reloading 17 fireball question

[boltman223]

Just started reloading for 17 fireball and I am wondering what other people are using and what experiences they have had? Has anyone else been getting a lot of run out with this cartridge (.006-.009)? I have a hornady new dimension seater die which is suppose to help with that. My groups are inconsistent .5's to 1.5 inches. I make sure i get all the copper and powder fouling out between sessions. with everything I have tried I think it is coming down to run out as the problem. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Eddie Harren]

What kind of neck or FL dies are you using?

 

[boltman223]

Redding neck sizer

 

[gtl1946]

I had the same problem with a 308 built with top-notch parts and tried everything to get it to shoot. It wasn't until I went to my present gunsmith that he found extremely poor worksmanship by the old "gunsmith" on all the guns he did for me. They all shoot VERY well now because of the new gunsmith. The problem with the 308--the chamber was on an angle with the bore and the case was bent when fired and I wasn't getting that out of the case so the round wasn't concentric. Can you check the concentricity of a just fired case and then the same case after sizing. Just another thing to check on in the process of eliminating causes. IF thats the problem the guns going to have to go back !!!

 

[boltman223]

I checked the runout on my cases and the seems to be fine. I got a redding competition seating die along with that and full length sizing I have got my run out down to .001 to .004.

 

[vmthtr]

I use Redding FL "S" dies and a Wilson straightline seater. Works very well for run out.

 

[boltman223]

vmthtr

what cartridge are you using the wilson seater for? are you useing a arbor press, I am wondering if you have to?

 

[vmthtr]

I am loading for a 17 Mach IV. I used it without an arbor press for years, just hand pressure to seat. I now use an arbor press because i bought one for benchrest.

 

[tlbrooks]

I'm a newbie to this site but I saw your post and was wondering what rifle you're shooting? I have 2 different .17 FB's and the stock Remy 700 SPS had such a long throat I couldn't even come close to seating the bullets near the rifleing. My other .17 FB is a custom built on a 700 action and using a Lilja barrel and chambered with a zero freebore reamer. Most .17 calibre guns I've owned like the bullets seated close to the rifleing to get top accuracy and consistancy. I ended up rechambering the SPS using the same zero freebore reamer I used on the custom rig and my groups improved a lot. Check to see how much freebore your chamber has.

 

[boltman223]

thanks tlbrooks

My 17fb is a remington 700 vsf. I am touching the rifling at about 1.805 overall length with 25 gr v-maxes. my hornady manual states a 1.770 aol. so not to bad for freebore. I found out that i was seating my bullets way into the rifling. now I am full length resizing and have seated the bullets about .003 off the lands. I was getting a good amount of run out on my cases when i was neck sizing only that is why I am FL resizing now, it has decreased my run out to about zero now. also I am using a competition seater now. my bullet run out has decreased quit a bit now too. mostly around .002 and .003. I get a couple here and there that are .006. don't know why they differ so much. Thanks again for the info.

 

[MrMajestic]

Put a .17FB barrel from EABCO on my Savage 16. I have 125 rounds down it now and fouling has been reduced considerably and accuracy with the 20 or 25 grain V-Max and H4198 seems to be settling in about 1/2 MOA. 4036 fps with the 20's and 3920 fps with the 25's. Haven't killed anything with it yet but the 20's from my .17 Ackley Hornet at 3575 fps don't exit body shot chucks(good thing in rural areas) but I never had one get away.