17 Remington brass help...

S

Sqeak'em

New member
I am wanting to get a CZ527 Varmint one of these days in 17 Remington but the problem is there is no brass to be found ANYWHERE!!! But I do have a lot of 223 brass and since 223 is the sister case for the 17 is it very easy to neck down the 223 to the 17 remington?
 
I may be able to help you. I ran into the same problem so I decided to use .204 Ruger brass and form .17 Remington out of that.

Here's what I did and it works great. First step... bump the shoulder back. I used a .221 fireball form and trim die to bump back the shoulder far enough to "almost" be where it should be when the case is fully formed. Second step is use a .17 rem seater die to form the rest of the case to where it should be. Third step is use a full length die to bring the case into spec. Fourth step is trim the case to length. Fifth step is turn the necks to uniform them... mine ended up being .012 thick. This step may not be necessary... Sixth step is anneal the cases. Seventh step is one more pass through the full length die. The final annealing was necessary due to spring back of the shoulder.

The brass is awesome. I have used .223 brass in the same way and it works fine. It will be short however... but it functions fine. I annealed as a next to final step. I tried annealing earlier but suffered collapsing shoulders and folds etc...

Use a very small amount of the imperial sizing wax. Almost an undetectable amount. A little goes a long way.
 
OK.. I forgot to mention one tip that really helped. I polished my dies with Flitz to really smooth them up. This helps big time to reduce or eliminate collapsed shoulders... splits...folds... etc. Remember.... a very very small touch of Imperial wax.... Slow and steady on the press... and remove the guts of the dies when you form. Good luck.
 
I too tried using regular .223 brass and as far as I could tell it did work fine. Neck is dang short but then it aint holding much of a bullet in it. If .223 brass was all that I could find I would have no problems using it.

It's funny, but a very few years ago I had a chance to buy several of the hundred round bags of R-P brass for a wholesale price. I did so but wondered at that time why I needed a thousand rounds of brass that I almost certainly would never use up. Well, I'm mighty glad I did now. And even if I have to toss 100 rounds a year of it away I still will be set for a good long while.

I just hope that primers come back in the next few years or I will be in trouble.
 
There is a guy on Gunbroker selling 17 rem brass formed from 5.56 milsurp brass. In his auction there is a very good picture of his formed brass in a Wilson 17 Remington case length guage. It "looks" like it is within tolerance. Whata ya think his secret is ???
 
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I have made .17 rem cases from 223 for years, the necks are a hair short is the only difference i can tell, they work great for me.
 
first post here so hope this is not breaking any rules

anyone who may be interested:

I have 285 R-P .17 Rem brass once fired to sell along with 93 re-loaded pcs, in MTM box, w/25gr Hornady bullets. 104 of those bullets and 99 Rem 7 1/2 SR primers & RCBS dies. Part of pkg deal I made a few wks ago, not my reloads.

PM me if interested for pricing etc
 
I use 204 brass and use a 223 die instead of 221 fireball die to push the shoulder back for a firm bolt closing. Works perfect and they are more accurate than the factory brass. Clincher is all my guns are fresh chambered and the 204 brass is a far better fit than the factory brass necks. Still allowing room for expansion without high pressures.
 
Originally Posted By: SoTexThere is a guy on Gunbroker selling 17 rem brass formed from 5.56 milsurp brass. In his auction there is a very good picture of his formed brass in a Wilson 17 Remington case length guage. It "looks" like it is within tolerance. Whata ya think his secret is ???

It seems that you are referencing our auctions.

Anyway, there's no secret. We have a set of 4 forming dies that are built specifically for forming .17 Remington from 5.56/.223, which is its parent case. Several companies, such as RCBS, offer form dies to go from .223 to .17 Remington. The dies are usually special order.

If you look at the picture on our GunBroker auction with the lineup of cases you'll see (left to right)
#1. 5.56 case
#2. first form die moves the shoulder down to 1.3511"
#3. second form die begins to change the shoulder to 23 deg.
#4. third form die moves shoulder closer to 23 deg.
#5. fourth form die finalizes shoulder and sets neck to .17 and trims to length.
 
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Originally Posted By: HPAIt seems that you are referencing my auctions.

Anyway, there's no secret. We have a set of 4 forming dies that are built specifically for forming .17 Remington from 5.56/.223, which is its parent case. Several companies, such as RCBS, offer form dies to go from .223 to .17 Remington. The dies are usually special order.

If you look at the picture on our GunBroker auction with the lineup of cases you'll see (left to right)
#1. 5.56 case
#2. first form die moves the shoulder down to 1.3511"
#3. second form die begins to change the shoulder to 23 deg.
#4. third form die moves shoulder closer to 23 deg.
#5. fourth form die finializes shoulder and sets neck to .17 and trims to length.

The die trims to length? How?
 
Originally Posted By: Orneryolfart357 The die trims to length? How?

It is a Dillon trim die. A Dillon 1200 trim motor is mounted on top of the die. The trim motor uses a carbide cutter to trim the case to length.
 
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