Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 17 Fireball - 17 Remington

I have a 700 with a Lilja barrel. I don’t remember the twist but I’m very satisfied with its accuracy. 26” Remington varmint contour.

I’ve shot several coyotes with 17’s and personally don’t like the 20 vmax. Nearly always ran a pretty good ways. 25 vmax seemed much better. I also think the 25 hits pdogs harder too….more destructive.

I have a Savage single shot action, and put a 17 Fireball barrel on it from E.A. Arthur out of Minnesota.. I think I paid $250 for the barrel. Its a stationary rifle vs a walking varminter. The barrel is 26 inches and heavy varmint straight contour.

Wasn't what I was looking for, but it certainly cheap enough to have something to play with the cartridge and see its potential. I had a hundred pieces of aftemarket 223 Brass made on Lake City brass, I bought years ago out of some company in Illinois. Reloading it I got 15 reloads out of the brass before it split at the web.

Just passing this on Snow-wolfe.,if the experience was any help. I've considered the 17 Rem, but it had a lot of negativity to it compared to the Fireball version.... like the bore needs cleaned every 15 shots or it fouls quite a bit... hence why I went with the Fireball.

When I originally bought the brass, I did a 100 rounds of Fireball and 100 rounds of 17 Rem. I still have that around here somewhere... also made from reformed Lake City Brass.

Seafire: I concur with your observation on the long life of 17 Remington Fireball brass (and 17 MachIV brass as well).
Decades ago I had a bench rest Riflesmith build me a full custom 17 MachIV (the 17 Remington Fireballs twin). I chose a 26 1/2" long HEAVY Shilen stainless steel barrel for the Remington 700 action. I added a Jewell trigger and a Leupold 6.5x20 variable power scope. All set-up the Rifle weighs 11 pounds 4 ounces - to say "recoil" is non-existent is an understatement.
This Rifle came home shooting 1/4" five shot groups at 100 yards. It is an absolute joy in Prairie Dog towns, Rock Chuck colonies or Ground Squirrel fields.
It is not especially pleasant to pack out to remote Prairie Dog towns but I have done it a number of times.
This full custom 17 MachIV is only SLIGHTLY more accurate than my all factory stock Remington 700 VSF in 17 Remington Fireball.
Long live the "17's"!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

From this thread. I found out the 17 Fireball has a few quirks, such as ejection issues unless it comes from the factory chambered that way. What solutions are out there for rebarreling a 223 to 17 Fireball to insure error free ejection?
I am basing my decision to go with the 17 Rem based on the inherent ejection issues you guys told me about.
Fouling issues? Both the FB and Rem can be loaded to 3700 fps with a 25 grain bullet. Why would one foul more than the other?

The issue is that the extractor needs to be "clocked". The simplest is a Sako or better, M-16, style extractor. That is a pretty common change. Many aftermarket 700 clone actions have those anyway. Christensen is an example.

I have a theory, untested, that the factory 700 actions chambered in .300 AAC Blackout might come pre-clocked since the .300 BO is based on the fireball case. Haven't had a chance to look into it. If the theory is right then you should be able to just rebarrel one.

It is not a big deal, nor particularly expensive, to have a 'smith convert your rifle to the M-16 extractor. I guess that is actually superior to the Sako thing we more often hear about. I wouldn't let the extractor / needing to do that work slow me down in the slightest, just pay the money to get things set up the way you want.

The bigger issue for me has been magazine feeding. My 2 700 Fireball rifles, one an LVSF in .221, the other a 700 SPS in .17 FB, both liked to occasionally erupt spitting the whole magazine full of cartridges through the open action top and onto the ground. I replaced sheet metal, didn't seem to help. That was quite a few years ago. Could be that with all the interested in the .300 BO that new solutions exist.

Another option is a single shot action. I'd love to find a worn out XP-100 to convert to a single shot rifle. Or a Contender or Encore barrel if you happen to be into those. And of course any Ruger #1 or #3 can be as easily rebarreled to .221 or .17 FB as to anything else on that case head.

I drive a S/S 700 wearing a 10" RPM Lilja 17 Rem spout and I've not cleaned it,in multiple 100's of rounds. Hint.

My preference is moly 25gr V-Max at 3750+ FPS and I flog on it. Hint.

It wears a GB Outlander handle,TT trigger and 6x MQ. Hint.

Deer,Bears and Vermin,none of which begin to make a fhuqk. Hint.............

If you're not getting 3900 fps in a .17 Rem with the 25 Vmax, you're doing something wrong. Put a 9 twist on it for the 25 Vmax, you're losing bc. Hint.

