17 Hornady Hornet

reddog964

reddog964

New member
Wondering how many of you pay close attention to your brass and prep work?

I picked up 1200+ pcs of Hornady once fired brass a awhile back for a really good price and after doing some sizing and prep work I noticed that the primer pocket depth varied quit a bit, some of them the depth measured fine and others the primers protruded as much as .008 above the base so I spent a few days uniforming the primer pockets. ( talk about a PITA) them things are so small and trying to get a grip on them was some what of a challenge to say the least!!! Took me a little bit to figure out the best way to get a grip on them because the uniformer was pretty tight so I finally ended up using some imperial sizing wax on a Q Tip in each pocket and it made the job a lot easier.

I then went through and weighed all cases and separated them into lots that ranged from 55grs to 57grs, most were right at 56grs, then i checked the H20 case weight, with this small case capacity I feel its important in order to achieve the best consistent accuracy. Glade that's OVER WITH...

So today it has been snowing and figured it was a good day to get some test loads loaded up for when the weather permits me to do some testing.

I was pretty excited to break out the New Harrels Classic powder Measure/drop that showed up in the mail this week.

I ended up making my own stand for it while i was waiting for the measure/drop to show up and got it set up this morning.





I think to get the most consistent drops is to keep the hopper about 2/3s full so i stuck a large powder funnel in the hopper and kept it some what full which keeps the hopper pretty much the same level/amount of powder.



After getting it dialed in some what I figured I would throw 10 charges to see how consistent it was before i started loading. This is 10 loads/drops in the order they were throwing!



Buy then i had a pretty good idea how close the adjustments were on the power drop and started @ 9.3grs and went to 9.7grs for the book max.



This is how i some what keep a record of what my load testing consist of.



I got to say I really enjoy Hand loading...
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How do you like that Harrnel powder throw? I've been toying with the idea of getting one.
Thanks,
James
 
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I shoot a 17 ackley hornet. I take 100 brass, form them, fire form them while shooting squirrels, and then anneal and load again. 1/2" groups with fireform loads are good enough for me.
 
Thanks Tim
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Originally Posted By: MoYoBomberThat powder stand is a fine looking piece!!

Little Crow WFT trimmers on the wall?

I thought it turned out Nice.

The WFT is a great trimmer, can be a little of a pain to get set up nut once its done there sweet.


Originally Posted By: DAAThat case block is sexy
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- DAA

Not Bad for a 40 year old
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Originally Posted By: jamesdHow do you like that Harrnel powder throw? I've been toying with the idea of getting one.
Thanks,
James

The Only thing i don't like is I should have got one a Long time ago..


Originally Posted By: 6724I shoot a 17 ackley hornet. I take 100 brass, form them, fire form them while shooting squirrels, and then anneal and load again. 1/2" groups with fireform loads are good enough for me.

I should be GTG then
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Look forward to reading of your results from load development. Is this a custom barreled 17 Hornet or something like a CZ 527??
 
Originally Posted By: B23Look forward to reading of your results from load development. Is this a custom barreled 17 Hornet or something like a CZ 527??

Got about 10" of wet snow last night and more on the way today so it may be a bit before i get to do some testing, but I will update.

It is a Factory CZ 527



Already done some load work with the 25gr Berger for a winter load and i want a spring/summer load with the Vmax for sage rats and what not and I got a 8# keg of Win 296 that I hope will work! it will last a while if it does
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Originally Posted By: reddog964

I got a 8# keg of Win 296 that I hope will work! it will last a while if it does
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Ya think?! Only about 5100 rounds worth. LOL

For sage rats I wonder how well the Hornady Superformance 15.5 NTX would do. I never shot any so I don't know how accurate they are but if they were, they'd sure be exciting to watch them explode.
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Originally Posted By: B23Originally Posted By: reddog964

I got a 8# keg of Win 296 that I hope will work! it will last a while if it does
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Ya think?! Only about 5100 rounds worth. LOL

For sage rats I wonder how well the Hornady Superformance 15.5 NTX would do. I never shot any so I don't know how accurate they are but if they were, they'd sure be exciting to watch them explode.
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If I could find some to load I would really like to try them out also.

I should probably go ahead and order another barrel now
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Nice looking setup, but I'm partial as mine looks exactly the same.

What barrel length are you running? I had mine cut down to 21 inches when it was threaded.
 
Thanks, I know what you mean
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I left it at factory when i had it threaded, it's the American and I think they are 21.8/21.9 long.

I did run one box of factory Hornady 20gr thru it when i first got it so i had some brass to work with, It didn't shoot all that well but the speeds were around the 3750fps give or take a few FPS but thought that was pretty dang fast for factory fonder.
 
I had mine bed when the barrel work was done to it and not sure if that did anything to helping it shoot well but mine is a pretty consistent .5-.75 @100 shooter with the Hornady Superformance 20gr. stuff. Haven't run anything across the chronograph so not sure what velocity is. I'm a little surprised your velocity was that high, usually I can't get even close to what's printed on the box.
 
In response to the original post the reason your finding such a large difference in primer depth is because a lot of the first run ammo had primers crimped.

A lot of good info on it if you search the forum.
 
Originally Posted By: Big-BobIn response to the original post the reason your finding such a large difference in primer depth is because a lot of the first run ammo had primers crimped.

A lot of good info on it if you search the forum.

I recall reading on one of the different forums, Saubier I think maybe, that the primer pocket depth was an issue with some of the earlier production brass and loaded ammo. I could be thinking of something different but I believe I read something about loaded ammo with silver primers was the older stuff and gold colored was the newer ammo but like I said, maybe I'm thinking of something different. I'll try and see if I can find that discussion then post a link to it.
 
Originally Posted By: reddog964

then i checked the H20 case weight, with this small case capacity I feel its important in order to achieve the best consistent accuracy. Glade that's OVER WITH...



Curious, what did you get for H2O case weight? I picked 6 random pieces of once fired and they all held 14.8-14.9 grains of water. I checked each piece twice, just to double check my own consistency, and they all held the same both times I measured them.

I think if I were to test a lot of these little cases for H2O capacity I'd go get a big syringe with a large needle because those tiny little .17 cal openings are a real PITA to fill.
 
Originally Posted By: Big-BobIn response to the original post the reason your finding such a large difference in primer depth is because a lot of the first run ammo had primers crimped.

A lot of good info on it if you search the forum.

Yeap, thanks for the response, I have and had done a ton of reading and knew about the primer pocket issue but most of it has been that the pockets were loose! not so much of a seating depth issue.
 


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