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The 17 Remington Fireball

Talyn

Talyn

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Founding Member

The Forgotten Fireball​

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Remington brought the 17 Fireball to life to compete with the popular 17 Mach IV wildcat. The two are very similar, both based on the 221 Fireball, but they do have minor dimensional differences. The 17 Mach IV has a slightly longer and narrower case body along with a longer neck. Both are very close ballistically.

.17 Remington Fireball - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Remington introduced the 17 Fireball to the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer’s Institute (SAAMI), making factory ammunition available for those who do not handload.

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The 17 Remington Fireball | Varmint Rifles and Cartridges

www.varmintriflesandcartridges.com www.varmintriflesandcartridges.com

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The 221 Fireball came first, and as wildcats often do, it was necked down to shoot a 17-caliber projectile. With the 221 Fireball being a success, Remington Arms introduced the 17 Fireball in 2007 in the Model 700 and Model Seven. The Model 700 was offered in two versions: the SPS Varmint (the rifle tested in this article) and the stainless VSSFII with a 26-inch heavy-contour fluted barrel. The Model Seven was offered as a sporter CDL in a wood stock.

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Ahhhhh......the lovely 17s. I had a Cooper 17M4 that I shot for years. Fun grass-patch varmint gun. Absolutely murder on ground squirrels, skunks, armadillos and any other small vermin.

Still have about 250 pieces of new, unmolested 221FB brass somewhere.

Thanks for the (short) stroll down memory lane this morning.
 
Always wanted either the fireball or the parent
Unfortunately the vast towns of dogs that used to be everywhere around me, caught the plague and died back.
I do rock the 17hmr.
Might still build a 17 rem or 20tactical AR upper but there again, the 223/556 is already to hand.

Do have an upper in 22 creedmoor that needs tried out.
 
I have a Contender Barrel in the similar 17 Mach IV. I never did much after getting the brass fire formed. I was getting wild velocity variations, but again, I was just loading fire forming loads.

I am a .221 FB fan. I have an early XP-100 in the caliber and had a Remington 600 rebarreled with a 21” 221 FB barrel. The barrel isn’t the greatest quality but it still shoots OK. Not great. I bet a properly done .221 FB barrel would be a delight.
I often think about doing that project over.

I have wanted a Kimber 84 in .221 FB since they came out. Dean Grennell wrote a nice article on them in “Guns” magazine around 1995 that I’ve read countless times. Maybe I’ll go on a search for one on Gunbroker eventually.

In my daydreams, I’ve noticed the .221 looks like a scaled down .308. Similar proportions. Further into my daydreams, if I had a full machine shop, the associated skills, and more money, I’d try to make a 2/3 scale M-14, M-60, and M-240, all in .221 FB.

Just daydreaming.
 
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Melvin Johnson had the idea of necking the 30 carbine to 224 and using the m1 with a 22 barrel for coyotes and such. Guns were cheap and barrels easy to swap.
 
I imagine you could reduce the neck of the 22 Johnson to 17 and have a great little rifle cartridge for coyotes and jackrabbit!
 
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