Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Remington 17 Fireball

Any one work with the Rem 17 Fireball yet? Have any solid information or links to other sites? I was just about to chamber a 17 MACH IV but I'm holding off until I get more info. Lot easier and cheaper to buy ammo for the brass than buy form dies to form the 17 MACH IV out of 221 brass OR by formed brass at 50 bucks a hundred.

Thanks Enjoy

Years ago I had a Contender in a Fireball. It was a hot round but I couldn't see as where it had any advantage over the then popular .222. At that time, brass was very expensive so I made them from .222 cases at less than half the price. At that time, civilian .223's were brand new and not very common.

Dick

goto saubier.com and do a 17 fireball search.

you'll find your answers along with pics of each cartridge side x side.

cb <*)))>{

Just a comment .....

I was very disappointed when Remington announced this round ...... More 'Remington stupidity' in my opinion.

I'm not knocking the .17 Mach IV (now legitimized), but why didn't Remington instead offer this round in .204 caliber?

When I study the history of American sporting cartridges, Winchester it seems has had far more successes than Remington, plus this new round gives me the impression Reimington is trying revive interest in their .17 Remmy round along with this new one. But the .17 Remington isn't nearly as good a seller as the .204 Ruger. Why not capitalize on recent [successful] trends? Instead of 'what if's?'

A .221 FB is on my list of "wanted" things [to do,] altho a .204 round smaller (and more efficient) than the .204 Ruger would interest me. I think Remington would have had a real winner with a .204 or 'twenty fireball' instead of a .17 FB. But maybe that's only me. What I have heard about the .17 Remmy and other .17 wildcats is that they foul badly after 20 or so shots, where a .192 or .204 caliber doesn't.

I can say that the 17 isn't as hard a fouler as you might think. I have a 17 center and it shoots very nice. I take it to the pd towns and regualarly shoot 100to 200 rds a day with no cleaning. Also my gunsmith has a custom 17 and he was doing a test on accuracy in the 17 without cleaning and he went over 500rds before accuracy started to dip. I think the fireball is a flop but it would be fun for pds. HAPPY HUNTING

I haven't used the 17 fireball, but I do have both a 221 Fireball and a 20 VT, which is the 221 necked down to .204. I enjoy both of these cartridges to the extreme. Both are just very fun to shoot, not bad to load for and hit what I shoot at very hard. I imagine the 17 to be the same....

Once the initial sales are satisfied, IMO the 17 Fireball is DOA.

I have a 17 Rem HB and a Mach IV but both are underperformers on prairie dogs over 200yds, especially on windy days. Neither, incidentally, tend to foul prematurely, however, added equipment is needed for cleaning and handloading.

I have a 204 Ruger, too and find the 223 Improved to be a superior cartridge for prairie dogs over 300yds, and most of our shots are usually that far or more.

Could not get excited about this round. The 17 rem can get higher speeds. One advantage to the FB is the use of pistol powders - it is a more efficient case.

Forget about the fouling issues of yesteryear naysayers - it is a fine varmint round.

You can get a BDL 17 Rem antime you want - why wait for a slower round?

TM

Just so you know you CANT get a BDL whenever you want. I've been looking for weeks. All of my wholesalers have none. I have seen them on Gunbroker but the cost is way to high. But anyway the fireball isn't going to be a big hit JMO cause speed seems to dominate todays varmint hunters. Also the 17 just doesn't have enough punch for the larger varmints it can kill em but not like the bigger 22s. Would be a great pd round. HAPPY HUNTING

Okay ......

I stand corrected on the .172-caliber fouling. The one salesman who told me about the fouling is an avid shooter and has shot a couple .17's, but he's far from being an end-all authority on much of anything!

My bad, IOW.

My interest in sub-bores started when I read a couple articles about the .17 Ackley Hornet (by Layne Simpson, I think) and the .17 Ackley Bee, but that was a long time ago! If I ever play with a .172 of any kind it will be after getting a .221FB in a rifle (or FL Encore barrel), and probably completing most of my wish list.

I Still think Remington should have introduced a 'twenty' or even a '19 fireball,' IMO. And if Ruger had built their .204R on the .223-case instead of the .222 Mag, that would have been about perfekt, too.

About half of the posters here seem to like the new .17 and about half don't.

I agree with you on the case of the 204. Seems to me the 223 case is just about as efficient as they get. And as for 17s I have a center and its ok for varmints but to me it just isn't enough bullet. Works well for pds and groundsquirrels. But I would rather use my 22s and 243s. HAPPY HUNTING

Stubbleduck:

I am not here to defend Remington, but a few significant successes, 22-250,25-06, 7MM Rem Mag, probably the most used belted magnum around,USA anyway, also the 41 and 44 mags, in hand guns.

The choice of the 17 in the Fireball case, may come down to Remingtons vast experience at drilling 17 barrels, also available tooling. They also may have been trying to fill the "gap", between the 17 Rim fire, and the 17 Remington.

The "little" guns are fine, 17's, Hornets, 222's etc, but you have to have other rifles, which are chambered for the "bigger" cartridges, 22-250, Swift, 243 etc, to have all the possibilities covered. Field conditions, especially wind, always dictate which rifle I will start with.

Good Shooting

Jerry

Not sure if you are a consumer searching through dealers or a dealer going through distributors. I can tell you I know for a fact that one distributor is sitting on several, maybe dozens of 17 BDL's (been a while since I looked). They have also had the light varmint stainless model in 17 as well (my fave but pricey). A BDL is a BDL - caliber shouldn't matter much in price. They may be rare in the used market because nobody parts with them and from a dealers perspective, they are a special order only gun. That may be why they are being bid up in the auctions.

I shoot a Rem 700 Classic in 17 and it is one of if not my favorite varmint gun(s). I'm set to try the Vmax bullets this spring. I shot nothing but Moly Bergers heretofore, but got tired of cleaning out the black sludge.

Speed is life to a 17 - the Fireball breaks 4000 with a 20 gr bullet. I was getting 4300 from 25 gr bullets in mine with a max load of 4320 which turned out to be a bit warm.

The BDL is a regular catalog item and they are out there.


TM