Wanting to build a 17 Fireball

J

Jim D

Member
Wanting to build a 17 Fireball.
I have two 17 fireballs in 700 remington, and noticed that the rails and bolts are different from a 223 700 remington.
Does Remington have the 17 fireball actions for sale, or do I need to look elsewhere ?
Thanks !
Jim
 
You might be able to find a used .221 Fireball at a reasonable price, for a donor action.
 
Thanks

I've been looking, propably need to expand my search.
Things are crazy in the gun market right now !

Jim
 
Fireball Action

Remington made some Light Varmint rifles in 221 FB. Might be a possibility for an action.

I did a 221 FB on a 223 40X action and it was a nice gun.

I'd think one of the Score HI aluminum single shot loading blocks would also work with the FB on a standard 700 action.

Good luck.

A. Weldy
 
Lucky Shooter A said:
Remington made some Light Varmint rifles in 221 FB. Might be a possibility for an action.

I did a 221 FB on a 223 40X action and it was a nice gun.

I'd think one of the Score HI aluminum single shot loading blocks would also work with the FB on a standard 700 action.

Good luck.

A. Weldy
Click to expand...

Thanks but looking for a repeater. A lot of my shootin is off a bench and in a P dog town. A single shot works great there, but for yotes and fox I'd like a repeater.
Thanks !
Still lookin !

Jim
 
I have several 221 FBs and also 221FB in 700 LVSF. The Remington 700 fireball actions use a slightly different magazine spring and follower dimension than the 223's and also the location of the ejector on the bolt is positioned differently. Many folks report some problems with extraction/ejection when they convert a 700 .223 action to a fireball length use. There is quite a bit of additional info on saubier.com about all this. Don
 
ddkearney said:
I have several 221 FBs and also 221FB in 700 LVSF. The Remington 700 fireball actions use a slightly different magazine spring and follower dimension than the 223's and also the location of the ejector on the bolt is positioned differently. Many folks report some problems with extraction/ejection when they convert a 700 .223 action to a fireball length use. There is quite a bit of additional info on saubier.com about all this. Don
Click to expand...

I ran into the same trouble with the .300 AAC Blackout which is the .221 Fireball necked up to .30. Pacific Tool and Gauge makes a replacement bolt that will shift the Remington extractor and ejector to where it ejects the case into the round area of the raceway instead of the the lug area of the raceway. This lets the extractor hang onto the case until the ejector kicks it out. That's the same thing that Remington did on their .221 Fireball 700's. If the Fireball case ejects into the lug area of the raceway which is where the normal extractor placement makes it go, then the case falls off the bolt face before it ejects.
 
Horror of horrors but you can also lick the problem by converting to a Sako extractor.
 
Jkob said:
Horror of horrors but you can also lick the problem by converting to a Sako extractor.
Click to expand...

I quit installing Sako style extractors in .223 sized bolt faces after Benchrest Hall of Fame shooter, Pat Byrne, had a sako extractor blow out of a .223 and penetrated a steel door. Fortunately, no one was hurt. I haven't seen that problem with the sako extractor and PPC sized and larger case head sizes, but it's too easy to blow a primer when going up on powder charges in .223 size cases. You can go from safe with no problems to a blown primer with a very slight increase in powder charge.
 
Thanks Mike.
The PT &G bolt looks like it would work, but I wonder if feeding from the magazine would still be a problem ? I notice the feed rails on the Fireball action are different than that on a 223 action.

Jim
 
I think I built maybe one rifle on a Fireball 700 action. Don't remember what the feed rails were. If there is a problem with using a .223 action with the feed rails, you can use a center feed magazine like a H-S detachable magazine. Then you aren't relying on the feed rails of the action for feeding.
 
Idon't have a .223 action to compare but here is pictures of a .221 Fireball action feed rails and bolt face.fireball 001.jpgfireball 004.jpg
 
Sounds like a lot of expense to convert a 223 action to feed and work a 221 case.

Thanks guys for the help !

Jim
 
It would probably work well in a cz 527 223 model with the single stack magazine... Might be another option.
 
I'm leaning that way also ! The CZs are drying up around here.

Too bad the 17 FB didn't take off ! A Factory CZ in 17 FB would've fit the ticket nicely !
Thanks !

Jim
 
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