Nice. I really wanna get a cz 17hornet rifle. I'll buy a lee hand press for 50$ and reload. What I'm interested in is making them a little less powerful maybe like a 17 wsm or a tad more. Hopefully it increases barrel life and actually makes a good difference cost wise. Not sure. Smallest I've reloaded for is a 204 ruger. I can see the need for a chrony for such a tiny case and small capacity. Pressures would be changed very very easily. Are the cz 527 varmint rifles grouping nicely with the 17 hornet chambering?
17 Hornet?
- Thread starter lpel
- Start date
The barrel life of a 17 Hornet only burning around 10 grains of powder will be many thousands of rounds, and downloading it slightly isn't going to make a huge difference. The cost savings in slightly downloading the cartridge will be virtually nonexistent, given that by far the largest expense is the bullet. If you intend to load enough with a LEE loader to use the 17hornet as a high volume varmint rifle, most of your free time will be spent loading ammunition. As well, after a few firings, you will need to FL size the cases, and the LEE Loader is not capable of this. Accuracy wise. my CZ527 varmint in 17hornet shot very well, almost as accurate as my Cooper.
I wanted to try 1680 as well, but could not find any when I was looking, but Lil Gun is working so well, I will use up the three pounds that I have before even considering anything else. Even then, at sub 1/2moa for five shots, I may just stick with Lil Gun.
sharp shooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Essex county (Ontario)
leveractionjunkie
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Kamloops, BC
I've also don't really have any complaints using Lil Gun so far. Accuracy has been great velocity spread seems very minimal. At sub 10grs per load I don't really "need" to try anything else given the supply on hand.
I'm sure you know the need to tinker and try new things even if not necessary
. Seems common among varmint rifle/ varminting enthusiasts If this is what you are referring to, then no.
If you are referring to an actual press with standard dies, then yes, but you will have a hard time finding a press, shell holder and dies for $50.
I was able to get 1680 from Budget Shooter supply. Using Lil gun in my 22 Hornet with great success. Maybe I'll try it again. But first I'll use up the 1680. I found LG bulged my brass. The guppy belly. I tried anywhere from 9.4 - 10.0. Velocity was pretty fast if I recall.
A press with regular dies will FL size cases, but your $50 comment led me to believe that you meant the Lee Loader.
leveractionjunkie
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Kamloops, BC
That little lee hand press loaded a lot of ammo for me when I used to rent a townhouse and space was at premium. Good memories with that thing
prairie lover
CGN Regular
- Location
- southern MB
All right my brass issue seems to be a brass issue. I finished the first box of ammo and went to the second box. Second box the brass was totally normal. The primers were also silver where the problem brass were gold. Gold primer ####ty brass were lot number 3151646. Good brass silver primers were lot number 3151130.
For reloading the 17, I've found that a full case of WC735 gives very consistent results under a 20 gr vmax, or 20 gr Varmageddon. Using Remington 6.5 primers. A very light coating of liquid spray on lithium grease on the case seems to extend brass life significantly if you anneal.
Very interesting, and thanks for following up. FYI, I had some of that stuff with the brass primers (lot 3141884), and was shooting them on the same day as another box from 2013 with silver primers. I was chronographing both, curious to see if there was a difference. The ones with the brass primers (possibly REM), averaged about 50fps faster than the other ones, averaging about 3725fps. So definitely higher pressure. I did not, however, experience any excessively expanded brass as you have.
I think Hornady was trying to work around inconsistencies in brass from different manufacturers, hence the different primers. I have some on hand now, lot 3152828, with silver primers, but they are extremely flat, with virtually no radius on the edges. Not sure who makes these, but I know that one of the problems Hornady encountered with some of their brass was shallow primer pockets. I wonder if they had a primer manufacturer custom make some for them to work around this. Just speculation, but I've never seen primers quite like the ones in my current factory stuff.
Had a conversation with John Barsness (an American writer and long time .17HH fan), who had observed and was wondering the same thing.
Glad you got your mystery at least somewhat solved.
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I would get the Ruger. They with Hornady designed the round. Yes the CZ is hideous looking because of the magazine protruding. I like a gun to look good and shoot good as well.
The ruger has smoother mechanics, is stainless, and has a better stock. As for accuracy, being that you can load for it, you can make that baby shoot.
When .17 HMR came out, I bought the Ruger 77/17 and it shot 1/2 @100 yards after testing different ammo of course. Then Anschutz made the 17/17 top of the line,
and it wouldn't shoot better than an inch maybe a tiny bit less, and I tried all HMR ammo through it.
My 2 cents worth.
Cheers
The ruger has smoother mechanics, is stainless, and has a better stock. As for accuracy, being that you can load for it, you can make that baby shoot.
When .17 HMR came out, I bought the Ruger 77/17 and it shot 1/2 @100 yards after testing different ammo of course. Then Anschutz made the 17/17 top of the line,
and it wouldn't shoot better than an inch maybe a tiny bit less, and I tried all HMR ammo through it.
My 2 cents worth.
Cheers
hometownhero
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Toon Town, Sk
Except that the cz has very very good accuracy reviews. Both on here and the rest of the net can not say the same for the ruger.
The ruger looks and feels good but I've read that the cz has less fowling in the bore. Must be a smoother bore if that's the case. From photos the only think I really don't care for is the mag design on the cz but honestly it don't look awful. I was trying to figure out cost per shot for the 17 hornet but am not fully convinced yet that it's much cheaper to shoot than the 204 I loaded for. How many reloads are you guys getting with yiur brass before having to chuck it out? I'd like reloads to be like 30 cents a shot not 50-60 cents a shot..
