My .17 Predator
by Dave Affleck
Loading Dies and
Brass Forming
Loading dies and brass forming are always a consideration when planning a
wildcat chambering. For the .17 Predator, I was able to use my existing .17
Mach IV forming dies to neck down the .223 brass by simply backing the dies
out of the press an appropriate amount. Since the shoulder of the .17P is
slightly longer than that of the parent .223 case, the “false shoulder”
created in the neck when reducing the neck diameter is what gets used to
hold headspace during fireforming. So, initial case forming was a very
simple and straightforward operation. For regular neck sizing after
fireforming, I’ve simply continued using a Redding Type S .17 Mach IV die
adjusted to the correct height in the press. For bullet seating, I sent
Greg Tannel a .17 Remington Redding Competition seating die and had him run
the .17 Predator chambering reamer into the floating sleeve. This
combination of dies loads wonderfully concentric ammo, with absolutely no
headaches or special hoops to jump through. Dan Clements had a couple of
.17 Predator full length sizing dies custom made for us, but so far, even
with some cases loaded 10 times now, I have not needed to use the FL die
yet. It appears to me that I’ll be wearing out primer pockets and
discarding cases without ever needing to FL size them. You can read more
detail about choosing dies and forming cases for the .17 Predator in Dan’s
original article – here.
Dies used to load .17 Predator, L to R, .17 Mach
IV Type S neck die, .17 Rem. seating die reamed with .17P reamer, custom
full length sizing die by CH.
The Cartridge
Choosing an
action
Choosing a
stock
Choosing a
barrel
The scope
The
Riflesmith
Loading dies & forming cases
Load work
Results in
the field
Final
thoughts
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
R.M.V.H., LLC ·
436 N. Redwood Rd · Salt Lake City, UT · 84116
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