that with a bit of load tinkering I can demonstrate better ac- curacy. Unfortunately, we did not have time to do this with Williamson’s gun before he had to head back home. In any case, performance generated by the 17/23 SMc
is impressive. While it falls slightly short of matching best feasible 17 Remington loads, the difference is insuffi cient to justify all the limitations inherent to the larger case (barrel life reduction, barrel heating increase, fouling increase, load sensitivity increase, etc.). EXTERNAL BALLISTICS
With top loads using any tested propellant, the 25-grain
Redding Competition shellholder set and standard shellholder. Competition shellholders are 0.002-, 0.004-, 0.006-, 0.008-, and 0.010-inch thicker than a standard shellholder. By using the Competition Shellholder that drives the case shoulder back just far enough to allow free chambering, a handloader can eliminate the need to trim cases to length because cases will not stretch signifi cantly. I have proven this with various 5/35 SMc chambered guns – having reloaded many such cases more than one dozen times, I have never measured one that has stretched more than a few thousandths of an inch.
V-Max has a clear ranging advantage. Difference is suffi cient that I do not expect to use the 20-grain V-Max in this cham- bering. With or without a muzzle brake, the modest recoil dif- ference is a non-issue. We could easily see impacts on rocks and other targets of opportunity at various distances from 100 yards to about 310 yards. (For the listed X-Terminator loads fi red in an eight-pound gun without the muzzle brake, predicted recoil for the 20- and 25-grain bullets is 1.27 and 1.42 foot pounds, respectively. With the muzzle brake, recoil of either is far less than one foot pound! – insuffi cient to disturb the gun enough to prevent the shooter from seeing any impact at any distance.) BUILDING A 17/23 SMC
Dave Kiff at Pacifi c Tool & Gauge, Inc. makes the
necessary reamer and headspace gauges. I offer complete reloading die sets – custom full-length sizing, which will not overwork the cases; custom neck-sizing collet, which will properly resize only the neck; and, custom RCBS Gold Medal seating (with extended shellholder), which is the ideal seat- ing tool. (E-mail me at
micmac@fone.net to place an order.) Several manufacturers now offer premium 17-caliber
barrels. I would personally prefer a 26-inch barrel. Ballistic difference could be signifi cant and the additional four inches of barrel would signifi cantly reduce muzzle blast. While it is certainly feasible and desirable to simply
rechamber an existing 17 Fireball gun, best results will al- ways be obtained by setting the barrel back about 0.3 inch and cutting an entirely new chamber, throat, and leade. Of course, starting with a new premium barrel is feasible and might be a desirable approach. The 17/23 SMc reamer is designed to create a chamber
with tighter than normal neck clearance but case neck turning is not necessary. With all tested Remington cases (various lots of 221 and 17 Fireball), annular neck clearance was always between 0.001 and 0.0015 inch. Also, the chamber neck provides only about ¹⁵⁄₁₀₀₀-inch
Representative 17-caliber bullets, left to right: Hornady 25 HP, 25 V-Max moly and naked, 25 V-Max. Berger offers a selection of hollow-point bullets and Midway offers a 25-grain “Dog Town” bullet that might be a superior choice for use on heavier vermin. However, the ballistic advantage and proven accuracy of the Hornady V-Max bullets makes those my favorite 17-caliber varminting choice.
Page 72 October — December 2011
endwise clearance when using 17 Fireball cases, so case trim- ming could be critical. However, if the handloader will use the correct Redding Competition Shellholder, so that full- length resizing does not produce unnecessary headspace, case trimming will never be required with the 17/23 SMc. CONCLUSION
We eagerly await spring (if the effects of so-called
Global Warming will ever allow that to happen!). Then we can take this rifl e into the fi eld and do practical experimenta- tion with various loads.
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