.17 Rem - Remington 700LVSF

[Dodder]

Some of you may have seen some of my previous threads and therefore know that my journey into .17centrefire ownership has not exactly been an easy ride.....

Already owning several centrefires and .22 rimfires, I had a brief dalliance with the .17hmr which I enjoyed but had issues with consistency, possibly due to ammunition. I started to yearn for something light-weight and maybe similar to the hummer but with a bit more oomph which was small, fast and flat shooting and also relatively safe to use due to reduced risk of ricochets. I came across an old article by Bruce Potts on the .17 Ackley Hornet and I was hooked! I even found the same model of rifle Bruce had used, an old Sako M78 with a new Lothar Walther barrel, but this was located in Eire and after several months of waiting it sadly never materialised, so it was back to the drawing board. At around this time the 17 Hornet was announced, but not wanting a Savage rifle, I decided I didn’t want to wait for a better quality offering.

Then I started to consider the .17 Rem and the more I looked into it and watched videos on YouTube by people like Sir-Slots-Alot, the more convinced I became that this was the thing for me. I really wanted a Sako action, but these are like Hen’s teeth to find in .17 Rem, although I did even consider a re-barrel of a .222. Eventually, after some months and a couple of near misses I found a really nice .17 Rem Remington 700 LVSF in virtually as new condition at what I considered a good price. I had her re-crowned and a Jewell trigger fitted by a local smith, Paddy Dane, whom is highly recommended and the Jewell trigger is sublime.

I loaded up some ammo with 25grain V-maxes over 21grns Vit N133 and I was ready to go. Initially I was really disappointed with the groups at around 1 ½ -2” at 100yds and the few rounds of Factory ammo I had been given with the rifle were no better. The barrel is 1:9 twist so it should shoot these OK. I tried cleaning her, swapping scopes, mods, etc, but still to no avail. Then I tried some Berger 25Grn Varmint Match HP’s. Bingo - around ½” at 100yds – just what I was looking for! It was then it dawned on me that I had loaded both the V-Maxes and the Bergers to the SAMMI COAL of 2.150” and that the V-Maxes were therefore sitting much deeper in the case and probably had far too big a jump to the lands to have a chance to be accurate (DOH!) I have now ordered an OAL Gauge from the Shooting Shed so I should be able to hopefully improve accuracy even more by loading to the optimum OAL. I will then be re-trying the V-Maxes which I hope to use all the time due to their relatively high BC.

I went out the other night after some rather frustrating months of ownership to try her out on live quarry for the first time. My first three shots with the rifle produced three clean kills on Rabbits at 196, 372(!) and 206yds. As you can imagine, I am now well and truly hooked - what a terrific little calibre and I really think that most of the other centrefires in my cabinet will now be pretty much redundant. It really is like an HMR on steroids, I chrono’d my initial loads with the 25grn Bergers over 21grns N133 at around 3760fps from the 22” barrel and while for sure I could push things higher, this is probably sufficient for my needs. It pretty much mimics the trajectory of a .22-250 with a lot less noise and hardly any recoil, is inherently safer to use and yet still has the muzzle energy of a 17grn HMR bullet at around 350yards – what’s not to like!

The rifle itself I think is a little beauty. It features a stainless action and medium profile fluted barrel which is nicely set-off by the black HS Precision stock. It only weighs around 6½lb and to be honest if I were being critical, the only thing I would change is the blind box ADL magazine, and this is perhaps a possible modification for the future. I have to say this is one rifle I cannot see me selling for a while to come – I’d just wish I discovered this rifle and calibre years ago.....