New Hornady 17 Hornet

[oldred]

Hornady is now producing a modified version of the 17 Ackley Hornet which itself is a wildcat derived from the 22 Hornet, similar but not the same as the Ackley version. Looks like I just might have decided on the caliber of my "Baby Highwall" project I have been working on! Midway USA lists dies and a finish reamer soon to be available and centerfire 17 caliber barrel blanks are available in various twist rates and diameters from several manufacturers so this should be easy to do. With a projected muzzle velocity in excess of 3600 FPS I am thinking a barrel with a twist rate suitable for 17 Remington should be about right, any thoughts on this? Not sure what the chamber pressures of the round are but Hornady claims it to be substantially less than the 17 Remington, I sent them an E-mail asking for specifics on the actual pressures so I may know more on this later. Anyone have any info on this round?

This has got me off my duff and back into the shop where the project has been collecting dust the last few weeks due to my being busy with Spring time activities such as preparing my garden, etc. I have the internal parts finished except for finial cosmetic shaping and polishing but at this time the receiver is still just a small block of 4140 HT, the dimensions and scale have been worked out so now am ready to start making chips.


A scaled down lightweight Highwall with a 24 to 26 inch tapered octagon barrel in a new super fast 17 caliber, this should be fun!

[MT Chambers]

Then you won't be able to use cast boolits!!! If you want something different, why not consider .218 Mashburn Bee, it likes cast boolits!

[oldred]

Then you won't be able to use cast boolits!!! If you want something different, why not consider .218 Mashburn Bee, it likes cast boolits!

The fact that cast might not be practical is definitely a problem and is not being ignored, I was going to address this with my next post but for now I was just looking at getting some feed-back on this very interesting new round. Would cast rounds be totally out of the question if speeds were limited to, for instance, between 22 lr and 22 mag performance? If this is practical then this round could be a very versatile cartridge ranging from the performance of a 22 lr plinker to a long range varmint rifle, or am I just dreaming here?

[uscra112]

My nickel's worth is that the pool of j-warts for .22 is a mile wide and a mile deep, but for .17 you can walk across without getting yer socks wet. I'd stick with .22 something. The Bee can be a marvelous cartridge, but I'd pick the .22 K-Hornet. Cute little thing, but vicious out to about 150 yards. For cast, I'd pick .25-20 Single Shot, a classic cartridge that is very, very accurate in many rifles. We had Jamison making excellent brass for us for a while, until they shut down. There's still some in the pipeline, if you want to go that way. Not cheap, but it will last a long time. Get it while you can.

[koehlerrk]

I first heard of the 17 Hornet about 10 years ago. Seems old Mr. Ackley thought it was about the most balanced 17 caliber round that could ever be produced. But having to re-barrel or custom build one has kept it out of my price range.

Now it seems that Savage will be chambering their sweet little Model 25 varminter in this new/old round. This makes me happy.

Now, I've heard that Hornady didn't use Mr. Ackley's chamber dimensions, so it's not the old 17 Ackley Hornet... But it will be darn close, in both size and performance. Saving my pennies so that when they become available, I will have one.

[leadman]

I have a 22 K-Hornet and can shoot cast out of it at full velocity of 2,700 fps with very good accuracy. I can also load it down to almost equal the 22 CB. Jacketed bullets have been shot at 3,000 fps, but best accuracy is at a little less velocity.
Don't have any experience loading a 17 cal. cast boolit but do know there are some molds out there for it. A new mold would probably be special order.

[JeffinNZ]

I like the idea of .17 Hornet for a number of reasons.

First up it is frugal on powder so a pound goes a long way. My only concern there is I have been told the new high performance powders like Lil Gun are hard on barrels. Not sure if that is true.

Second the rimmed case lends itself nicely to Martini actions and there is no real shortage of them in my neck of the woods.

Third when teamed up with a suppressor a .17cal is ridiculously quiet. I mean REAL quiet and of course zero recoil.

[oldred]

I like the idea of .17 Hornet for a number of reasons.

First up it is frugal on powder so a pound goes a long way. My only concern there is I have been told the new high performance powders like Lil Gun are hard on barrels. Not sure if that is true.

Second the rimmed case lends itself nicely to Martini actions and there is no real shortage of them in my neck of the woods.

Third when teamed up with a suppressor a .17cal is ridiculously quiet. I mean REAL quiet and of course zero recoil.

Yep there is just something about that little round that just seems right although I have to admit I only started looking at it a couple of days ago. In my case it's a matter of going from one extreme to the other since I am a huge fan of big bores, having two 45/90s and three 45/70s (my all time favorite round is the 45/90!). When I set out to build this scaled down Highwall my first thoughts were for the 17 RFs but I ruled them out due to the non-reloading issue so the 22 Hornet or one of the other small capacity 22s looked to be the most likely choices. I had in fact already pretty much settled on the 22 Hornet for my choice and was researching available barrel blanks/twist rates when I discovered that Hornady was loading this new round. I just learned today that it looks as if the chamber pressures are going to be in the 50,000 PSI range which is higher than I at first thought based on Honady's ads but with that small case and the fact the receiver and all other stressed parts will be machined from 4140 HT steel I think pressures will be a non-issue.



You're right about it being frugal with powder but just think how far a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights will go if I can work up a good cast load!

[l h jenkins]

pt&g has reamers available,now. hornady's verson has slightly shorter brass[.01] with a 25 degree shoulder. the 1:9 twist will let you shoot 30gr. bullets. most 1:10 twist wil not handle more than a 25 gr. bullet. i bought 100 17 hornady pieces of brass for my 17 k hornet,very short neck after fireforming. i am going to stick with 22 hornet brass,resized. also k hornet uses a 35 degree neck. the 17 is a fun round.