SniffleKchunt,

Dangle a picture of "your" 17 Rem. Hint.



You Lying Piece Of CLUELESS Fhuqking Schit. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!.............

Another thread gone to crap, from our own zero/hero out of PoW Island AK.

I've had zero ejection problems on my 17 Fireball, which is on a Savage single shot action, bolt was set up as a 223 bolt face. So far an experience of 2 rifles only.... I am sure Stumpy has a total of 10 to a dozen of them... he's always got more of everything than EVERYONE ELSE.

Typical response " You Lying Piece Of CLUELESS Fhuqking Schit. Hint." 2 seconds of self analysis Dumpy?

He's doing somethin' stupid, besides having the wrong twist with the 25 VMax. The bore of his 17 Rem is probably full of copper, the dumbass never cleans it, that's why it's so slow.

Here's to how very WELL founded you Brokedicks' Whining Insecurities are...you "lucky" kchunts. Hint.

Pardon Splendid Wares,that simply exist,if only to your perpetual chagrin. Hint.

Fhuqking Laughing!.................

There wasn't much to choose from when I wanted a 17Rem several years back. Had one built on a mini-mauser. Then had WOA build me a upper. Both have 10 twist pac-nor's and really like the now discontinued 25gr Bergers.

I hope you already have brass or are prepared to form your own. I haven't seen any new 17 Rem brass in years.

Rifle will not be sent off for rebarreling until I have 100 rounds of brass.

What exactly is a clocked extractor? The extractor is moved to a different position inside the bolt face?

Schlepped a 17 Rem this morning,hoping to bump into a Bear. Hint.









Pardon wares that exist ladies,as you gals Pretend aloud. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!.............

I’ve got two 17 Remingtons. One a factory 700 bdl that’s been shot a lot. It has a very rough throat and I can usually shoot 150 or so rounds through it before I start missing p dogs that I shouldn’t have. I’d have to look at my notes but I shoot vmax’s probably over 2230c. My Lilja barrelled 17 acts just like anything else on a 223 case. I’ll run a few wet patches through it and a few strokes with a wet brush as I drink a beer at the end of the day, run a few dry patches and shoot it again the next day. I think I’m shooting cfe223 in that one. I think the 17’s fowling so badly is probably a bunch of bs passed on from long ago.

I’ve never shot the Lilja 17 so many times that the accuracy fell off…. But I clean it anyway just to make me feel better.

Fouling of yore,was a function of bore finish,jacket metallurgy and a smidge of propellants. Today ain't then. Hint....................

The 17 fireball is my favorite rifle. Mine is a cz 527 and feeds 20 grain vmax loads like a fat chick giving a bj on a first date. The gun has retired my rimfires mostly. The secret sauce for mine is also running a suppressor. It has the recoil of a springer BB gun now. Kills to beyond 350 yards. Will flat out just puff starlings. It will disappear them and leave behind just some puffy feathers wafting in the breeze. Mine started life as a 204 and I sent it to gcgowan barrels for the 17 barrel install. It’s kinda crappy that the 17 caliber is somewhat limited in bullets and use because it really is a load of fun.

As for fouling. It’s not any different than other rifles. I just wipe out soak it over night after a 100 rounds and after about every 300 I hit it with jb. Fouling is a product of barrel quality not cartridge. I really do wish I had a borescope for 17. I would love to see in the barrel.

The other problem with the fireball is getting a rifle to feed it. A Remington 700 is kinda a big action for it. They also clocked the extractor differently in the 221 rifles for it. So the 221 Remington 700 are not the same with their bolt. If you use a non 221 Remington 700. It will flip the case over and t will just land in the action backward. My buddy has a 17 mk4 on a Remington 700. His has a sako e tractor mod. It mostly works fine but I wouldn’t call the feeding super slick. It also isn’t as easy to pluck fired cases out either. A rifle with a fixed blades ejector sure worked nice.

To make matters worse cz quit making the 527 and spare parts. The rifles are expensive and parts and magazines are getting tuff to source. Another rifle that seems to make a great fireball is the sako vixen. Given the prices of donor 527’s one might consider doing a vixen because the price isn’t that much different now. Or a Howa mini but haven’t heard much about how they turned out

Ya got it backwards... nothing wrong with the rifle...

its Stumpy's brain full of booze and his hygiene, that is what never gets cleaned....

He's the one that SLOW....

but hey, on the bright side... NO ONE gets more out of two working brain cells than Schtick...

that is why his groupies LOVE HIM!

Simple

Just build a 20 Vartarg (20 Fireball)

Problem solved