Neck sizing waaay down

B

bluechip

Guest
I have a question for those that are familiar with wildcats. Someone has already necked a 222 neck down to 17 (17-222). Here's my question, let's say I wanted a much smaller capacity 17, made from a 222. If the entire neck was cut off, would it be possible to form the actual case (.360" dia.) down to accept a 17? The overall cartridge would resemble a PPC, only smaller. A group of us are indoor shooting 17 HMR's presently, and want a small, reloadable centerfire instead of relying on factory HMR ammo. A 222 shell is 2.130" OAL, the size I'm toying with for the 17 would be around 1.25" OAL.
 
Instead of cutting off a case, just start with shorter brass. 221 Rem, 218 Bee, 22 Hornet. They've all been made into very good 17 caliber wildcats.

Ray
 
Single die?

For such a drastic reduction, would a single sizing die to it or would you need to do it in steps?
 
If you are sizing down a 22 neck you can probably get away with one die. If you are sizing down a 22 neck AND pushing the shoulder back you may need to do it in stages. If you are sizing down anything bigger than a 22 neck you'd best use a series of dies or risk losing a lot of brass.

ray
 
If you're shooting .17 HMR's indoors and want something that would be about the same size or a little larger it'd seem that a .17 wildcat based on something like the Hornet case would be more practical than on the .222 case.

It all depends on what sort of velocity you're looking for. If you have a rifle with a .222 bolt face that you'd like to use as the basis the .222 case would sure work with lots of sizing dies, and neck turning.

I could sure foresee that after reforming/processing a hundred or so of them from .222 cases or even .221's or .17 Fireballs that a Hornet based case might look REALLY good.
 
When I form my 17 Javelina cases, which are close to the newer 17 Fireball, I made them from 222 brass. First step push shoulder back still 22 cal. Second step reduce neck to 20 cal. Third step, reduce neck to 17 cal. Fourth step trim to length. Fifth step inside neck ream with die and reamer. Then load and fireform.
Mark
 
What about necking down a 5.7x28 to .17. You would just need to find a action for it.
 
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