Ruger 17 Hornet

Well I found out real quick my chamber is tight. I started blowing primers and knew the charge wasn't high, checked the cases all were .015" over 1.350". So tomorrow I'll be back at it as I got the cases trimmed and annealed again. Adam
 
Originally Posted By: Blackhawk43If you are swelling cases and blowing primers you are over pressure, back off.

I don't see "swelling cases and blowing primers"... I see normal cases at normal pressures.

It is very VERY common for cases to swell at the base in front of the web, if the chamber is cut larger than the cases - which is common itself.


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Once they get reloaded the swell above the web is very noticeable. As for the blowing primers, it isn't due to powder charge it was due to brass that was too long.

Adam
 
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Ok Ran into a hitch. No it's not head space, I know everyone is going to say that. These cases are after four firings and only neck sizing. They were annealed and had a good crushfit at fire forming. I think my batch of brass might have issues. Also you can see the buldge at the base I was talking about.

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ADam
 
So, can you feel an abnormality in the chamber, or insipient separation after initial firing? Sure looks like excessive headspace to me....

Now if'n it was me, I'd spring for a box of factory rounds and a box of factory brass, instead of all that forming BS. Then I'd see if the issue persisted.
 
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No abnormal feeling when chambering. As for forming it's not hard, I use a 17FB die I shortend and one pass set the headspace and then trime and anneal, load and shoot. Much less involved than the 20VT brass I make. Adam
 
I'm not talking about how it feels during feeding, I mean how does it 'feel' with a bent wire? have you 'looked' at the chamber?

How are you 'setting' the headspace with that die, when the fireball has a 30 degree shoulder and the HH has a 25?
 
The shoulder is larger than that of the hornet, it could have a 45* and it wouldn't change anyhting in terms of crush fit and fireforming. Once the case is formed then it matters but I have dies for the 17HH.

Now as for the Paper clip test, I don't need it as I can see the seperation. Very clear and consistant through out the cases, just above the web. Like I said after posting this others have come to me and said the same issue has happened with hornet brass, veteran reloaders and wildcatters. So I pitched the brass and dug out a new bag. I'll let you all know once I get into this bag.

As a side note I tried over 20 different combo's for reloading and none produced a group smaller than 1" at 100yds with a 36x scope. No shots consecutively touched eachother, infact none touched at all. So I pulled the gun apart and am shimming the bolt as soon as they get here. I faced the bolt off and am resetting the headspace on the bolt. If this dosen't work in a few weeks I am going to rechamber it with a proper reamer of better specs. I can't discount Huntsmans killings with it but I am not impressed as of yet with the accuracy at 100yds and beyond. Infact this is the perfect example of to each his own, two guns same caliber one man happy one man not. Adam
 
I got my hornet in Friday. Finally got a chance to shoot it today. Extraction was a little bit of a booger at first. A little gun butter cured that. Got the gun hitting a little orange rubber square target in the pasture, and then hit the road in search of some prairie dogs. The gun didn't disappoint. Two dead dogs and a rabbit.(No pics, so I guess it didn't happen) I will try and get mine on paper in the next few days. I am shooting hornady factory loads right now. Interested to see what happens when they are reloaded. So far pretty well happy with the rifle out the box.
 
You might try oiling the cases with a light oil (G-96 smells so nice
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) for the first firing.

I have found that when forming a case with a die from another caliber, that the "crush" might only be at one tiny place on the shoulder, and the primer will collapse that place if there is not a lot of contact area to resist.

The 17 Fireball does not have the same shoulder angle as the 17-HH.

The Fireball shoulder is 30° and the 17 HH is 25°, so when you set it to "crush", you are not making the whole shoulder contact the chamber shoulder, only the small neck/shoulder junction of the case,which is a very small part of the case - it is easy for the force of the primer to push the case forward on the first firing... and many of the Hornet class rifles are "supposed to" head space on the rim, but do not!... or they use the max, 0.065", which will kill a Hornet case in a few loadings.

For the next batch of cases, try oiling the case on the first firing with a light oil - and maybe make sure that the rifle's head space is a "true" 0.055" (minimum SAAMI)


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