Forming .17 Remington Brass

HOSSONE

HOSSONE

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Hey Guys, let me start by saying I haven't ever formed any brass. I was looking for some .17 remington brass the other day and came across some info about forming .17 remington from .223 or .204 brass which I have both of. Most people seemed to lean towards the .204 as a better option as .223 brass comes out about .050"-.060" short. Some guys were showing a multiple step process while others were saying they put .204 brass directly into a .17 remington die. I don't have any dies between .17 remington and .204 ruger. Before I start experimenting does anyone have any input on this? I thought this might be an interesting part of reloading to learn.Thanks!

:d
 
Redding makes a 17Rem form die #1 part no 90217 and a a form and trim die if you wish, part #83217.

They recommend 204ruger or 22mag brass, since you don’t run into the short necks you mentioned.

I haven’t tried these, just happened to receive the Redding catalogue this week.
 
leveractionjunkie said:
Redding makes a 17Rem form die #1 part no 90217 and a a form and trim die if you wish, part #83217.

They recommend 204ruger or 22mag brass, since you don’t run into the short necks you mentioned.

I haven’t tried these, just happened to receive the Redding catalogue this week.
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Let me start by saying I've only case formed brass for my 17 Mach IV which is a 3 die process starting with the 221 fireball brass and then trimming and fireforming. So I'm a long way from an expert.

I think leveractionjunkie means 222 Mag brass the parent case of both the 204 and 17 Rem. I own both calibers and while I've never case formed either caliber, I would try lubing some new 204 brass with imperial sizing wax and running it slowly through a 17 Rem Full length sizing die, then fire forming in the 17 Rem before spending money on forming dies. depending on chamber size you may need to Outside neck turn. You may also want to consider annealing the brass but I suspect going from .204 to .172 you should be ok. 204 brass is certainly more available than 222 mag so if it doesn't work your not our much.

Good luck and keep us posted
 
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Similar, but not quite the same, I have reformed 223 and 222 to 17 fireball. First I push the shoulders back with a 221 fireball FL die. Trim to 10/1000’s above length, debure and the run through the 17 fireball FL die and trim to length. Never had any issues necking down from 224 to the 17 cal. Talked with a person that shots a 17-223 and he takes 223 and runs them through the 17-223 in one operation with no issues. Hope that helps.
 
Chuck McCann said:
Let me start by saying I've only case formed brass for my 17 Mach IV which is a 3 die process starting with the 221 fireball brass and then trimming and fireforming. So I'm a long way from an expert.

I think leveractionjunkie means 222 Mag brass the parent case of both the 204 and 17 Rem. I own both calibers and while I've never case formed either caliber, I would try lubing some new 204 brass with imperial sizing wax and running it slowly through a 17 Rem Full length sizing die, then fire forming in the 17 Rem before spending money on forming dies. depending on chamber size you may need to Outside neck turn. You may also want to consider annealing the brass but I suspect going from .204 to .172 you should be ok. 204 brass is certainly more available than 222 mag so if it doesn't work your not our much.

Good luck and keep us posted
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Yes Chuck you’re right I did Mean 222Mag. Sorry bout that. A chuck is also probably right that a person would be able to simply neck down 204 brass with 17Rem F.L. die. I only mentioned the forming dies as I’ve not done so myself and had just been flipping through the catalog before seeing this thread.

Let us know how you make out.
 
Thanks Guys! I'm seeing lots of mention of "Imperial sizing wax" in all my research. Is that a must when forming cases over traditional case lube? Or any lube will work?
 
HOSSONE said:
Hey Guys, let me start by saying I haven't ever formed any brass. I was looking for some .17 remington brass the other day and came across some info about forming .17 remington from .223 or .204 brass which I have both of. Most people seemed to lean towards the .204 as a better option as .223 brass comes out about .050"-.060" short. Some guys were showing a multiple step process while others were saying they put .204 brass directly into a .17 remington die. I don't have any dies between .17 remington and .204 ruger. Before I start experimenting does anyone have any input on this? I thought this might be an interesting part of reloading to learn.Thanks!

:d
Click to expand...

There was a bag of 100 Remington Brass in the EE as of yeserday.
I know it doesnt answer your question, but if you hurry you maybe able to get going sooner while researching the task your posting about.
Rob
 
HOSSONE said:
Thanks Guys! I'm seeing lots of mention of "Imperial sizing wax" in all my research. Is that a must when forming cases over traditional case lube? Or any lube will work?
Click to expand...

When I was researching forming brass for my 17 Mach IV it became apparent that "Imperial Sizing Wax" for case forming was head and shoulders above any other lube. That was a number of years ago so there may be better lube around today but I do know you won't be sorry using it.

For simple resizing tasks I use Hornaday One Shot or Dillon sizing lube simply because used properly neither will contaminate to powder when I load on my Dillon 650. Most of my loading is straight wall pistol cases for Cowboy Action Shooting and a bit of lube makes resizing much smoother despite the use of carbide dies. For bottle neck cases I use a single stage press and make sure every case is lubed.
 
FLHTCUI said:
There was a bag of 100 Remington Brass in the EE as of yeserday.
I know it doesnt answer your question, but if you hurry you maybe able to get going sooner while researching the task your posting about.
Rob
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Thanks, I did see that. Not in a rush, thought it would be an interesting project.
 
Ran some .223 brass into the .17 Remington dies tonight. Turned the die down in a few steps and had no issue. It did come up short by .050”. I will try .204 next.
 
Good job on turning 223 into 17 brass. I suspect it will be like shooting 38 sp in a 357. In short order a crud ring builds up and the 357 rounds won't chamber without cleaning up the crud ring. Let us know how it goes as well as how your experiment with reforming the 204 to 17 goes.
 
HOSSONE said:
Ran some .223 brass into the .17 Remington dies tonight. Turned the die down in a few steps and had no issue. It did come up short by .050”. I will try .204 next.
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Just BUY the 100 for sale and be done with it ! Then you will have PROPER head stamped brass ! Resizing brass from other brass is for ONLY if you cannot get the Proper brass ! :p JMO but each to his own ! Have FUN ! ;) RJ
 
I’ve had a 17 Remington since 1973 first brass I used for loading was 223 couldn’t get 17 Remington for about a year after I bought it where I lived
 
So I got my hands on some Winchester 1x fired .204 Brass, and tried sizing down to .17 Rem. with the items I had on hand.

My process needs some tweaks but shows promise:

1. Lee .223 quick trim die. This actually pushed the shoulder down a smidge, I then trimmed about 40Thousands off the neck using the die/trimmer.
2. Lubed and ran into rcbs neck size die with the expander ball removed. I tried rcbs lube and redding dry lube. Best luck so far was with the dry lube. I ran the case in three increments turning each time.
3. Cleaned off/relubed and ran into Lee .17rem FL die with the expander ball.
4. Final trim to length

Case is showing some small dimples from lube (I think I need to clean my dies a bit to get some old lube out)
Haven't been able to check the necks yet, I hoping the initial trim helped keep them thinner. I loaded a dummy round with 25gr HP and it chambered fine.

Next, Going to try decapping first, and playing with how much/type of lube.

Edit: will also likely charge a round with a min load and see how the case fares
 
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