Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 17 Hornet Dies??

Anyone have experience with the new 17 hornet reloading dies?

Im looking to start reloading for my CZ once I have gone through my factory loaded ammo, and just want some opinions on what guys are using, and why.

As far as I know, RCBS, Redding, and Hornady are the only ones that are making dies for this caliber.

The only reason I use Hornady is that's all that was available when intro'ed.....

Redding is working fine for me...


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Claybirds: If you are looking for some 17 Hornet dies my local pawn/sport shop has 3 sets of RCBS dies for sale.
They are marked $66.00 (no sales tax) each.
Let me know if I can be of assistance to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Should add that the FL Redding dies I'm using work great for forming 17 Hornet from 22 Hornet cases. I trim the 22 hornet cases to 1.350", lube with Imperial sizing wax, one pass through the seater die with the stem removed, then one pass through the sizing die.

After sizing I anneal then fireform. I've seen a very low loss rate using these dies to form with. Can't say for sure about the other brands but the Reddings work great for this!


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Thanks for the offer Varmint guy, I will let you know if that's the way I'm going to go.

Seeing that I only have a CZ in this caliber would you go with the FL, or Neck sizing die?

I use Hornady dies for my . 17 Hornet. I'm normally not a big fan of Hornady dies, however, they were more readily available when I went looking for dies. Since using them, I really like the seating die with the alignment sleeve. I think an alignment sleeve is almost necessary when reloading this cartridge because there is no boattail taper on the .17 V - Max's. Also, the .17 cal bullets are so tiny, it's hard for me to set a bullet on top of the charged brass in a straight manner. The alignment sleeve of the Hornady die helps immensely with that task.

You can do both with a full length die.....I like full length for this cartridge..


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Good point, thanks

Personally I would go with the Hornady dies for reloading factory 17 hornet brass. Reason I like the Hornady dies is that the brass is resized less with these dies and with the bullet seating die, the alingment sleeve is a bonus as it truly does help with seating the little bullets very straight.

On the flip side, should you wish to go through the hastle of forming your own brass from the likes of Privi 22 hornet Brass or other 22 hornet brass; Then I would opt for the Redding dies. Down side to the Hornady dies when sizing brass for fire forming from 22 hornet is the vent hole tends to scar the shoulder area when necking down the 22 Hornet brass.

Advantage with the Redding die when forming 17 HH from 22 Hornet is the bullet seating die lends itself very well for 1st step of necking down from 22 hornet to 17 Hornady hornet. Also the redding Dies do not have the vent hole with the form die to create scarring issue in the shoulder area.

Thank you for your advise