Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Making 17 Ackley Hornet brass

Can a guy use the 17 Hornet as a starting case to make the 17 Ackely Hornet ?


Thanks

You mean .17 Hornady Hornet to make .17 Ackley Hornet?

Yes ..

Yeah, you can, just by fire-forming the Hornadys in an Ackley chamber. But the Hornady Hornet is about .05 (1/20th of an inch) shorter, so the neck will be shorter than the .17 Ackley Hornet.

The upside is you'll probably never have to trim brass again!

I can buy 50 rounds of loaded 17 Hornady Hornet cheaper than can buy 50 new brass for .
So that's why I was thinking if I could use them would be easier than reforming 22 Hornets


Thanks

Dunno how the accuracy will be in your rifle, but would be very interested in hearing how they shoot!

There were guys over on Saubier.com doing this when the 17HH first came out. If you don't mind the shorter neck / OAL this should work fine. As I recall the factory ammo/fireforming loads did quit well in the accuracy department. if you believe what you read on the internet.

Personaly I would like to cross section the first 3 rounds fired in the 17AH chamber. just looking to verify where the stretching is taking place with the cross section. There has been a super Australian chap over on Saubier offering a lot of info on forming the 17 HH from 22 Hornet of various parent brand names. The cross-section examples he has offered has made it a pleasure to learn from his experience.

Highly likely you will be pleased with the 17 HH parent brass IMHO. keep us posted.

I could not he the hornady hornet to chamber in my contender barrel. The hornady is a little bigger around at the case head area I believe. Just suggesting that you might check that before you buy a bunch of ammo.

I have formed a bunch of ai brass lately out of the ppu brass. It firms great with a little titegroup and a piece of paper.

The maximum SAAMI specification for the case-head diameter of the .17 Hornady Hornet and .22 Hornet are exactly the same, .299 inch. This doesn't mean a custom chamber for the .17 Ackley Hornet might not be a little tight for Hornady brass, so it would be a good idea to check the fit of Hornady brass before buying a bunch. But if Hornady brass doesn't, it isn't because the specifications are different.

Back in the day, I had an Ack Hornet in an Anschutz with a Lothar Walther stainless barrel. I fireformed necked down 22 Hornet brass in the garage with a light load of fast powder and filler.

Gunner were you trying to use loaded ammo or factory brass? Case head diameters should be the same for both PPU and Hornady. Shoulder Diameters may vary by .006" though with the 17HH being the larger offering.

If the PPU is working for you Great! Your OAL won't suffer any with the PPU and you should have a great false shoulder to help insure your fire forming brass stretches the brass in all the right places.