or a case of frustrations at the Reload bench....
So I've always wanted to learn this cartridge, since it came out.. just never bought a rifle in one... finally bought a barrel tho and put it on a Savage Action...
At the current point, its now had 400 rounds down the barrel...learning what powders work.... but using the 20 V Max...
experimented with reduced loads ( yeah I know, a weird quirk of mine, one of many weird quirks) and pistol primers...
as experimented with about 8 different powders, with loads as low as 10 gr of 4198, to 15 to 19 grains of other powders in the RL 7, H 322, Benchmark, AR Comp range, 4895s, 3031, RL 10..
I anneal and full length size each reload...
Weakest point are sizing the damn necks... little suckers, and every expander ball feels like is a 30 caliber sized ball, pulling it back out of the necks
despite polishing them, cleaning the inside of the necks with a bore brush each time... lubing the expander ball..
after 8 or so full sizing the neck splits start showing up.. had 10 so far in 400 rounds... should get longer life...
of course I have to stand in line, with everyone else on the planet who is buying anything that makes ANY gun go bang.... so I am waiting waiting waiting, and nothing keeps showing up.. but everyone has no problem charging your credit card...
I already had actually 2 sets of Reloading dies from RCBS with their oversized expander balls...
I am waiting on a 221 Fireball die to use as a Body die..., Lee sent me a pair of 17 cal decapping spindles, that I put in an extra 30/30 die, which makes a good Universal decapper.... a friend loaned me a set of Redding stuff for a Mach 4, which is sorta useful.. but the weak point is still those damn little bitty necks...
bullets have been showing up at our local Bi Mart, hence the 20 V Max... also received an order for 500 of the 15.5 grain NTX, plus I got in on that deal from Midway for the 25 gr HPs... got 1500 of those.. so set on bullets, powder and primers...
I've been waiting on SEVERAL die sets, for what seems like 6 months now... got sent the wrong die set, twice...so am out the money, and still waiting for them to get the right ones back in.. and waiting and waiting and waiting...
I like the cartridge when at the range, although we are still working out what it likes d'jour for accuracy...
Two bore brushes have broken off with the end of the cleaning rod, still having what's left of it in the rod... which I don't have a clue how to get that out...
so my two 17 cal cleaning rods are off line now...
at the reload bench, its been Fireball 227 and Seafire ZERO so far...
but its cost me about 30 to 34 cents per round to reload it... on line I see where 17 HMR ammo is 36 cents a round, and 17 Fireball ammo is available for about $1.35 to $1.45 per round....
Little b itch ain't going to beat me, and I ain't going to love it....but I'll master it, and then give it all away....
one thing about the 17 caliber that is positive tho.... it really makes you appreciate a 20 and 22 caliber a lot more than before...
current casualty report.... 4 destroyed decapping rods, 10 pieces of brass, two clean rods out of action, and two bore brushes destroyed...
and two pair of 17 cal bore snakes that won't go thru a 17 caliber barrel....so I'm saving them for my 20 Practical....
sounds like a bad marriage right out of the box don't it.... but I'll get it figured out...
sure wish the other load dies I've ordered will show up one day, sometime this year...
Redding is the only ones available tho at 4 times the price of anything else...
stay tuned for more thrills and chills.... this is far from over....
