Thoughts on a hornet rechamber

[mnshortdraw]

I have a built CZ527 in 17KHornet that is shooting very well. It has a 22" Lilja barrel and is a straight cylinder (no taper). My issue is the fragile Hornet brass. Out of 50 rounds it's not uncommon to split one or two necks on it's second loading. I anneal before and after fireforming but nothing seems to eliminate the brass loss. My idea is to have the barrel set back and rechambered to 17 Hornady Hornet to take advantage of the thicker brass. Another idea is to have it set back and chambered to a short neck 17KHornet so I can continue to use my expensive dies but use the shorter, thicker Hornady brass. I need reliability, this is my fox rifle and I'd like to shoot local informal 200yd benchrest matches on occasion. I have seen flyers when the necks crack and need to alleviate this. Any input is appreciated, especially if anyone has knowledge of the little Hornet based 17's. Gunsmith recommendations are also welcome.

 

[Fuzzy Bunny]

I don't have a solution to your problem, but am going through the same thing with a 22 K hornet myself. I started annealing, after the first firing (I shoot factory loads, and then reload), and it has helped some, but hasn't fixed the issue.

One thing I have noticed is that some lots of brass just seem to be worse than others.

If you figure this out, please post up the cure.

 

[CatShooter]

The 22 Hornet and the 218 Bee both have neck walls that are 0.009" - I have a 218 Bee with neck walls at 9 thou (same as a Hornet) and have no problems.... plus guys shoot benchrest rifles with necks thinner than that, without problems.

What is the diameter of a fired neck and a loaded neck - it sounds like the reamer had a very large neck, and the case necks are being over worked on sizing.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

Sorry to hear you are having problems with your hornet. I've got a couple ackley hornets. With one batch of brass I had to anneal after 3 firings otherwise the necks split. The next batch have been fired 10 times with no problems. I'd measure the necks of a loaded round and a fired case. If it's more than .004" you're probably over working them. You could anneal every time is that's what's it takes.

 

[mnshortdraw]

Loaded rounds are .191 and fired brass is .196. Does that seem high? I only have one batch of Remington brass for this rifle and am unable to find any other brass I could use. Is Winchester brass thicker?

 

[snert]

Domestic brass is running thin across the board from several years ago production. Winchester has usually been a bit thicker than Rem, relatively speaking.

 

[mnshortdraw]

Yeah, I notices nobody has had any new brass in quite some time. Thanks for the heads up about the Winchester brass. Still trying to decide what I'm going to do with the rifle. I would just love to be able to work with nice brass.

 

[gtl1946]

What about RWS Ammo/brass ? I think (?) it's thicker - problem is finding it .

 

[NZ_Noddy]

+1 for RWS brass - it's brilliant once you work out what to do with it!

I had 80% split necks on fireforming for my 22K Hornet, but found that annealing prior to fireforming
solved all the problems. Have since had 4 more firings on same cases without issue (or the need to re-anneal.
Once fired RWS Hornet brass is available from EU. I have some 300 cases spare but it's a long postage from here in NZ.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

My winchester brass has a .191-.192 neck. Not much thicker than your RP. If your fired cases measure .196" the chamber your chamber is probably .197"ish. Thats a bit more expansion than I'd want on my cases. I bet the problem will go away if you anneal. After every firing.

 

[Dvldawg]

You could retain your 17 K-Hornet chamber and buy some 17HH brass run them through your FL die and fire form them in to your chamber, your fire formed brass will likely be a little short but you won't have to trim for a while. I dont know the dimensions of the reamer used for your chamber, or the thickness of the 17HH brass, just make sure the neck is of the correct size before the fire forming..