is a 1 in 9 in twist, you could contact Blackhole bullets for some 30 gr hp. Rem had 1/10 and 1/9 barrels. I would figure out the barrel issue first.

Good point. His bullets penetrate more than traditional varmint stuff.

 

[450BM]

I miss the old Remington soft points. They shot reasonably well and thought they were big game bullets. Good penetration and expansion. These days it's the Hornady hollowpoints for anything bigger than a groundhogs and 25-grain VMax for groundhogs on down.

Unfortunately the Hornady 25gr HP has also been discontinued.

 

[SSL]

Unfortunately the Hornady 25gr HP has also been discontinued.

I wasn't aware of that...sad, but I have around 1,000 of them so I won't worry too much for a while. Benefits of having a buddy who hoards components that he will never use!

 

[WyleWD]

The Berger 25 gr varmint/mef is not a great coyote bullet, for me here in Mn. Thick winter hair results in poor penetration. The plain Hornady 25 hp is better, as is the discontinued Berger 25 match target hp(great coyote bullet). 3850 is slower than any bullet I have run out of my 17 rem, but will not matter inside 200 yards. I never seen any 17 bullet come apart in flight and I run 20gr bullets over 4200, not sure why your barrel would be damaging bullet jackets. I run 29-30 gr bullets out at 3950(26" 1/9 twist barrel). My first M700 17 rem(new in the 80's) barrel showed accuracy issues at 14-15 shots with W760. I wonder if you have a hard carbon or corrosion issue part way down the barrel.

+1^^ I had the 25 Vmax and 25 Bergers coming apart in my 1-9 17 Rem. I consulted with the local 17 expert and he recommended that I thoroughly clean the barrel, then run about 20 strokes of Bore Brite to polish the barrel and clean it all out and try it again. Problem solved. Then I bought some (actually a bunch) of his 30gr Golds and never looked back. Never had another issue with it on yotes or chucks. JME. WD

 

[STOMP442]

No issues with the barrel I can see and like I said I keep it clean regularly because of the known fouling issues with the caliber. With the CFE223 even after 50 rounds my accuracy is still fine, that's just the point I decide to clean it. I have to go to the bench to reload ammo anyway just as well clean it and get it ready for the next time. This is a new batch of bullets I am shooting. I went through my supply back during all the covid craziness when they suspended production of their less popular products to keep up with the panic buying.

I am going to give the Bergers a try but maybe this just isn't the best Coyote rifle. I have always shot bigger calibers at Yotes just because I don't like runners and I will probably just go back to that but this 17 is just so fun to shoot I wanted to give it a try.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Last winter, when rubs started to show up on coyote. I decided to shot one with the discontinued Berger 25 match target bullet(very small metplat). I have an AR upper with a 1/10 twist 24" barrel. I can run them at 4000 with 4320. I shot a large male at 125 yards broadside,heart/lung, he literally dropped straight down not even a tail twitch. Years ago at gunshows I would run across .172 bullets, sometimes in vitamin/pill bottles, I would buy and throw in my supply hoard. A big plus of 17 bullets in bottles, a lot fit in a bottle so I often found 300+ inside. Mostly because I thought at some point bullets could be hard to find.
I have thought about getting a bullet tipping die and closing the tip on the Berger mef/varmint to the target size hp, see if that would work on coyote????

 

[HillbillyLongRifle]

The Old Berger 25 gr Target small hole Bullets are Coyote Killers!

Run them 4000 fps or faster and watch Coyotes be put too Sleep for Good!

I wish they still produced that bullet over the big hole bullet they make today!