.17 Velociraptor

[Pinsnscrews]

I have a TC 17hmr pistol barrel, and as much as I like the rimfire, I really would like to be able to reload it.

So looking at some of the .17 cal wildcats I came across the .17 Velociraptor, which is the 5.7x28 FN wonder cartridge necked down to .17 cal.

Anyone have any experience with this round?

[Ballistics in Scotland]

It should work fine. But what are the chances of FN keeping up a supply of that brass, particularly on the civilian market? TC have done a pretty good job, compared with some others, of dispensing with the cartridge rim if you need to. But as you aren't talking about some rimless round of which you or your local gun store have a supply, you don't need to. Nothing about this pistol rules out the many excellent cartridges based on the Hornet or .32-20 case.

[Hickory]

Like you, I have had similar thoughts to this very wildcat.
The problem I have is, my money gets spent on other things.
If you get this project completed let us know about the end results.

[leftiye]

I'll stick with the 1st (or thereabouts) 17cal wildcat the 17 Ackley bee. I don't think much if any more case capacity is needed or good in 17 cal. Velocities are mid 3000s, give or take.

[Pinsnscrews]

It should work fine. But what are the chances of FN keeping up a supply of that brass, particularly on the civilian market? TC have done a pretty good job, compared with some others, of dispensing with the cartridge rim if you need to. But as you aren't talking about some rimless round of which you or your local gun store have a supply, you don't need to. Nothing about this pistol rules out the many excellent cartridges based on the Hornet or .32-20 case.

Very valid point on the brass. Right now, I have access to a very good supply of the range brass. Not quite, but practically free because the people shooting the P90/FiveseveN don't seem to reload.

My other thinking is to start with the smallest cartridge reloadable wildcat I can easily get brass for, so once the throat is worn out, I can have the chamber recut to the next one up and so on.

Alleged velocities I have seen elsewhere are in the 3k range for a 20gr pill. I have been considering the idea of swagging my own out of lead and shooting for mid 2k velocities.

[footpetaljones]

Very valid point on the brass. Right now, I have access to a very good supply of the range brass. Not quite, but practically free because the people shooting the P90/FiveseveN don't seem to reload.

My other thinking is to start with the smallest cartridge reloadable wildcat I can easily get brass for, so once the throat is worn out, I can have the chamber recut to the next one up and so on.

Alleged velocities I have seen elsewhere are in the 3k range for a 20gr pill. I have been considering the idea of swagging my own out of lead and shooting for mid 2k velocities.

There's a reason for that. 5.7x28 is a round in which a charge .1 grains over max can have deadly consequences. Especially so if you are shooting a P90 with your face much closer to the chamber.

Everyone I've heard of that reloads that round does so weighing every charge individually. I wouldn't touch 5.7x28 with a ten foot pole much less a wildcat based off of it.

[Tackleberry41]

Thought I read something about a coating used on the 5.7 brass that tumbling can remove? I have not seen to many who even shoot a 5.7, its usually a small percentage of shooters who do reload. But everything I have read about the 5.7 is its not easy to load, only a few powders that even work in it, and very very sensitive to charge levels.

[roysha]

A bit off the general line of thought here, but how about a 17 TCM. I doubt that you would have to be too concerned about the availability of brass for the foreseeable future.

I, being a 17 caliber nut, have considered doing this as a winter project but haven't fully decided on rifle or pistol, and if pistol, whether to try the RI 1911 platform or rebarrel on of my XPs, or.......

[Pinsnscrews]

1) I already weigh out each load by hand for small batch run loads. I am not looking at loading 500 a time, maybe 25-50 at a time if that.
2) As I understand, the Brass from FN factory loads has a coating, the brass from American Eagle does not.
3) The 17TCM idea came to mind first, but, the base diameter of the 5.7x28 is .311 and the base diameter of the TCM brass is .372 That leaves me a little extra meat for the next chambering.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

There's a reason for that. 5.7x28 is a round in which a charge .1 grains over max can have deadly consequences. Especially so if you are shooting a P90 with your face much closer to the chamber.

