Author Topic: 17 Rem. Fireball brass  (Read 451 times)

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Offline Emmett

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17 Rem. Fireball brass
« on: November 11, 2007, 11:53:32 AM »
   Just wondering if the parent 221 Fireball case can be resized in .17 Rem Fireball dies to form the new casings?

Offline Graybeard

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Re: 17 Rem. Fireball brass
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2007, 01:08:13 PM »
Can be just like the former wildcat .17 Mach IV was. BUT it takes case forming die set to do it. You don't just run it into the proper sizing die and go down in one smooth operation. It's a lot of hassle. I recommend you just buy them already made.


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Offline LaOtto222

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Re: 17 Rem. Fireball brass
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2007, 01:17:35 PM »
Yes they can. Where do you think 17 Mach IV's came from? There are some things to watch. If you over lube the case, you will get dents in the shoulder. If you do not lube enough, you will get a stuck case. When you "down size" a neck there are some other things to watch. By the nature of squeezing down a neck, there may be a ring that forms at the inside, base of the neck. The brass has to go some where and it does not all flow out the mouth, some of it tries to flow down the shoulder, but can't. It forms a ring inside the juncture of the neck and shoulder. Some times it is not enough to worry about, some times it is. If there is much of a ring there and you seat bullets down past the ring, you may have dangerous pressure build ups. You then have to "ream" the necks. You may also end up with uneven neck thickness, then you need to turn necks, to uniform them. You may have to turn necks anyway, because they end up too thick. In this particular case, probably not. Do not forget to trim all cases to a uniform length and deburr the inside and outside of the necks. One last thing. Be prepared to loose some brass along the way. There is always some thing that goes wrong. Some times it is a case mouth that crinkles or you get dents in the shoulder from too much lube on the case or built up in the dies, etc. If this sounds like a pain in the ear, that is because it is. Buy your brass in the correct size. Do not form from another case unless you can not get the correct brass or you have tons of the parent case and have nothing else to do. Do not forget to buy a neck reamer, neck turner and case trimmer to fit your particular application ;)
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Offline Emmett

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Re: 17 Rem. Fireball brass
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2007, 09:16:42 AM »
  Thanks for the replies...I do have a bunch of .221 brass on hand. I was pretty sure there would be some neck turning/reaming involved, but I figured I'd ask before I started. I'm not entirely new to case forming, but with something of these small dimensions I wanted to know if it was practical. Last time I checked, factory brass would not be available until sometime next spring or later. Thanks again.

Offline LaOtto222

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Re: 17 Rem. Fireball brass
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2007, 11:09:58 AM »
Coyote guns has 17 Mach IV brass for $42.50/100. These have been formed from 221 Brass. I am sure there are other sources out there.

http://www.coyoteguns.com/formbrass.htm
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Offline Emmett

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Re: 17 Rem. Fireball brass
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2007, 04:20:17 PM »
    Thanks for the link.... logged it into my files. Thanks again...Emmett...

Offline LaOtto222

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Re: 17 Rem. Fireball brass
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2007, 11:57:45 PM »
There was one other thing I forgot to mention. Case annealing. You may want to or need to anneal the case necks before and/or after resizing. It really is a pain to form cases.
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Offline Emmett

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Re: 17 Rem. Fireball brass
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2007, 04:55:32 AM »
  Yep... I understand....  Thanks....