squirrel

[rick w.]

Last Saturday was in a favorite gunshop, a fellow showed me 22 squirrel and 17 squirrel cases he was shooting in a contender. Twas a very unusual observation in that gunshop. Smallest case I have now is the 17 Bumble Bee, so the fire was rekindled with the idea of one or both of the squirrels in a No.1. The reason for all of this eludes me as usual.

I looked at RCBS etc squirrel reloading/forming dies, a bit too much even with the fever at hand. So my query boils down to:

Is there a possiblity that 17 Hornet or 22 Hornet (both in the Ackley or K versions) reloading dies could be cut down in length, ie off the base to have a type of respective squirrel case? I suspect that the cases would be somewhat tighter at the base, but one might live with that for the die savings.

With the rifle chamber, just run the respective improved hornet reamer in short and cut the rim recess manually?

Or is this just a pipe dream and more trouble than it is worth?

Rick W.

[ray h]

Rick, If you used say the 17 Ack Hornet dies cut down , I'd use a 17 AH reamer run in short ( amount you cut off) to chamber. You might not have a true 17 Squirrel but who cares, these are wildcats. The reamer prints I have has the Squirrel at .291 at the shoulder and the 17AH is .288. Go for it.

[crazyhorse]

I think the new 17HH happens to be somewhat shorter than a 17AH

[Daryl]

My .17Ah reamer is standard - no change from Dave Kiff's (Pacific normal, however it has 1 1/2 degree throat and "0" leade.
The Ah's have a swelling at the thinning of the web I don't like with normal WW or RP brass, however if using it to chamber a Squirrel - the reduced base would be perfect, I'm sure.
Do it. Thus, shortened Wilson dies cut with the same reamer would also be perfect.
If using pre-cut dies (some one else's reamer), you may have to polish the shortened die's base a bit.

[rick w.]

Thanks for taking time to reply to my query. I thought if anyone had done stuff like this before, they would be here............and looks like I was right.

I am awaiting some reamer prints to take a looksee at the dimensions of possibles.

Kinda hoping for a 17 version and then later a 22 or maybe even a 20 squirrel length case. I have a line on some dies and have a 17 KHornet match reamer from PTG.

The new 17 Hornady Hornet centerfire dies look encouraging from a price point of view, 35 dollars per set, but will have to peruse the dimensional numbers. I have not looked at the new 17 Hornet centerfire much as have the K models already, so something new to ponder as a donor case.

I have shortened some RCBS dies over the years, once you get thru the surface hardening with a piece of carbide, the rest goes more better.

Guess the project is underway........thanks again for the comments.

Rick