master, Welcome to the world of "precision re-loading"! There are a lot of knowledgeable, creative thinking people on this site with a lot of experience--and there is always MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT! Although the .17 Hornet is not considered a bench-rest quality cartridge, still we all want to squeeze the most accuracy we can out of any cartridge we shoot ( it's no fun to miss what you are aiming at
).
There are two approaches you can try. One is to do as jeremy suggested and run your brass into the full length sizing die. The steps are as follows:
Do the following one case at a time until you get familiar with the steps and you are ceartain that you have acheived good bullet grip. Be certain that the lock rings are "locked" at each step so you can repeat the steps at the same settings.
1)Lube case ( I like Imperial Die Wax) with case lube (not too much) and run it into the case forming die. Your die should be set to just barely touch the shell-holder at the top of the ram stroke.
2) Lube the case very lightly again and run it up into the trim die (often this is the final forming process
including the neck). You will now need a good quality flat fie to remove the brass extending from the top of the die. Don't worry about the top of the die, it is hardened.
3) You will now need to de-burr and champer the mouth of the case. Don't get radical doing the inside of the mouth with the champher here, you just want to take off a little (not form a knife edge at the mouth of your case). When I get done de-burring the outside case mouth I turn them by hand in a little wad of 0000 steel wool to confirm that they are smooth.
4) Now comes the moment of truth! Run the case up into your full length re-sizing die. Again your shell-holder should just lightly contact the bottom of the die at the top of the ram stroke. You may or may not feel any resistance to forming until you get close to the top of the stroke. That will be the neck getting formed TO FIT
ANY .17 Hornet on the planet that was chambered with a SAMMI Spec. reamer (not sure if there even is one yet--but there should be).
5) Now you can seat a bullet and if everything is golden your case neck SHOULD grip the bullet quite firmly
. If after doing this the case mouth does not grip the bullet firmly-- you have a problem
. Let us know.
If the bullet is now seated firmly in the case, you now have a "loaded round" diameter that you can measure and record FOR THAT BRAND of brass. If you change brands of brass, you will have to go through the whole process again to find the "loaded round" diameter for the new brand of brass. As has already been stated-- different manufacturers make different thickness of brass and this "difference" can cause significant differences in loaded round diameter. If the neck is too thick the loaded round may not even chamber. That would actually be a good thing because a round that will chamber with a bit of force can raise merry old hell with pressure if the neck is too tight in the chamber. You more than likely will not have a problem here with Winchester brass.
Now would be a good time to mention that if you do the above steps successfully you will be producing ammunition that will fit any .17 hornet chamber which will not be the best way to insure the longevity of you brass. There are a lot of finer techniques that you can use to get the most out of your brass but the above will get you started. Most of us do not like to full length re-size our fired hornet brass each time we re-load--just neck size-- but you can cross that bridge when you come to it. It's difficult, if not impossible to form brass to a specific chamber without having the rifle in hand. Once your brass has been fire-formed in YOUR chamber, then you can get much finer measurements that will allow you to set your dies to get the most out of your brass.
Annealing is an art all to itself and if you want to start an argument on this forum just start a thread on "the best way to anneal your brass" THEN RUN FOR COVER! I suggest you do a search on annealing and try to glean what you can as the best way for you to proceed. It WILL help your brass last longer.
The other alternative I spoke of is to buy a box of factory .17 Hornet cartridges (not even sure if they make such a thing) and measure them to see where you should be in terms of length and diameter. Then fire them in YOUR chamber and record the differences. These measurements will give you a base-line to work from. Write EVERYTHING down-- it will help you immensely in the long run.
Getting 90% of the potential accuracy out of a given rifle is easy but that last 10% can cost you a lot in terms of time and money spent( especially the MONEY part).Hope the above helps and if I have left anything out I hope others will chime in with their techniques. dedogs
! dedogs
