Vipers

[drewh]

I was working on brass forming over the weekend and put this together. Foxhunter here on Saubier came up with the original idea and put together the excellent 17 Viper. I purchased the reamer some years later and have a couple 17 Viper barrels. Very similar to the Garin idea, each forming step down seems to be an interesting cartridge by itself. The availability of 300 BLK brass makes it easier to form. I now have a 20 Viper that I am forming brass for and am thinking the .22 may have a place in my squirrel lineup as well.

L-R:
300 BLK, 25 forming step, 22 Viper, 20 Viper, 17 Viper, 20 Vartarg

[df06]

Will they cycle through a Rem 700 magazine?

[drewh]

Not sure, the only magazine gun I have had them on was a CZ, the rest were single shot. I suspect they would cycle through a rifle set up for fireball, but don't know for sure.
Drew

[moorepower]

What kind of velo are you getting? I was wondering if anyone was doing this with the 300BO as a parent case.

[drewh]

I get 3850 from the 17 with a 20 grain bullet and LT-30. It may be leaving some velocity on the table, but I am happy with that and good accuracy. I have not finished load development for the 20 version yet, but hoping for an accuracy node at about 3650 with the 24 grain NTX.

[visiter1]

id love a 20 and a 17 viper, let us know how you get on please sir!!

[coyotezapper]

I like that long neck.

[l h jenkins]

why start with a 30 blkout? seems like a 221 would make life a lot simpler. or a 5.56 cut down and reamed and neck turned. just asking. thanks.

[southernman]

Isn't the 300 black out derived of the .221 case, ?

[drewh]

Originally Posted by l h jenkins

why start with a 30 blkout? seems like a 221 would make life a lot simpler. or a 5.56 cut down and reamed and neck turned. just asking. thanks.

I use the 300 BLK for several reasons. Having factory annealing in the area of the case where you want the neck makes the cases a lot easier to form. Even with fireball cases you can't push the neck down that far at 22 caliber, you crush them - you end up doing the 25 caliber step no matter what case you form from. Don't have to use a tubing cutter, harbor freight saw to cut off all of the excess - a trimmer takes care of it. Lastly cost - at 25 cents per case for Federal cases it's hard to beat for factory new brass.