Hello everyone I have been working up some 17 Hornady Hornet Loads. Converting 22 Hornet brass to 17 Hornady Hornet I thought it might be helpful for someone out there to show the step by step. description and Photo below:


From Left to Right Conversion steps
1. Loaded 22 Hornet.
2. Fired 22 Hornet.
3. Trimmed to 1.349 to allow for draw back when fire formed.
4. Necked down to 20 cal.
5. Necked to 17 cal.
6. Loaded to fire form.
7. Fire formed case 1.340 OAL.
8. Loaded 17 Hornady Hornet

Let me know if you find this helpful

Why all the steps? So far I've been necking down Winchester .22 Hornet brass in my Redding .17 HH die, then loading 'em and shooting 'em.

That'll never work.

Ive tried that with several and they crush using RCBS several others have said the same

I was kidding since they obviously work for MD. Guessing he's not using RCBS, but it is just a guess.

Good guess--especially if you read my post!

But here's another question to DLfant: Did you include the firing the .22 Hornet brass in the steps because that's what you did? And if so, why? The reason I ask is that I'm necking down unfired Winchester .22 Hornet brass.

Didn't read it. Decided to join the cool kids and try just hopping in at the end.

no just added the pic for compairson. I'm using used brass From free to 10 cents each that Ive bought or was given to me. I dont have a 22 Hornet

MD what kind of Gun, loads, and groups are you getting best results from?

Have only shot Hornady factory so far, which averages 1/2" for 5-shot groups at 100 yards from my CZ 527. Was planning to do some handloading this month but dislocated my knee (Labrador retriever zooming out of the brush while bird hunting) and haven't recovered quite enough. It looks to me like Accurate 1680 might be a top candidate. I have several bullets on hand from Berger, Hornady and Nosler.

How about you?

A little with a home made blend and with H110 and Nosler 20 Gr got a couple 3/8" group @ about 3550 fps but not enough to make a call yet. I got a 527 and a Savage M 25 and I have the Ruger 77 on Order but it has not come yet, So far I like the Savage much better it is more accurate with all the different Loads Ive tried (about 12)

Uh, er, ahem, does that perchance mean that you are blending powders?

I need to apologize to DLfant a little. Looked at my loading notes and found I was using the SEATING die in my Redding set to neck down .22 Hornet cases (to approximately .20) before running them into the FL length. Of course, the insides of the seating die were removed first!

I'm also curious about this home-made blend, though not as offended by it as some handloaders might be. The ammo factories blend powders of similar grain size quite often to achieve just the results desired. A good example is Superformance. The stuff we can buy is the blend for the .30-06, but Hornady uses other blends for other cartridges. Winchester did the same thing with other powders when the .300 WSM first came out.

Thanks Mule Deer Apology not necessary. I just wanted to help if there were any guys out there new to brass conversion. As to blemds your right the big boys do it all the time.

DL