Looking for 17-221 brass or someone who does it from 221

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  • Last Post 25 December 2018
TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 17 December 2018

Looking for 17 221 (17 Fireball).  Does anyone still convert the LC brass to it?

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Bud Hyett posted this 17 December 2018

Owning a .17-.221 Fireball for the last two decades, I approached the brass problem thusly:

  • Necked ,221 Fireball to .17 caliber and fire-formed
  • Tight chamber Lilja barrel, turned necks before fireforming.

When the shortage of brass appeared, I necked the .221 Fireball to .17 and necked .223 W-W cases to .221. I also neck-turned these to assure clearance. (I chose W-W cases as they are thinner walled and the neck thickness will be less.)

I am shooting an original XP-100 in factory chamber, but want to be sure of clearance.

This might be overkill in caution. 

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 18 December 2018

Thanks.  Now that .221 brass is available (it wasn't when I got my brass for it - so my 221 is Lake City converted);  buying commercial brass is an option. 

Did you anneal before sizing to 17?  One or two steps?

 

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Bud Hyett posted this 18 December 2018

I used Imperial Sizing Die Wax after ultra-cleaning the cases in ground corn cobs. I apply this with the fingers to assure complete coverage. Most cases were once-fired, but I was not sure and cleaned until they shined.

I went one step slowly on a Bonanza Co-Ax press and did not crumble any cases. This was for both the .221 to .17-.221 and the .223 to .221. The .223 cases were once fired and cleaned before sizing down. 

This does not always work; I am currently setting up to size Starline .32-20 WCF to .25-20 WCF and this lot needs annealing. Of the first seven cases, four crumpled and I quit. A previous lot which I experimented with two years ago did not need annealing to size down. Thus, the need for annealing will vary from lot to lot. 

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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admiral posted this 18 December 2018

High Plains brass sells LC.223 converted to .17 FB. I have some and it works fine. A friend of mine has an AR .223 and doesn't reload so he gives me all his spent brass. I just got done converting a bunch of Winchester and Federal .223 to .17FB. I don't have any special forming dies except a Redding .221FB trim die. I full length resize the .223 then push the shoulder back in a .222 Rem FL die with the decap/neck sizer removed. Then repeat with a .221FB FL die with decap/neck sizer removed. Then trim to length in the Redding .221FB trim die with an extended shell holder. Then anneal the neck and neck down to .17 Fire Ball. I've been shooting a .222 Rem since the '80's so I had those dies. I don't own a .223 or a .221FB so I bought used dies sets off the various internet sites. I shopped around for months and got some RCBS .223 and Herter's .221FB dies from Ebay and Gunauction.com for $12 a set shipping included. I bought the .221 trim die just to make the cases easier to chop off but you don't really need it. As a side note that Aguila .223 brass that my friend gave me will not form no matter what I tried. It just collapses. I form 250 & 300 Savage from LC .308 and .219 Zipper from 30-30 so I kinda got a handle on forming but that brass just wasn't having it.

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 18 December 2018

Thanks!  I checked and High Plains was out.  So I ordered 300 Lapua's 221 that I will reform.

 

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 23 December 2018

OOOF DA!   Lapua is SOFT -  FLS in 221 works, but bringing it down another 0.005" with a Wilson die collapses it.  Guess I'll use the Lapua for my 221 and the Lake City for the 17-221. 

 

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 25 December 2018

Got the system down now for 221 --> 17-221 using  LC and commercial used brass.  Easy FLsize, then easy neck size another 12-13 thousandths (on the dia). and then FLsize with 17-221 die.  Lapua is just too soft for that too.  BUT it is the most beautiful consistent new brass I've own. 

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