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[Deker 3,450]

9 hours ago, toxo said:

Something that hasn't been mentioned is cost. I love my 17 Hornet which of course is a centerfire and I can reload for around 18p a round and never have to worry about availability. Another is the 17 Squirrel ( http://saubier.com/smallcaliber/17squirrel.pdf ) which I don't know too much about but looks great to me. Both can be formed easily from 22 Hornet cases and will deal, with care anything within bunny range

Help me out, how do you calculate that 18p to reload 17 Hornet?    

As far as I can see the brass is around £70 x 100 (even using the brass 10 times that's still 7p each) and the bullets circa £30 x 100, so we are at 37p each before you add the powder and primer, and that's without making any allowance for the tools and equipment you need to do the job!

Cheers

[Rimfireboy! 1,463]

Have you considered skipping the magnum rimfires and getting a .22 hornet instead? If you were to reload for it, could be more versatile for you maybe?

[Gav 1,708]

I have a t-bolt in .17hmr and my mate has a .22wmr, my rifle only weighs about 4-5lbs and his weighs around 4lbs heavier, mine is composite and his wood stock, his barrel also seems a lot beefier, so could be that. I have an ASE mod and he has a Sak mod, the hmr is defiantly quieter, again this could just be the difference in the mods.  I'm right on the money out to 150 yds+ on a calm day and he seems to struggle over 100yds, this could be our different capabilities, rounds etc, but I'm certainly sticking hmr.

[toxo 160]

19 hours ago, Deker said:

Help me out, how do you calculate that 18p to reload 17 Hornet?    

As far as I can see the brass is around £70 x 100 (even using the brass 10 times that's still 7p each) and the bullets circa £30 x 100, so we are at 37p each before you add the powder and primer, and that's without making any allowance for the tools and equipment you need to do the job!

Cheers

Brass.

https://www.henrykrank.com/reloading/cases-primers/22-hornet-ppu-brass-cases-pack-100.html

Bullets. These are labeled SP but they're not. more like Vmax with a boat tail that makes em nice to load.

https://www.henrykrank.com/reloading/bullet-heads/other-bullets/17-cal-sp-17gr-bullets-pack-100-value-bullet-co.html

Powder.

At least 700 rounds out of 1lb of say Lilgun. A lot more if Trail Boss or similar.

You do the math. I can't be arsed to do it again. I've given up counting how many loads per case. I've yet to see a pressure sign. This of course doesn't include freebies from my buddy who likes to shoot factory and another buddy who shoots 22 Hornet. Bear in mind I usually shoot at night and don't need to go much further than about 150yds.

[Deker 3,450]

19 hours ago, toxo said:

Brass.

https://www.henrykrank.com/reloading/cases-primers/22-hornet-ppu-brass-cases-pack-100.html

Bullets. These are labeled SP but they're not. more like Vmax with a boat tail that makes em nice to load.

https://www.henrykrank.com/reloading/bullet-heads/other-bullets/17-cal-sp-17gr-bullets-pack-100-value-bullet-co.html

Powder.

At least 700 rounds out of 1lb of say Lilgun. A lot more if Trail Boss or similar.

You do the math. I can't be arsed to do it again. I've given up counting how many loads per case. I've yet to see a pressure sign. This of course doesn't include freebies from my buddy who likes to shoot factory and another buddy who shoots 22 Hornet. Bear in mind I usually shoot at night and don't need to go much further than about 150yds.

Fair enough, so how do those bullets hold up, certainly cheap, and I was looking at 17brass, rather than having to resize .22...does that actually work ok?

[toxo 160]

1 hour ago, Deker said:

Fair enough, so how do those bullets hold up, certainly cheap, and I was looking at 17brass, rather than having to resize .22...does that actually work ok?

The bullets are good. Obviously subject to wind but very explosive. I use the rabbits so headshots only but not much left of the head.

Re-sizing is easy. I've read various combinations of dies but I'm a solutions man and like to use logic. I bought a three foot length of the same size that they use for the dies for around £30, cut off about three inches and drilled a hole in the middle. Then made a slightly conical lead in and polished it. One pass through this is all that's needed before it goes through the full length re-sizing die. Trim to length (leaving sightly long to allow for the blowout when fire forming). Once trimmed you do need to anneal before fire forming. But that just means putting  a case in a suitable sized socket in a drill and turn the shoulder area in a blowlamp flame for around seven seconds and you're done. Don't put in cold water because that makes em brittle which would defeat the object. Just leave em to cool on their own. Lots of info on YouTube etc.

This probably sounds complicated but it's not and remember you only do it once. and like I said I don't count how many fires any more, certainly a lot more than ten and the only sign is maybe a slightly flattened primer dependent on the load.

I don't even waste anything on the fire forming. All this talk about what load for fire forming is rubbish. I use the same load that I normally use and go hunting with it. Once fired the only way to tell what cases are what is to look at the head stamp.

If anyone needs more info just let me know.