Everyone I've heard of that reloads that round does so weighing every charge individually. I wouldn't touch 5.7x28 with a ten foot pole much less a wildcat based off of it.

I can believe that, and the most likely explanation for a coated case, though I know nothing about this example, would be to ensure extraction in an effort to achieve extraordinary performance. But this was dictated by the need for very high performance in extraordinarily firearms.

The P90 was designed to give "only" about 2350ft./sec. from a short barrel, full-auto, to penetrate body armour, and to have neither the functional problems of a very light bolt, nor the recoil characteristics of a very light everything-else. It has simple blowback action, and even the pistol is delayed rather than locked. I think this means the pressure, while high somewhere, must not be sustained late in the bullet's travel, and if it is you may wish it wasn't.

It is the lack of a rim and availability of brass that makes me think there are better .17 cartridges to go for. I don't see that the 5.7x28's sensitivity would be any more likely to show itself in the development of a cartridge for a manually operated rifle, than with any other small case. But in an automatic pistol... Don't you think FN, with all their testing facilities and a budget for destroying material, gave themselves a surprise or two?

[HollowPoint]

Pinsnscrews:

I hope you move forward with your project. It sounds very interesting; and promising, from a DIYists point of view.

Most .17 caliber cartridges come with the powder/pressure sensitivity that's been mentioned here. That's nothing new. Your choice of wildcats is no different in that respect. It's just something to be given careful attention to with each and every load. It appears that you have this under control already.

Any time you post ideas like yours, you are bound to get replies coming from those who may have interpreted your inquiry as asking them for permission to undertake such a project. And many of those types of replies come from well meaning folks who generally have never undertaken such a project themselves.

Don't get me wrong. Alot of these guys are sharp as a tack when it comes to stuff like this but, in terms of hands on experience; not so much.

Common sense encouragement in cases like this should go something like this; Be careful, and let us now how it goes.

HollowPoint

[Pinsnscrews]

Hollowpoint, sometimes it is nice to throw ideas out here like this to see if there is something I missed in my thinking. An aspect I have come to terms with on this and most other forums is that there are always people who are going to be opposed to the idea for one reason or another.

At the moment, I am just waiting for funds to become available for the reamer, so at some point, the project will get finished, it is just a matter of time. I have actually put a couple of other projects (rimless .357herret for example) on hold until this one is done.

[pacomdiver]

one of the guys over at ammobrasstrader did one of those (17cal 5.7) for his grandkids to shoot

[joatmon]

I know, old post but I have been wanting to do this myself lately. I get more into the Minnie and micro wildcats myself.
Any one ever get a reamer for this? If so from who?
Thanks Aaron

[NavyVet1959]

The .17 HMR is based off the .22 mag brass. The .22 mag brass is the same diameter as the .25 nail gun blanks (aka "power loads"). You're talking about a single shot gun there, so just take the bullets, seat them by hand into the rifling, and then put one of the nail gun blanks behind it. I've done the same thing testing for .22LR and .22 mag with 55 gr bullets.

There's quite a few different power load levels for the nail guns, so you could probably find one that would be pretty close for any velocity you were wanting to achieve.

Keep a watch out on eBay and you can sometimes find the power loads for cheaper than even primers cost.

And there's nothing to say that you couldn't experiment with adding a grain of another powder between the power load and the bullet.

[17nut]

There's a reason for that. 5.7x28 is a round in which a charge .1 grains over max can have deadly consequences. Especially so if you are shooting a P90 with your face much closer to the chamber.

Everyone I've heard of that reloads that round does so weighing every charge individually. I wouldn't touch 5.7x28 with a ten foot pole much less a wildcat based off of it.

So the 22Hornet at 14.5 grais H2O is just fine and no problems but the 5.7x28 at 12.3 grains H2O is like running with scissors, blindfolded in a glass store wearing red and chased by a mad bull?

The 5,7 is maxed at 50kpsi and that is way long before brass or action gives way.

I just tried QL for the best part of 20min and cant find a powder that will raise pressure by more than @2000psi for 1/10grain of powder, please advise me as to wich type of powder the wild pressure spikes is assosiated?

[Traffer]

Why not pioneer the reloading of the 17 rim fire?