19 Badger Project

[Mark M.]

I thought I would treat myself to a retirement gift, so I found a beautiful little used CZ 527 17 hornet and sent it to James Calhoon to have him rebarrel to the 19 Badger, from what I have read the 19 Badger it's very much like the 20 Vartarg in size case capacity and performance, some of the reasons I chose the badger over the Vartarg is the available of factory pre-formed brass and loaded ammo, also the Forster die sets are matched to the chamber and are about one third the price that of the 20 Vartargs from Redding, should be interesting, I'll keep ya posted.

 

[Mark M.]

Update...Just Received an order from James Calhoon and want to post a few pics his factory formed 19 Badger brass compared to 221 fireball (on the left, closest thing to a 20 VarTarg that I had on hand), very close in diementions and capacity.

 

[HillbillyLongRifle]

You will love the 19 Badger

 

[Mark M.]

Update...Just received my CZ 527 back from James Calhoon, he converted my 17 hornet into the 19 Badger, also had a ream/chambered blank insert I received from Little Crow for my WFT2 trimmer, beautiful workmanship, range update coming soon....

 

[Mark M.]

19 Badger Update:
Load development, best so far, 5 shots .325

 

[19 Badger]

I love my Badger (hence my forum name) lol. Here is my loads with the DHP's and the Sierra BK's. I love it for squirrels and pdogs. I think the 32gr Saber tips shot the most accurate in mine tho... You will love it!

 

[Mark M.]

I love my Badger (hence my forum name) lol. Here is my loads with the DHP's and the Sierra BK's. I love it for squirrels and pdogs. I think the 32gr Saber tips shot the most accurate in mine tho... You will love it!

Just about the same grouping , whose barrel are you using?

 

[19 Badger]

I believe it is a Benchmark. They know how to put together accurate rifles @ Calhoon. The CZ 527 Badger gives my Cooper .19-223 a run for its money in the accracy department. Both shoot the 32gr bk and saber tips awesome!

 

[Mark M.]

I believe it is a Benchmark. They know how to put together accurate rifles @ Calhoon. The CZ 527 Badger gives my Cooper .19-223 a run for its money in the accracy department. Both shoot the 32gr bk and saber tips awesome!

Have you ever checked the velocity your getting with your load?
I see your seating depth is the same for both DHP and the Sierra Bzk, I was seating the Sierra's at 1.725 (Calhoon's recommendation) and not getting near the accurately of the DHP at 1.710, I'll have to give that a try, thanks for sharing your information and the great pics.

 

[19 Badger]

Unfortunately I dont believe I documented the velocity. I do remember I was getting about 3550-3575 with 17.4 gr of AA2200. I backed it down a little to 17.2 and believe it settled about 3525 fps with same great accuracy. I want to keep my brass life as long as I can. This was with the original Starline brass (without 19 Badger headstamp) that needed the necks turned. I had to turn 1000 of them, lol. I haven't tried the my new brass (with headstamp) yet but Calhoon said they got the neck clearance right on the new stuff. I have no reason to doubt him. Also had to switch to a slightly larger expander ball (.001" larger) on the sizing die when I switched to the Sierras BK. Seater stem would dent the thinner jackets of the Sierras and almost always leave a ring on the bullet. Calhoon has always made it right if there was an issue.

 

[L.Sherm]

How do you like the starline brass, ive got quite a bit of James Rem 19 badger brass that I neck down for my 17 Badgers just curious how it will compare.

 

[Mark M.]

How do you like the starline brass, ive got quite a bit of James Rem 19 badger brass that I neck down for my 17 Badgers just curious how it will compare

I have only used the new starline brass with the head stamp, actually its quite nice, on my 4th firing, as long as I keep the 2200 to 17.2 no issues, but, i can tell you at 17.6 primer packets start to open up lol
Using my FL die with a quarter turn up from the shell plate allows me to nk size only, works pretty well.