While the .45 SAP was the subject of a parody, the 17-357 RG was not, honest. I thought an update would dispel the rumors that the 17-357 RG was little more than the product of my imagination and too much time on my hands.
The chamber reamer and go gauge arrived yesterday, and were turned around and sent out with barrels to be lined and chambered. Typically, I would have just purchased the reamer from Clymer out of habit, but this time I elected to shop around a bit and, ultimately, I decided to go with Pacific Tool and Gauge. They were prompt in response, more than reasonable in price and they produced the reamer as requested. As a point of reference, a solid pilot reamer from Clymer was quoted at $160+. Pacific Tool & Gauge provided an upgrade in tooling, a removable pilot reamer, for only $138.00. For another $27 I was able to also purchase a custom 17-357 RG go gauge and complete this tooling element of the project.
As more general information, Pacific Tool and Grinding has been around since 1957 and catalogs over 8,000 wildcat and standard chamber reamers and related tooling. They sell their solid pilot reamers through Midway USA, items not carried by Midway can be ordered direct through Pacific. No, I don’t get a price break from Pacific for promotional consideration, they don’t know me beyond the name that appears on my credit card; I’m a retail goober just like most of you.
I made a slight change to the project barrel plan. I had a difficult time finding an appropriate .177″ barrel; twist rate, lead time and cost for the T/C. I decided to sacrifice a barrel I virtually never use that is chambered for the 357 Magnum, for boring and lining, it is a 10″, rather than the 14″ or 15″ I originally intended. This version should serve to indicate the degree of effect barrel length will have on the 17-357 RG and give me a chance to mount a strain gauge and check pressure while working up hand loads. The short barrel, 3.9″, is a standard 357 SIG as used in the P229. It will be similarly reworked; bored, lined and rechambered.
I’m not cheap, well, actually I am pretty cheap when it comes to projects but I don’t like to be wasteful. I picked up a custom T/C barrel in a standard cartridge chamber, to use for handload development, that cost as much as a Lilja rifle barrel by the time I was done; too much for this project. My current objective is to ring out the ballistic performance potential of the 17-357 RG as the lowest possible cost, then invest further in development commensurate with the success, or lack of success, of the effort.
Dies should be in within the next few weeks, so I should be able to form some brass, put some ammo together and be able to better determine of this will all come together at some point. There are a number of things going on in the industry that are making me feel better about pursuing a .177″ cartridge.
Things get better for the 17
CCI announced it is introducing a 20 grain dimple tip bullet load for the 17 HRM for summer 2004 availability. The bullet is designed to provide controlled expansion when used for small game hunting without damaging meat. Prior to this they introduced a 17 grain TNT hollow point load that was made for more explosive when used on varmints. As a person who owns a .17 HMR rifle, it’s good to see expanded participation from companies providing ammo, and it is good to see development that treats the .177″ bullet as having greater potential than a 22 rim fire. Who knows, maybe one of these days bullets of this type will be available as handload components.
For all the time P.O. Ackley pushed the caliber, and for the performance of the .17 Remington, maybe history will find it took the mass of volume rim fire ammunition to legitimize broad use of the .17. At the moment, Hornady and Berger are the two big suppliers of .177″ bullets and the selections are quite good. Still it would be nice to be able to have as broad of a selection as there is with the .224″ bullet. Personally, I think the .17-357 RG will be the center fire cartridge to create this type of demand. Yes, that was intended as humor.
Weatherby Vanguard
This was a spot reserved to announce a new project that involved the purchase of a Vanguard and a comparison to the Winchester Shadow; something I thought would probably favor the Weatherby. But I will never know because while their PR firm SRA Marketing sends us press releases with incomplete, ambiguous and incorrect information they don’t like to respond to simple questions for clarification. From the standpoint of product support, as a firearms manufacturer, Weatherby makes some wonderful leisure clothing. I’ll keep them in mind next time I need a cap…or perhaps a sweater. My apologies to SRA and Weatherby for not publishing exactly what I was handed.
More “The 17-357 RG – Real Guns Project Cartridge”
The 17-357 RG – Real Guns Project Cartridge Part I
Thanks,
Joe
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