Hornady .172 15.5 NTX bullet in 17 Hornet load data

[dstoenner]

Hornady has finally released these bullets for general reloading. In my 17 Hornet CZ527 the factory load is hard to beat. So I have a 100 on order but doing a search of the Hornady website they have no update for the 15.5 NTX at all. I have CFE-BLK and A1680.

Anybody come up with any reloading data for any of these combinations.

Thanks in advance

David

 

[JSH]

Who has them in stock?

 

[B23]

Loaded ammo for the 17 Hornets using the 15.5gr NTX bullet has been out for years but just the bullets have only been available for about a year or so. I ordered mine from Midway when they first came out but have yet to load any, I still have a few cases of factory Hornady 15.5 ammo to shoot so I haven't needed to yet.

Over on Saubier dot com, Bill K, also a member here, has used CFE BLK and AA1680 with the 15.5 NTX bullet. He's a good guy so I'd reach out to him and I'm sure he'll be happy to share whatever he can to help get you going.

 

[Bill K]

Thanks B23 for the complement. Re: 15.5 NTX, that is all I am shooting in my 17 Hornet, David.
My go too load is 12.3 of CFE BLK, with a second load of 12.3 of AA1680. both are as accurate, for me, as the factory ammo is. Bill K

My shooting buddy ( Varmint Shooter) who moved to Colorado on me also has been having good results with Xterminator, I believe in his, if he sees this post, he may chime in with help also, for you.)

 

[dstoenner]

Who has them in stock?

Grafs

 

[dstoenner]

Thanks B23 for the complement. Re: 15.5 NTX, that is all I am shooting in my 17 Hornet, David.
My go too load is 12.3 of CFE BLK, with a second load of 12.3 of AA1680. both are as accurate, for me, as the factory ammo is. Bill K

My shooting buddy ( Varmint Shooter) who moved to Colorado on me also has been having good results with Xterminator, I believe in his, if he sees this post, he may chime in with help also, for you.)

Thanks. That is a pretty light load. I use about those loads for 25 Berger HPFB bullets. Have you chron’d that load?

David

 

[Varmint Shooter]

In my 17 Hornet I am using CFE BLK @ 12.2 for the 15.5 NTX bullets. Very accurate, 3700 fps.
Have also used the 15.5 NTX bullets in my 17 Fireball with AA2200 , 4400 fps plus
with excellent results.

 

[dstoenner]

Here is the followup I promised.

Based on all of the responses, I decided to stay with CFE-BLK but go to 12.5 gn. I currently load 12.2 for 20 Vmax which is a middle of the road load. Lighter bullet, less bearing surface should allow a little bump in speed and not be too hot. Primers and bolt lift said I wasn't even close to any pressure limits. The bottom line is that these hand loads are even more accurate than the 15.5 factory load but not by much.

I use this target I got off of rimfire central that is a real test of consistency in every thing. Best score is 30, worse is 90. Using a .17 caliber bullet on this target is a challenge. A lot of my shots would have been 1 but because you have to touch and the 17. I used the red target to get a zero. Turned out that my previous shooting session was still a good zero. I was blown away with the cold-clean shot vs the next 4 with no scope changes. This gun is really getting good. I then turned my focus on the 1-2-3 target, did all 30 for record and then shot the last 15 as 5 shot groups on the red target.




I am very elated that this load came together in one session. A score of 57 is not great by my other targets but those were done with 6 and 6.5 mm bullets which really hides a lot. I have done 41 with my 6BR and I also have shot 1 target, ever, without shooting a 3 but its score was 43. But for sure this is the best .17 caliber target of the ones I have shot.

I am buying 500. This is now my go to bullet for the 17 Hornet

Thanks for the help

David