Just formed my first piece of .17 Fireball brass.

[sparky123321]

I love the .17 Fireball, but it can be very difficult to find brass when I need it. I knew it was possible to form .17 and .221 Fireball from standard .223 Rem brass and others have done it, so I figured I'd give it a try. I started with once fired RP .223 Rem brass that I ran through the annealer first to help make the forming go easier. The brass was run through a series of 4 different dies, rough cut to approximate length, trimmed to length, chamfered, deburred, run through a .17 FB full length sizer die, necks turned and reamed, primer pockets deburred and uniformed. Brass will be run in SS pins to remove the case lube and annealed one more time.

It took a little while to get everything dialed in and it isn't a quick process, but I'm very pleased with the outcome. The case on the left is a resized case from once fired RP .17 factory ammo and the case to the right is the case I just formed.

 

[pwdrbrn]

Nice job! I found out that if you don't neck turn, you will find the primer in the magazine well. Just not enough room for expansion of the neck. Cases are thicker too, watch for pressure sign s earlier. Tom.

 

[sparky123321]

Thanks Tom. I appreciate the advice.

 

[sparky123321]

I should be cleaning up my mess in the basement, but I couldn't help fine tuning a little further. I was conservative when turning the neck. I could and probably will turn down a little further, but I wanted to be very careful not to cut into the shoulder. I promise cleaning the basement is next on my the list.

I did throw the factory brass on the neck turner just to clean it up for a better comparison. At this point, I'm guessing after one firing even I'll have to look at the headstamp to be able tell the difference.

 

[pacificman]

Yes...good looking cases there! I am one of those that enjoy forming brass as it feels good to know you can form your own brass and save some coin in the process. It does get repetitious a bit but when done a little at a time you end up with the benefits of rounds for a different caliber. Owning a 223 ,221, 20VT, (20 practical soon) makes it almost necessary to form brass in my opinion. Seems the 223 brass is more available than everything else. I got most of my info from a bunch of guys right here on the forums who know way more than me! and am very grateful for that!

I bought a 21st century neck turning tool and cut just about 32 inch into the shoulder so there would be no worry of the dreaded do-nut. The neck thickness on my brass is about 11.5 thousands (for 20VT) to fit my chamber. I tried to post picture but never could figure it out. Your cases look very good man!

 

[searcher]

Were the forming dies for this project available as a set?

 

[sparky123321]

Not that I know of. Lots of trial and error. Redding does sell a die to form .221 FB, but it wasn't very successful in forming the brass without causing irreversible damage to many of the cases.

This was a pretty expensive and very time consuming process. I probably spent around $200 on different dies and bushings. Luckily, I already owned an annealer, power trimmer and power neck turner.

 

[sparky123321]

Actually, I don't want to add it all up because if I think about it it's probably more like $300.

 

[Skunce]

I'd be interested to know what dies you used and more details on the process of reforming that you used.

 

[searcher]

I'd like to know the dies and process too - I've been thinking about this caliber for a while.

 

[sparky123321]

I'm going to try adding one more Redding FL S die and bushing, so another $100. That will make it a total of 6 dies now, if you count the first FL .223 die. Obviously, you could just swap bushing and save the $70 for the additional die. I'm guessing your choice of dies can vary, except for the Redding S-type FL Sizing dies and Redding body die. Of course they're the expensive dies.

Here's my process. I'm pretty sure I covered everything. You will need to have an annealer, trimmer and some way to turn the necks. Get your wallet ready and make sure you have a lot of time available if you wish to give it a try. I'm guessing I could bang out 500 cases for you for "A LOT" less than this set up will cost. I have several different neck bushings to use for steps 8 & 9. I am still experimenting with what combination of bushings gives me the best results.

1) Once fired RP .223 Rem brass
2) Uniform primer pockets and deburr flash holes
3) Anneal
4) Lube, lube and then some more lube
5) FL .223 FL Sizer die
6) Redding .221 FB Body die
7) .221 FB FL Sizing die with button removed
8 ) Redding S .221 FB FL Sizing die with button removed
9) Redding S .17 FB FL Sizing die with button removed
10) Rough cut
11) Trim to length, chamfer and deburr
12) Turn and ream necks
13) FL .17 FB die with button installed
14) Clean in SS pins
15) Anneal

 

[searcher]

Going over your list of items, you are right - this is an expensive process due to all the dies required. Thanks for sharing your process!

 

[BaconFat]

.... Haven't tried it yet but I would think starting with the new Lapua .221 Fireball brass would be a lot easier.

That brass was scarfed up faster than a blink of an eye.

 

[sparky123321]

.221 FB to .17 FB would be easy. I only use Lapua brass in all my rifles except for my MSAR, Dissapator and my Remington .17 FB. I could easily form up some .17 FB using .223 Lapua brass if I wanted to now. Since I'm doing all the work anyway to form, trim, debur and chamfer, ream, neck turn, dedur flash holes, uniform primer pockets and anneal I'm feel pretty good about the quality of .17 FB cases I'm producing with once fire .223 Rem RP brass. The only other step I would add to feel it was almost match quality would be to sort by weight.

 

[sparky123321]

I was just about ready to head up to bed, but you guys had to tempt me. Yes, that's right Lapua .17 Fireball from .223 brass. Formed up easier than the RP actually.