17 fireball

[bob kudile]

can i use new 17 fireball rounds in a 17 m4 cooper and then size with 17 m4 dies and reload for the 17 m4 ? thanks bob kudile

[Rapier]

Bob,
This is a note from Handloader Magazine about the 17s.

"Still the list goes on. The .17 Squirrel is simply another version of the .22 Hornet case with the shoulder pushed back slightly; the .17-221 is an early version of the .17 Mach IV with its shoulder angle moved back. Later, an improved .17 Mach IV somewhat overpowered the original version by incorporating a sharper shoulder angle."

If I read the article correctly, the .17 M4 has a sharper shoulder angle, thus it should have a longer body, in order to achieve more capacity, than the .17x221. You should be able to chamber the .17x221 (.17 Fireball) in a .17 M4 chamber. If chambered, fireforming the .17x221 to .17 M4 should be exactly the same as creating an improved case. It appears that the .17 M4 is simply an improved .17x221. Once the case is fireformed it will require an M4 set of dies to reload.

The only caution is that there may be two versions of the .17 M4.
Best,
Ed

[Catfish]

My guess would be that if you run your .17 Fireball through your .17 Mac iv dies it would work. I have a .17 Rem. and a .17 -223 and nether round will chamber in the other, but eather could be fired in the other chamber if run through the others dies. When froming the .17 Rem. from the .17-223 the cases will be very short though.

[bob kudile]

thanks guys. i want to buy 17 fireball ammo and use it to create fireformed brass and reload as 17 m4. i dont want to anneal 221 fireball brass and use my forming die if i dont have to. i own a 221 fireball cooper and it takes time to shoot up ammo for brass. when i bought the 17 m4 cooper there was no rem. 17 fireball ammo out yet. i started out with a couple of boxes of cooper 17 m4 ammo but very spendy. i do this with my k hornet using hornet ammo to fireform and reload as k hornet. i dont loose accuractury going that route as the hornet is only a 150 yard gun and not really a tack driver. its a ruger and thats why its a k hornet and thats why after the ruger there is cooper.