17 Rem Fireball vs. 17 Mach IV relaoding

S

SalemDawger

New member
I have a 17 Mach IV on a Sako action and I love it. What I do not love is the reloading, using 221 fireball brass and all the crap that goes with it. So I was excited to learn of the introduction of the 17 fireball. Everything I read said it was the same cartage. Great, no more resizing 221 fireball brass. I bought a box of 17 fireball ammo and guess what it will not fit in my gun. I have gone over both cartages with a caliper and they are almost exactly the same, except the 17 rem fireball is .002 of an in wider at the top of the shoulder that my 17 mach IV. My question is should I take my gun to a gunsmith and have it re-chambered, buy 17 rem fireball brass and run it through my reloading dies or just keep using 221 brass? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
Does you Mach IV have a tight neck chamber ? If not , I would try running a piece of the 17 Fireball brass through your 17 Mach IV full length size die and see if it fits then .
My Mach IV has a tight neck . I sized a couple of 17 Fireball cases and turned the necks . They fit in the chamber now but I haven't had a chance to load them and try them yet .
 
Remington said no bulk 17 FireBall brass until 2008 because there are loading all the brass they can make... but rumors are that it will be available soon~ish, since varmint seasons are getting over.

Contact Redding and explain your problem, and ask if they have a 17 FB "Minimum SAAMI Shoulder bump" die. You can use a Shoulder bump die on loaded ammunition with no problems.

There are differences in die dimensions, just like there differences in chamber dimensions... sometimes you get a small chamber, and a large~ish die, so you gotta get a smaller die.

.
 
I just finished reading an article about the 17 Fireball in the issue before last of Varmint Hunter (which by the way, is an excellent magazine), you can shoot 17 Mach IV in the 17 Fireball but you can't shoot 17 Fireball in any of the 3 variants of wildcatted 17 Mach IV. A liability issue for Remington so they made their chambering slightly larger than any of the wildcats. Sorry. Reaming the gun out to 17 Fireball is probably the best solution if you don't like doing the wildcat thing.
 
Thanks for all the great information. If I decide to have the chamber bored out are there concerns with accuracy. The little gun is a great shooter and I would hate to impact its’ accuracy. Thanks.
 
This is what I was talking about before the .17 FB came out. It is not exactly the same round as the M IV. I have been checking load data comparisons and so far only two of the published Mach IV loads have showed near max load in my rifles using the starting load. Should have most of this worked out shortly so I know for sure about the load data. Generally, what we have seen in your case is a tight neck chamber.
 
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