[Slam'n Salmon]

I like the idea of .17 Hornet for a number of reasons.

First up it is frugal on powder so a pound goes a long way. My only concern there is I have been told the new high performance powders like Lil Gun are hard on barrels. Not sure if that is true.

Second the rimmed case lends itself nicely to Martini actions and there is no real shortage of them in my neck of the woods.

Third when teamed up with a suppressor a .17cal is ridiculously quiet. I mean REAL quiet and of course zero recoil.

Which part of that doesn't apply to 22 k-hornet?

And mine shows promise with cast.

[oldred]

It's a fairly new round in it's newest configuration but basically it's the old 17 Hornet wildcat, Hornady just changed the case enough to preclude chambering it in guns chambered for the old wildcat round. Below is a quote from recent testing of the two rounds,

"The .17 Hornet loaded with a 20 grain bullet performs significantly better than the .22 Hornet loaded with a 35 grain or 45 grain bullet. At 300 yards a 35 grain .22 Hornet bullet will be traveling at about 1126 ft/s for 99 ft/lbs of energy. A 20 grain .17 Hornet bullet at 300 yards will be traveling almost twice that fast at 2122 ft/s with more than twice the energy at 200 ft/lbs".

The performance difference is substantially better when using J-bullets but I would assume cast would give the edge to the heavier and slower 22. Still with a performance envelope such as this I think this cartridge is going to catch on real quick!

[kenyerian]

Can't wait to try one.

[AkMike]

Does anyone happen to know for sure if this new hotrod will fire in the older 17 Ak Hornet chamber?

[vonrang]

How can I get one of the wonderful 310 Martini actions here in the U.S.?

[kir_kenix]

My dad has a .17 AI built on a martini action. I believe it has a 1:10 or 1:11 twist (measurments by me vary from 1:10-1:11.25...its hard to measure such a small bore with super shallow rifling). Since my uncle works at Hornady, he got me a big box of "rejects" 17gr FMJ bullets (not sure if Hornady still makes these). Don't have the velocity figures in front of me right now, but these will bust P-dogs out to 250 and occasionaly 300 if the wind isn't blowing. Its super handy and a hoot to shoot.

It's alot of fun, BUT: every .17 I've ever shot fouls barrels faster then .224 bores, they are tempremental about seating depth, .1gr of powder shows vertical at 100, and the wind is brutal on them. I don't care what stated BC's and balistic calculators say... .17's are affected disproportionatley more by wind than any dope chart would indicate. I wouldn't worry too much about barrel life...rifle steel is better then it was in the past, and quality .17 caliber cleaning rods are now available. It's also alot harder to overheat a barrel with a single shot then a repeater in the midst of a p-dog barrage.

Having said all that, I do love .17's. If I were going to build a .17 today, I would go with the new Hornady number. Hornady isn't going to give up on this cartridge, and brass is likely to be available for a while considering there are already a few rifle makers jumping on board. Loaded ammo will be nice, if you want to compare your reloads to factory. There are a plethora of .17 bullets available. If you are looking to cast...I think you will be much better served with something in .22 caliber tho.

[kir_kenix]

Oh, and don't forget the .19 or .20 caliber wildcats if you are looking for something different! Either of these calibers on the hornet or bee case would be awesome on your minature highwall. Sure to turn some heads on your range.

[badgeredd]

oldred,

I'd think the 17 Hornet would be more fun than a big barrel of monkeys. I love my 17 HRM and wouldn't trade it for anything else. Totally impractical for a reloader, but who cares.

The downside is obviously that cast GCed boolits aren't available. BUT it is reloadable. The upside is that a guy doesn't have to care. I'd bet a guy could cast a plain base that would work fine up to 1500 fps or so if he really wanted to. You have me thinking about the round now too, darn it. I have a 204 Ruger and doubt that it will ever be anything but a J-word shooter...and I don't really care. It is the ONLY rifle i have that is dedicated to copper wrapped bullets and it is FUN!!!!!!!

Your project...your way... is my opinion.

Edd

[stubshaft]

I have been a fan of the .17 since I was a teen (many,many,many years ago) and have played with them for a number of years. I once owned an early Kimber in 17 hornet and had alot of fun with it. I still own rifles in 17 MKIV (Fireball), 17 Rem, 17/222 and my personal favorite the 17 Ackley Bee. The Hornet is a fine cartridge but the cases did not last as long as the Bee cases.

[Iowa Fox]

I like the idea of .17 Hornet for a number of reasons.

First up it is frugal on powder so a pound goes a long way. My only concern there is I have been told the new high performance powders like Lil Gun are hard on barrels. Not sure if that is true.

Second the rimmed case lends itself nicely to Martini actions and there is no real shortage of them in my neck of the woods.

Third when teamed up with a suppressor a .17cal is ridiculously quiet. I mean REAL quiet and of course zero recoil.

Sure would like to have one of those Martinis with the Kangaroo on the side of the action without spending a small fortune to obtain it.

I have been shooting the 17 AH for a lot of years and see no advantage to the 17HH unless you are not a reloader. Case forming from the 22 Hornet to 17 AH is very easy and no sloppy factory chambers to worry about. My 17AH chamber was cut specifically for use with the 20 grain VMax bullets. I use N120 or 1680 in mine and avoid Lil Gun for anything only using it in the 22 Hornet with 40 or 45 grain bullets. With 30 or 35 grain bullets I use H110.

[oldred]

Wow has it been a year now since I started this project? Well I have the barrel and most of the action completed but I also have another project going (22 Mag) and both have been gathering dust until recently. A new shop, still small but much better than what I had, and the addition of a small mill should move things along now. Just in the last week I got to making chips again so hopefully this will be completed soon.