Reloading the .17 Remington Fireball

[wwillson]

I've considered purchasing a .17 Remington Fireball for varmits and general plinking. I've never reloaded a bullet this small in diameter. I've been told be a couple .223 reloaders that I will hate reloading the .17 because it's hard to get the powder to flow through the small neck and the bullet is just simply so small. Any truth to this? I would probably only reload about 1,000/year.

Thoughts?

Wayne

[woodsoup]

Wayne:

The .17 will be a bit difficult but not impossible.

A lot depends on your equipment. SLOWLY is the word on dumping powder into the case, and CAREFULLY for seating the bullet. Those 1/2 moon wounds, on the thumb or index finger, ain't fun.

I have a friend that loads .17 and he made a pair of tweezers to hold the bullet while starting it in the case. Basically he cut the base off a .22short case, and brazed it onto both legs of a long set of mechanics tweezers. He then cut the tube in half along its axis. A little deburring and final finishing and Viola, no more scars digits. He did have to grind the chrome plating off the tweezers first to get the braze to stick.

If you're dropping powder with a measure directly into the case, just turn the handle a little slower (OK, a lot slower) than you normally would. Same goes for hand dumped powder. You might look into a longer drop tube too.

[wwillson]

Thanks Woodsoup,

I wonder if grinding an opposing radius in the tweezer halves with a dremmel would accomplish the same ability to hold onto the .17 bullet? I haven't brazed in about 25 years and don't really have the correct equipment.

Wayne

[woodsoup]

I don't know of any reason why not, unless the tweezers are too thin. Either grind or maybe a little epoxy.

[Arkie_Lefty]

After you gain proficiency, and your dexterity levels rise, you might be eligible for a good paying job in the medical research fields identifying ED in mice!

Bob

[wwillson]

After you gain proficiency, and your dexterity levels rise, you might be eligible for a good paying job in the medical research fields identifying ED in mice!

Bob

ROTFLMHO

[woodsoup]

I feel sorry for the mice.

[Moe]

H 322 might be a great powder choice. It's a very fine ball type powder which should meter well in just about any powder measure. When I shot benchrest back in the eighties I used it in my 6mm PPC because it gave me the accuracy I wanted and was easy to drop from the measure. There is a load from Hodgdon's website for this powder in the .17 Rem. FB. Good Luck!