17 Cal Midway "Dog Town" bullets

[trotterlg]

I shot my first batch of the Dog Town bullets (20gr) today, 20gr of 2520 with BR4 primers. The powder is slow for the 20gr FB but I had it, and 20gr would fit in the case so that is what I used. Rifle is a H&R Handi Rifle with a Clerk 17 HMR barrel turned down and run muzzel for breach, it is a little over 18 inches long and .500 at the muzzel. 3-9 Barska Scope, it weighs less than 6 pounds, was shot from bags. The rifle is about as minimal as they get. First target is my last 7 rounds at 100 yards and the second is five rounds at 200 yards, I held dead on the target for both. Rifle is pictured below. I would say I am satisfied with the bullets, nothing I would call a flyer out of 35 rounds total, I may see if I can fit a little more powder in the case, but I would say this is probably good enough. Larry

[PHATINJUN]

Looks good Larry I know I'm satisfied with the D Towns in the 204 Kurt

[trotterlg]

Rumor has it they are made by Nosler.  I really don't see how they could shoot much better, this is a tiny little rifle, it has a fairly heavy hunting trigger and I am 60 years old, if I didn't drink whisky and coffee, and I was 20 years old, the groups would be half size.  Larry

[PHATINJUN]

I here that Larry... the only time that whiskey wiggle works good is when ya have to recertify for welding. Kurt

[woodchukhntr]

I think that I missed something.  In the first post, the barrel is called a .17 HMR, but reloading information is given.  Was it rechambered?  What was it rechambered to?  Whatever it is, little varmints will have to watch out!  Nice work!

[NFG]

I did a bit of a statistical analysis today on my DT bullets...picked 20 out of the sample of 500...they all weighed 20.0 to 20.1 gr, OAL was within 0.002" which is fantastic for a HP...ogive was withing 0.001" the same...so these are very uniform bullets with VERY low variability...I've measured more variation in a box of 100 from almost every brand I've tried...ALL calibers.

Put the wood back on the 17 BR...the synthetic forend was just causing too many fliers or maybe it was the synthetic fore arm and the bi pod combination.  After re-bedding I started getting good round groups.

Also did a small sampling with the powders...to see how close the hi/lo ranges were.  WW748 seems to be the most accurate powder for the 20 VMax but not necessarily for the D.T. bullets, but showed a 122 f/s/62 SD range...WAY to high but it still seems to have the best groups...even got a 3 rd bugholer at 50M, but we all know, one bughole group does not a bugholer rifle make.  That's it in the upper right corner after I changed around the wood.  One 3 rd group of D.T. using the same 20.4 748/1.82 OAL on the bottom middle button.  Velocities are running 3700 +/- 50 f/s with the WW748 load...not bad at all for a 22" barrel...that's about that my .223 is running with 40 gr VMax and a 26" bbl...but this NEF is much easier to handle.  Now for the paint job...

Still futzing around eliminating warts here and there in this platform...I need to get started on the 6 BR.

I didn't know Nosler did hollow points or 17 cals, at least I couldn't find any on their site...who knows...they look  a bit like Sierra's one way and like Hornady's another way...I dont' know...


'Njoy

[NAM70]

Midsouth sells their Varmint Xtreme bullets for quite a bit cheaper than the Dog Towns but they have been on backorder for a couple of months. I had some ordered but I finally canceled that part of the order so I could receive the rest of my stuff. Bought some dog towns and will be trying then in the near future. Dave

[njanear]

Midsouth sells their Varmint Xtreme bullets for quite a bit cheaper than the Dog Towns but they have been on backorder for a couple of months. I had some ordered but I finally canceled that part of the order so I could receive the rest of my stuff. Bought some dog towns and will be trying then in the near future. Dave

The .17 cal Varmint Nightmares are now showing in stock at Midsouth, but the .20s and .22s are still "On order".