Considering building a .17 Fireball

Samsquanch

Samsquanch

Member
I'm kicking the idea around of building a new fur gun. I have a lot of interest in the .17 Fireball. Kind of a sucker for the little .17's I guess. Looking for an action to build off of I have narrowed my search to a few options, all of which will take some time to find unless I just buy a rifle and part it out. My questions are for the guys that have done this with either the .17 or the .221. I love the tried and true Rem 700 action but I doubt that I'll find a manufactured action from Rem for the little rounds. It is my understanding that they have trouble with ejecting, letting the empty case fall back into the action rather than flipping it out as well as some feeding issues. Remington remedied at least one of these problems with their FB chambered guns by moving the ejector nearly a 1/4 turn around the bolt face. Not sure what they did about the feeding or if it really was an issue. This leaves me searching for a different option. The other options I have found were a CZ 527 action or Sako's A1 or L461 actions. If those actions were originally carrying the .223, I don't think there would be any need to mess with the bolt, would there? Do any of you have any first hand knowledge of this type of build? Any mods to a 700 action that helped with the aforementioned issues? I know the easiest way to get the .17 FB downrange would be to change a barrel out on an AR but I'm not a fan of them and would rather build a nice bolt rifle. I have never attempted a build quite like this and would love to hear some input. Thanks!
 
The feeding was helped by a spacer in the magazine box and accompanying short follower and spring. That is how my 700 LVSF is. I also have some spare 221 length boxes and followers that were supposed to be for a BDL and they are the same. Probably like hens teeth now unless the new Remington has them. I re-barreled an XR-100 to a 221 and it is one of my all time favorite prairie dog rifles! No issues with feeding or ejection with the single shot. If I were ever to make anything smaller than the 221 I would be looking pretty hard at a 20 cal over the 17.
 
El Jefe said:
The feeding was helped by a spacer in the magazine box and accompanying short follower and spring. That is how my 700 LVSF is. I also have some spare 221 length boxes and followers that were supposed to be for a BDL and they are the same. Probably like hens teeth now unless the new Remington has them. I re-barreled an XR-100 to a 221 and it is one of my all time favorite prairie dog rifles! No issues with feeding or ejection with the single shot. If I were ever to make anything smaller than the 221 I would be looking pretty hard at a 20 cal over the 17.
Click to expand...
Thank you! I would definitely prefer a repeater over a single shot as I would like the option of a follow up shot. I have owned a .204 and though I did enjoy shooting it and would not mind owning another, the .17 FB is just a few ticks up my list. (mostly because I don't have one...yet) Once I have one built, I will for sure be adding another .204 to the mix.
 
The easy button is a Howa Mini Action .223 and rebarreling it to .17 FB
I’ve been contemplating this for myself…if you Google search, Varminter Online has some good info on their build conversions.
I’d opt for a Lilja or Pac Nor barrel…shouldn’t be anything else needed other than a barrel swap.
Other option is to find a CZ .221FB and rebarrel that.

The ejector location on a 700 is the issue, as well as the mag box needing a spacer for the shorter case.
Howa will def be the most economical and easiest route.
I think the only negative on them is the plastic bottom metal and plastic mag.
 
I have a .17 Mach IV that I built on one of the 700 Classics in .221. It feeds okay. Not slick, but pretty reliable. A buddy that is on here that might comment did a .17FB on the CZ and his definitely feeds more slick. If you can find one, I think the CZ is the way to go. Nice rifles and feeds that FB case very well.

- DAA
 
Samsquanch said:
Thank you! I would definitely prefer a repeater over a single shot as I would like the option of a follow up shot. I have owned a .204 and though I did enjoy shooting it and would not mind owning another, the .17 FB is just a few ticks up my list. (mostly because I don't have one...yet) Once I have one built, I will for sure be adding another .204 to the mix.
Click to expand...
Are you locked in to a 17 FB only or would a different 17 trip your trigger the same? I ask because a 17-222 or 17-223 build would solve all of your feeding/ejecting concerns and open up your options for a suitable donor action X10. The 17-222 makes for a pretty sweet looking little cartridge and they feed/eject smooth as butter.
 
