17 Fireball chamber re-cut to .17 Remington?

[wombat120mm]

Hi,

Due to a batch of bad Remington ammo, I now have a scarred chamber in my beloved Sako .17 Fireball. The necks were split on around 10% of cases (this is new old tock ammo from 2008), unfortunately I didn't notice this until I'd fired around 50 shots, so 5 split cases and some gas erosion cuts to the shoulders of the chamber.

I could get the chamber re-cut in .17 FB, but would lose the length of the tenon as that'd need to be cut off and re-threaded apparently. So was wondering if anyone on here has been down this path before and gone from .17 FB to .17 Remington without the need to cut off the tenon and re-thread?

I'm keen not to lose any barrel length as I want every fps from the cartridge.

Many thanks!

[JSH]

As hard as 17 Remington brass is to come by, I would look at a 17-222 or 17-223.

[Kevin Gullette]

I would look into moving the 17FB chamber forward about 3 or 4 threads.

The chamber shoulder may clean up fine.

Besides......depending on how many total rounds have already been down the barrel, the throat has probably moved forward a bit anyway.

Hope this helps.

Kevin

[Hog Patrol]

No you can not UNLESS you take off a half inch or more of the tenon.
Better off doing a set back.

The dimensions just don't work. You can compare both cases and see that the fireball is larger at distance X from the head than the 17 Rem at the same distance. Didn't check but it's probably the same for the other. According to Ammo Guide rechambering, there are no possibilities to rechamber a 17 fireball to anything else in .17 caliber.

[wombat120mm]

ok many thanks, that answers the question. The gas cuts are fairly shallow and only just imprint on new brass, so maybe moving the chamber forward ever so slightly might be enough.

Then again, perhaps I'm being too precious about keeping the barrel at 24", from what I have read on here it would seem that there is little to no velocity increase beyond a 22" tube....?

[Hog Patrol]

Maybe lose 50fps between 22 and 24.

[moorepower]

I am with them, keep it a Furball

[foxhunter]

my 17 rem is 22" and it doesn't give up any velocity to a 24" barrel. then again i don't shoot it full bore but more like 17 fireball velocities with lower pressures.

[TAJ45]

Kevin is 100% correct awa the others.
IF the throat is not showing age, if it were mine, if l had the lathe and reamer.........l would be heavily considering freshening the chamber this way:

Indicate the bbl to my tolerance.
Touch off on face.
Take .060 off of face.
Remove .060 from bbl shoulder.
Ream .060 deep w the 221 FB reamer.

If not comfortable w skill level, maybe hold reamer short a few thou and finish by hand.

Several ways to maintain headspace by measuring case relationship before and after facing and of course gages.

This shortcut is born of budget considerations, smith hourly cost.
Also, long proven when stressed, threads begin deformity at 3rd and 4th thread. Losing one thread engagement is insignificant for bbl to rcvr app. No linear pull other than maintaining engagement of bbl shoulder to action face.

[Hog Patrol]

Assume that's a typo, the 221 Fireball reamer.