Primers and powder for 17 hornet???

[Joshuajosh]

I’m about to begin reloading for my 17 hornet, I have a bunch of once fired hornady brass and some aa1680 powder along with 20g vmax… I don’t know what primers to go with though, any recommendations?

 

[A382DWDZQ]

BR4 or 205M if you can get them.

 

[B23]

I’m about to begin reloading for my 17 hornet, I have a bunch of once fired hornady brass and some aa1680 powder along with 20g vmax… I don’t know what primers to go with though, any recommendations?

I have two CZ 527 Varmint model 17 Hornets. My "go to" load is 12.2gr AA1680 w/20 Vmax loaded to mag length and I predominately use Rem 7 1/2 primers. Typically I use Fed and CCI in everything but I've got a couple cases of 7 1/2's so that's what I've been using in my 17 Hornets. Mine aren't really long range or bench rest rifles and that load shoots well enough to reliably kill sage rats out to 300yds using the Rem 7 1/2's so I haven't seen a need to change.

Primers are still fairly hard to come by so unless you already have them it'll probably come down to using whatever you can get. I guess some folks use one of the pistol primers in their 17 Hornet but I stick to using rifle primers in rifle cartridges.

 

[A382DWDZQ]

Small Rifle Primers - Ammo Deals

Small Rifle Primers

www.targetsportsusa.com

 

[B23]

I’m about to begin reloading for my 17 hornet, I have a bunch of once fired hornady brass

Something to keep in mind, if you haven't loaded for the 17 Hornet before, is the chambers on the factory guns chambered in 17HH are often a little on the fat and long side as well as the brass/ammo tends to be a bit undersized so be careful when you're FL sizing this stuff not to over size it because a long chamber and undersized brass will lead to premature case separation. Also, don't be surprised if you see some of the 17HH brass have a funny looking area just above the rim. It's often referred to as a bulge but it's just the opposite and is a section that has stretched and the outside diameter is actually smaller and the brass has thinned there a bit.

The 17HH brass tends to have a pretty healthy amount of variance to it. Case weight and neck thickness is kinda all over the place but even though case weight has a pretty good variance to it the actual case capacity is relatively consistent. Use a good quality scale to measure powder because the powders you'll be using for the 17HH is generally small flake and fast burning powder so it's real easy to overcharge on the powder with these things. Some guys use Lil Gun or Win 296 because they produce 150-200fps faster velocities but those two powders can be very temperamental. I'd stick with either 1680 or CFE BLK . I have a friend the loads 12.4gr CFE BLK w/20gr Vmax. He uses a little shorter OAL than I do and his velocity isn't quite as fast as my load with 1680 but that load in his gun shoots exceptionally well and is really easy on brass.

The brass for these 17 Hornets isn't horrible but it certainly isn't great and though these little 17HH are a lot of fun to shoot, they aren't without their quirks