B23 said:
Are you locked in to a 17 FB only or would a different 17 trip your trigger the same? I ask because a 17-222 or 17-223 build would solve all of your feeding/ejecting concerns and open up your options for a suitable donor action X10. The 17-222 makes for a pretty sweet looking little cartridge and they feed/eject smooth as butter.
Click to expand...
I would like to stick with the FB only because I like the idea of near identical velocities with not as much powder being burnt. Not that a few grains will make a huge difference but for some reason in my simple mind I like the idea.
 
greengt88 said:
The easy button is a Howa Mini Action .223 and rebarreling it to .17 FB
I’ve been contemplating this for myself…if you Google search, Varminter Online has some good info on their build conversions.
I’d opt for a Lilja or Pac Nor barrel…shouldn’t be anything else needed other than a barrel swap.
Other option is to find a CZ .221FB and rebarrel that.

The ejector location on a 700 is the issue, as well as the mag box needing a spacer for the shorter case.
Howa will def be the most economical and easiest route.
I think the only negative on them is the plastic bottom metal and plastic mag.
Click to expand...
Greengt88, I didn’t even think about a Howa. I like the idea of a simple rebarrel. Have you been around one of these conversions to know if it works slick? Not doubting but trying to save some research lol. Thanks
 
Samsquanch said:
Greengt88, I didn’t even think about a Howa. I like the idea of a simple rebarrel. Have you been around one of these conversions to know if it works slick? Not doubting but trying to save some research lol. Thanks
Click to expand...
I don’t have any 1st hand experience…or at least not with the Fireball…I do have a Mini Action 6.5 Grendel and it is smooth and feeds well…obviously the FB is a different animal…I think Varminter online has videos on YouTube of their fireballs.
 
Maybe give a call to someone like Kevin Weaver he builds a lot of small cal stuff and ask him what it takes to make a small bolt face Rem 700 run smooth with any of the Fireball size cases. I think if you have a M16 type extractor installed that could solve the extraction issues but Kevin would know for sure. Making a spacer for a factory .223 size mag box shouldn't be that big of a deal but I'd think you'd need to use a Fireball size follower and the appropriate follower spring to make it all work properly too. I briefly considered having a 20-221FB built once but quickly switched to a 20-222 for the ease and guaranteed smooth feeding/extraction knowing I was using a Rem 700 223 donor action. If I recall I have a Remington spacer, follower, and follower spring for a FB setup somewhere.
 
cropdamage said:
Not as may options these days.
Click to expand...
True! The little 17's are cute and as much as I enjoy shooting my 17 Hornets I hate loading for them. Those tiny little bullets are kind of a PITA to deal with seating them. Loading 17 Hornet ammo seems like it takes me so much longer to load then everything else I load for. Not that the 20 cal bullets are a lot bigger but they're bigger enough that they aren't quite as big of a PITA to load not to mention there are considerably more options for the 20 cal bullets as there are for 17's. If shooting factory ammo I'd think long and hard about the 204 Ruger over a 17FB if nothing else just for the availability of ammo. Even if you plan to reload I can't remember the last time I saw anything but Nosler FB brass and that stuff is just kind of marginal at best.
 
As stated above, rebarreling a Howa Mini-Action is the easiest route. Brownells has the Howa Mini-Action in barreled action configurations. Buy a .223 barreled action and then have it rebarreled to a .17 Fireball. Add a Jefferson Outdoor Howa Mini Aluminum Triggerguard and a CZ .223 magazine and a stock. That's it.
 

Attachments

  • Howa-Mini-17FB-1.jpg
    Howa-Mini-17FB-1.jpg
    78.3 KB · Views: 3
Eric_Mayer said:
As stated above, rebarreling a Howa Mini-Action is the easiest route. Brownells has the Howa Mini-Action in barreled action configurations. Buy a .223 barreled action and then have it rebarreled to a .17 Fireball. Add a Jefferson Outdoor Howa Mini Aluminum Triggerguard and a CZ .223 magazine and a stock. That's it.
Click to expand...
Will this work with the factory bottom plastic & mag?
JO is forever on back order…also they seem to have discontinued the CZ Mag version, and have a Gen 2 version utilizing the factory plastic mag
 
I built one on a Savage 12FV action. I put an extractor/ejector kit in it and it ejects fine. The feeding was also an issue I never did solve so I put a block in the mag well and turned it into a single shot. Wish I could fix that.
 
Back
Top