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  #1  
Old 11-09-2015, 08:23 PM
ballpowder ballpowder is offline
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Default 17 caliber accuracy

After following Harold's full up .20 vartarg bench rifle, I'm curious to find what can be accomplished in .17 cal. I'm getting close to having an Unlimited class Railgun finished and would like to experiment to see what is possible.

I want to get some opinions as to which chambering people think is most accurate. Just playing around with my form dies I found that shorting the 22 BR by .400 makes a cartridge that holds about 20.3gr of H322 half way up the neck. I'm thinking about 17gr powder is going to be my starting point. The BR case shortened that much and you are in the really thick brass. I'm looking at a tight neck 17 fireball but more intriguing is the 17 fireball shortened about .125 or 1/8".

What are your recommendations???

Tim
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  #2  
Old 11-09-2015, 11:29 PM
dungheap dungheap is offline
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IMO, if you want to save yourself a lot of monkeying around with a .17, get a .17 Fireball or better still .17AH. Those case sizes are ideal for the bore size.
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  #3  
Old 11-10-2015, 12:57 AM
BangPop BangPop is offline
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I can tell you one thing for certain. I was shocked at the accuracy potential of the .17 Mach IV. I built myself one about 10 years ago on an early 60's vintage 40X action that I trued up. A Shilen 1-10 twist barrel that was a superb performer. Several different bullets shot well, but the absolute killer accuracy came from the no longer available 22 grain Bergers. 3850 fps and the right seating depth would shoot you some groups in the .0xx range. They are very sensitive to seating depth. That barrel would go from shooting little round dots to shooting .750 with .010 seating depth change. Those little things can REALLY shoot if they are right.
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Old 11-10-2015, 03:20 AM
rickiesrevenge rickiesrevenge is offline
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I'd do something on the 221 case. Lapua makes brass for it now.

BTW Why do you have a rail in Ketchikan? I used to live there for about 6 years.

Aaron
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  #5  
Old 11-10-2015, 04:01 AM
ballpowder ballpowder is offline
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Well I'm going to experiment with it and when the kids get older probably leave it in a storage unit in Tacoma and fly down for the unlimited shoot they do. I enjoy hand landing more than hunting and this would really make hand loading much more fun. I have three bench guns also. Guys at the range here sh&t their pants every time I bring a target back to the bench😜
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  #6  
Old 11-10-2015, 11:31 AM
ray h ray h is offline
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Ballpowder, I believe Blaine Eddy had a short BR case wildcat like you're talking about. Also check out Blakes Lil Nasty based on a PPC case that's shorten around .180. I know that shoots well.
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Old 11-10-2015, 01:18 PM
Hog Patrol Hog Patrol is offline
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My .02 You have to be careful with the brass and seating depths but the .17 Fireball with 30 gr Kindler Golds in a PacNor, Lilja or Shilen barrel 1-9 is an amazingly accurate rifle.
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  #8  
Old 11-10-2015, 08:50 PM
ballpowder ballpowder is offline
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Great info guys. The reason for pondering a short Fireball was that if Harold was convinced the vartarg was a good bore/capacity for a .20 then it should be over optimum for .17. But, now that he wants to increase capacity I feel better.

Harold, I have an original A&M Sako 17 javalina and it is .102 longer than a fireball shoulder to shoulder. Handsome little cartridge too I will say
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  #9  
Old 11-10-2015, 11:13 PM
Ackman Ackman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ray h View Post
Ballpowder, I believe Blaine Eddy had a short BR case wildcat like you're talking about.
It was a PPC case .100" short
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  #10  
Old 11-11-2015, 01:34 AM
ray h ray h is offline
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You're right he had a .100 short PPC called the 17 Dog Terminator which is what I think Blake based his 17 Lil Nasty. He also did a .200 short BR case called the 17 Athena. I thought I remember him also doing a shorter version of the BR case, might have been wrote up in SCN magazine. Just can't remember for sure.
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