I reload for the 17AH and a few others, my best advice, pick up a copy of the sensational seventeens by Todd Kindler. Head over to the woodchuck den site and to saubier.com, there is a ton of knowledge on that site. 17 squirrel is another wildcat loader that helped me out when I started with the 17 squirrel. I have a batch of 17AH ready for fireforming as soon as I find a new range.
Anneal or not to anneal
- I annealed after discussing brass forming with a few people, Todd being one of them. Most people agree that it will cut down on split necks. I picked up the woodchuck den annealing tip and it has worked great. So far I have not had any split necks. The method I use is to stand the cases up on a cookie sheet with enough water to cover the case when I knock it over. I bring the tip down to just below the shoulder, wait for a slight color change then slowly mover the tip up and off the case. Then I knock it over. I anneal after mechanical forming before I load for fire forming.
trim or not to trim
- I didn't trim my brass before fire forming. With the 17AH it is pretty close to being were you want it after mechanical forming, but I would check one to make sure it fits your chamber. After fire forming I will trim it to length.
2 dies for forming or 3 dies for forming
- I have the bullberry dual ended die, one side 20 and the other 17. I used that to bring the brass down to to 20 then 17 then I run it through the full length die to make sure I had the should bumped back far enough. Once it is formed I then only neck size it until it does not fit the chamber. I am using a contender so it might be different for a bolt gun.
trim necks or not to trim necks
- not sure if you meant turn the neck diameter? I used winchester brass and I didn't need to turn it, but again, I would check to fit in your chamber, some can be cut pretty tight depending on who did it.
polish the dies - don't polish the dies
- this will depend on how your brass looks. I guess some people polish to help not collapse the neck but I did not polish mine, I had 0 collapsed necks using imperial sizing wax. Just a little goes along way. Some people experience collapsed necks with too much lube.
The 17ah is pretty straight forward and easy to make. Don't be afraid to loose a few cases because that is all in the learning. What are you going to be shooting it out of?
A friend of a friend has a .17 Bond that he's looking to sell it's built for a Rampo action with a custom stainless heavy bull barrel. My Google search didn't yield a lot of info has anyone heard of this? This is from memory but a necked down .223 case and a .17 caliber bullet screaming at around 3800 fps weighs about 14 pounds wearing a 12 power Leaupold. Can get it for what seems like a reasonable price including all the proper dies and a variety of componets. Any input welcomed thanks for the read if you made it this far?