I did not post here because it looked like you guys did a great job of covering everything. However I decided to post a copy/paste from an e-mail I sent out because I have been contacted by a couple guys via e-mail about going from no reloading equipment straight to some of the smallest 17 calibers. Just some things to think about....
I “think” Daryl (on Saubier) used a17 HMR barrel for something and I believe it worked well as a centerfire barrel. I am thinking it was a Green Mountain SS Bull barrel???
I forgot to finish typing what I was thinking??? I’ll blame it on working 12-14 hours a day plus a (couple hrs driving) for the last 45 days or so and working straight through for a portion until last weekend and now am getting the weekends off so I’ll blame it on being over tired but I had it in my mind when I replied the first time and must of forgot before I go it written down…
On the Squirrel case it requires
many extra reloading tools if you make your own cases. Form dies; a way to cut off the cases, a neck turning tool and then the cases should be annealed….
5 mm mag/17 CCM brass requires a great deal more however it is all done when you purchase them and you pay for it at 60.00 @100. I am not sure how much the squirrel cases go for but you can check it out at
http://woodchuckden.com/ .
I am not trying to discourage you but want you to recognize everything before you purchase a press, powder measure, scale and all the other many things needed to play with some of these small cases. This is a super fun hobby for me and I really didn’t start out like you are planning to do, sort-a- grew into it??? Don’t want to see you get discouraged and all of your stuff ends up for sale!!!
Above all else be safe! A grain of powder in these small cases can make a huge difference. You have to know exactly what you are doing and be able to recognize any abnormally and what the expected results will be. Trust but verify, you see a load on the net be sure to verify everything and think about it hard before pulling the trigger on your gun with “that” load. I make many typos and like I said before 1 grain might make the difference between a safe load in one riffle and a gun blow-up in another… That said if I can do this anyone can (and I mean that) so good luck to ya, gw
PS I might copy/paste this to saubier for others whom are considering reloading these small cases….