The 20 g has better ballistics than the 15 g for long range, 200-300 yds. Check the crown on your muzzle, as I stated in another thread, the crown on my identical gun which I just purchased has a tiny burr around the bore.
The 20 g has better ballistics than the 15 g for long range, 200-300 yds. Check the crown on your muzzle, as I stated in another thread, the crown on my identical gun which I just purchased has a tiny burr around the bore.
Crown look okay.
Just shot it this morning. 1.2 inch groups at 100 yds with 20 gr Hornady
The 15.5 gr. Hornady shoot nickel groups.
Id rather the 20 grainers shoot better for the longer shots but until I figure how to improve their accuracy The 15.5 will have to do.
Ill keep playing with it till cold weather then maybe trade it on a Ruger 17 Hornet. Maybe they will handle the heavier bullets differently.
Thank Johnhenry
I am also a mixed luck m25 .17 hornet user but I also reload for this cartridge. I have found that Hornady factory 20 gr. is either good (~1.2.-1.5" @100yds) to excellent (0.75" or slightly less). At my elevation (7000 ft) velocities often exceed factory listings at about 3700 fps. My handloads basically reproduce this. My rifle also has an obvious burr at the muzzle but it appears to have no effect on accuracy. I bought a Boyd's stock to take out any of the barrel/plastic stock contacts and frankly, I've noticed almost no difference in accuracy. I generally find the 20 gr. vmax is near an inch with factory or handloads - often well under. The m25 is a bit of a cipher overall in that it seems to either really suck or be borderline genius. I seem to have lucked out. I will say that Accurate 1680 is, without doubt, the powder for this round. I've tried numerous powder/primer/bullet combos and all of them struggled to achieve even modest accuracy. L'il gun and Rem 7.5s are ok but Rem 7.5s and A1680 absolutely rule with any bullet I've tried (which aren't many unless you are really dedicated to .17s). Needless to say, J. Barsness has described all of this before me. I merely tried his recipes out and found them to my liking. -h
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