17 Fireball barrel to 17/223 AI possible?

[RonnieT]

Is it possible to rechamber a 17 Fireball barrel to 17/223AI ?
It is on 700 Remington and is installed.
Can it be done by hand while installed or should it be lathe done? Or is it too much for hand finishing?
Will the Fireball chamber clen up? I have found specs online for the Fireball but none for the Ackley. Dont know if the case is fatter on the Fireball.
Thanks

 

[ab_bentley]

Absolutly, you could even run the 17FB reamer in another .35" or so and make it. Adam

 

[Hotshot]

I did this exact re-chamber. The 17-223AI reamer cleaned up the 17FB chamber. Gunsmith performed the operation on the lathe. I would think it not very practical to try by hand with barrel in place. Too much metal removed, too much mess, very hard to measure your work that way. I am just starting to fire form and load test, the jury is still out on whether this was a good choice. 17FB is so efficent it doesn't look like I'm gaining very much on 25gr bullets for the 6 more grains of powder I can burn. The only real advantage may be slower burning powder with 30gr bullets in a 24-26 inch barrel.

 

[RonnieT]

So you think it too much to turn by hand? Ron

 

[Hotshot]

After watching it done on a lathe, I wouldn't even consider trying by hand.

 

[RJinTexas]

I'm fairly sure that you'll end up with something very close to the already available 17 Rem which is already consider over bore and has a tendency to copper foul if used for high volume shooting.

As for hand reaming I agree with Hotshot and wouldn't consider rechambering it by hand.

RJ

 

[Hotshot]

The readily available 223 brass is the best reason. A 17Rem could be made from a 222Mag case but not from 223 cases. I can't use 17Rem max loads for fire forming, but it looks like I can use equall or slightly increased loads after the brass is formed.

 

[Catfish]

There is almost no difference between the 17-223 and the 17 Rem. At one time I had both at the same time and there was no way to tell the difference in preformance in the field. The biggest difference is the longer neck on the 17 Rem., and that does make it easier to to load. If I were going to build one I would deffinately go with the 17 Rem. I would do that for only 1 reason, the factory chambering will be alot easier to sell than a Wildcat.