17 cal ballistic tip

[Mlatimer]

Could we ever hope to see a 17 caliber ballistic tip? The varmageddons are nice when you can find them, but the tipped varmageddons are out of stock everywhere I can find which is unfortunate because I would rather shoot a nosler bullet than a red box bullet. I believe a ballistic tip style bullet with a boat tail in 25 and 30 grain weights would be superb. Reading on multiple forums including this one and talking to people who shoot 17 caliber in person lead me to believe there is a good market for these bullets. In theory you could use some or most of the tooling from the varmageddon bullets with specific changes for the ballistic tip style of bullet for ease of production and reduced cost. I know myself and many others who wouldn’t be able to open our wallets fast enough if these were to be released. My 17 Remington is hungry for ballistic tips!

 

[elkhunternm]

Would like to see a 20 and 25 grain Ballistic Tip in the .17.

 

[grry10]

I'm currently shooting a custom 30 grain HP in my .17 Rem for coyotes and they work awesome. But I would like to see a commercial bullet maker, like Nosler, manufacture 30 grain bullets as well.

 

[frankm]

+1 on 25 AND 30 gr BT s ... preferably with a boat tail to help maximize BC.

As stated there's a need for more .17 Cal bullets.

 

[desertcj]

I think a 30gr and maybe even 35gr would be awesome. I dont have a 17 cal rifle. I've considered building one but the lack of bullets really turned me away...

 

[Mlatimer]

I think a 30gr and maybe even 35gr would be awesome. I dont have a 17 cal rifle. I've considered building one but the lack of bullets really turned me away...

We are stuck in a situation where no manufacturer wants to make bullets because “there aren’t enough of us to buy them”, but people aren’t buying rifles because lack of components. A manufacturer is going to have to step up if this is ever going to change. With Berger’s heavy weights being long discontinued and many custom manufacturers no longer producing nosler could really seize a good portion of the market right now. Search any forum and you can see there is demand. Heck Sierra even did a bullet poll to see what people wanted a few years back and 17 caliber came in second place over every other caliber including 6.5. I hope nosler will see this and at least entertain the idea.

 

[desertcj]

I forgot to mention....the lack of lead free bullets is what really turned me away! There's a few options for standard cup/lead core bullets.

 

[Mlatimer]

I forgot to mention....the lack of lead free bullets is what really turned me away! There's a few options for standard cup/lead core bullets.

Actually I know of 3 sources for lead free bullets. Lehigh defense has a couple offerings, Hornady recently released their 15.5 ntx as a component, and hammer bullets has several. Of the ones I listed Lehigh and hammer are solids and the ntx is a powdered core bullet. All would work very well, though I will mention hammer bullets are the most expensive of the three at $50.00 per 100. Hornady is gonna be your best bet cost wise. I have only shot the Hornady ntx, but I have heard good things about the Lehigh defense bullets. The ntx performed adequately for my purposes though I have never managed to match the accuracy of my loads using lead core bullets. I might give the Lehigh defense bullets a try for coyotes since I imagine a solid would perform well.

 

[desertcj]

I was unaware that the ntx was available now. I knew of the Lehigh defense bullets though. Some lead free ballistic tips in 17 cal and some standard ballistic tips would be great options to have! I think the 20 cal really stole a lot of the 17s popularity since it came out.