Considering building a .17 Fireball
- Thread starter Samsquanch
- Start date
Eric_Mayer
Active member
Jefferson Outdoor does pretty regular runs. He does not list the CZ Mag bottom metal any longer, but is still doing runs when there is enough interest. He requests that people message him through his site. My experience with the factory mag is that it is too long, so consistent feeding is rare.
It definitely is. Brownell's has a sale on Howa Mini barreled actions right now. We also have a code for 10% off (VARMINT10) that works with those barrels.
Not much I can add that has t already been addressed.
The Mini is a slick little action. I have five and wish I had a few more.
After neck turning a bunch of brass for 20VT and 17FB, I would opt out and hit the easy button, 222 parent brass and go on. B23 and I have exchanged PM’s and Brian advised going that way and I didn’t.
One of those “do as I say, not as I did” things.
Howa mini already has a claw extractor, which I believe is better than a Remington or Savage. I have used both, used an XP100 action for a 6TCU rifle build. After numerous trial and error and several qualified folks tinkering with it, a SAKO extractor was installed and headache went away.
Savage, tinker toy for adults. Get flustered with the cartridge barrels and bolt heads can be swapped out easily.
FYI on the mini, Preferred Barrels offers a prefit with a decent looking nut. I have two of their barrels, prefits. 22 Nosler for the Howa Mini and a 22 BR for a Remington foot print. No complaints for either, both have performed as well as other makers I have, clean easy too;-).
The Mini is a slick little action. I have five and wish I had a few more.
After neck turning a bunch of brass for 20VT and 17FB, I would opt out and hit the easy button, 222 parent brass and go on. B23 and I have exchanged PM’s and Brian advised going that way and I didn’t.
One of those “do as I say, not as I did” things.
Howa mini already has a claw extractor, which I believe is better than a Remington or Savage. I have used both, used an XP100 action for a 6TCU rifle build. After numerous trial and error and several qualified folks tinkering with it, a SAKO extractor was installed and headache went away.
Savage, tinker toy for adults. Get flustered with the cartridge barrels and bolt heads can be swapped out easily.
FYI on the mini, Preferred Barrels offers a prefit with a decent looking nut. I have two of their barrels, prefits. 22 Nosler for the Howa Mini and a 22 BR for a Remington foot print. No complaints for either, both have performed as well as other makers I have, clean easy too;-).
Good to know…I will likely opt for the blind mag version for my build and save the cost of the CZ mag. Thanks for the reply…love your magazine and articles geared toward the small caliber stuff, that’s where my heart lies as well! Big fan.
Eric_Mayer
Active member
Thanks! You'll love 2025 then. We will be doing a lot of old school rifles and small caliber cartridges. I'm doing a .219 Zipper and a .22 Jet T/C Contender projects! I'm excited!
steve garrett
Active member
first of all YES do a 17 fireball!!! its a riot, it kills far above what you think it will or should. Mine is tired and waiting for a new barrel. its my favorite gun of all time. if I leave the house it almost always comes if I am going on an adventure. accuracy has gotten sloppy and is over MOA at times. When I shoot little varmints with it. I know pretty quick if its shooting worse than 3/4MOA because my hit percentage starts dropping. so hopefully in a couple months it will be sporting a new barrel and a new lease on life. I also recommend suppressing the fireball. a can completes the magic. I have watched hydrostatic shock through the scope and seen the bullet impact coyotes, heck even twit birds. The effect varies quite a bit on where you hit and the size of the varmint. but its almost always dramatic and awesome to connect with. I have only been shooting 20 grain vmaxes at 4000-4200+fps
mine is a CZ 527 that started life as a 204 ruger. CZ made 527s with long and short mag well opening bottom metals. 222 and down had the short. if you choose a 527 I would make sure you start with one thats got the shorter mag well opening from the beginning because finding that replacement trigger guard was a stroke of luck for me! it will sorta feed with the long mags and bottom metal but you have to work the bolt really fast for it and its just not 100%. short mag well bottom metal and 221 mags will feed 17 fb like a fat chick giving a blow job on the first date.
a howa mini might be an option as they still make them. CZ's parts are already getting tuff to find in the future it will be tuffer. the sako vixen's are nice rifles and should work great as well. I like the mags on the CZ for what I do. I normally don't like mags on a bolt gun. but the little CZ has retired my rimfires mostly and a mag is nice to have when doing quite a bit of shooting.
mine is a CZ 527 that started life as a 204 ruger. CZ made 527s with long and short mag well opening bottom metals. 222 and down had the short. if you choose a 527 I would make sure you start with one thats got the shorter mag well opening from the beginning because finding that replacement trigger guard was a stroke of luck for me! it will sorta feed with the long mags and bottom metal but you have to work the bolt really fast for it and its just not 100%. short mag well bottom metal and 221 mags will feed 17 fb like a fat chick giving a blow job on the first date.
a howa mini might be an option as they still make them. CZ's parts are already getting tuff to find in the future it will be tuffer. the sako vixen's are nice rifles and should work great as well. I like the mags on the CZ for what I do. I normally don't like mags on a bolt gun. but the little CZ has retired my rimfires mostly and a mag is nice to have when doing quite a bit of shooting.
Been there and done that, tried to rebarrel a SA Rem 700 to 221FB. The action was factory barreled for 223. The 221 rebarreled gun would not feed at all, and it dropped empty or loaded cases on the follower instead of ejecting them. The gunsmith replaced the Remington extractor with a Sako extractor, but that showed no improvement. I had the 221 chambered barrel rechambered to 223. It functioned fine as a 223.
Sako A1 actions work fine for the 221 FB cartridge. I have one in 221 and 20 Vartarg, both feed and eject just fine. The problem with Sako actions is that they’re scarce and expensive these days. And if you don’t have a stock, there’s very few makers of them.
Sako A1 actions work fine for the 221 FB cartridge. I have one in 221 and 20 Vartarg, both feed and eject just fine. The problem with Sako actions is that they’re scarce and expensive these days. And if you don’t have a stock, there’s very few makers of them.