[5][6] Extremely high initial velocity (over 4,000 ft/s 1,200 m/s), flat trajectory and very low recoil are the .17 Remington's primary attributes.

It has a maximum effective range of about 440 yards (400 m) on prairie dog-sized animals, but the small bullet's poor ballistic coefficients and sectional densities mean it is highly susceptible to crosswinds at such distances.

Because of this, the .172 bullet loses velocity slightly sooner and is more sensitive to wind; but by no means does this render the cartridge useless.

A significant disadvantage is the rapid rate at which such a small-caliber rifle barrel can accumulate gilding metal fouling, which is very detrimental to accuracy and may also eventually result in increasing pressures caused by the fouling's constriction of the bore.

[7][8] Many .17 Remington shooters have reported optimum accuracy when the bore is cleaned after every 10 - 20 shots,[7][8][9] though more modern metallurgy used in both barrels and bullets has largely mitigated the fouling issue.