.221 Rem Fireball brass from .223?

Status
Not open for further replies.

newdude

Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2008
Messages
143
Location
On my computer
I know you can make .300 Whisper, (opened .221RF) but is it possible to make .221 Remington Fireball from .223 Rem brass? If so, how hard would it be?

Thanks,

Neal
 
Yes, you can, but it is somewhat troublesome.

Redding makes a form & trim die.

The resulting excess neck has to be cut off, and trimmed to length.

Then, they have to be neck-reamed.

The .221 is so short, you are into the thicker case web walls on .223 brass where the neck ends up being.

rcmodel
 
Just in case i can't get my hands on it in the future, it has been harder and harder for me to get lately....i think hte cartridge is "dying" as much as i like it:D The .17 RF is now taking over.
 
Remington only makes a run of it every few years. When it is gone, it is gone until the next time they decide to make another batch.

When you do find it, buy a bunch!

rcmodel
 
It will be fine necked up. I neck up 222 Remington Magnum to 6MM for 6X47 Int. Match. I also do 30-06 for 8MM-06, 338-06, and 35 Whelen. I have necked down 270 to 6.5 for 6.5-270. I also make 7.7X58 out of Military '06 brass. And am working on 43 Spanish from 348 Winchester. I neck down and trim 356 Winchester Magnum from 357 Magnum.
 
rcmodel was correct on all counts.

I'm caught up in re-forming 223 brass to 221 Fireball for the very reason you stated, it's sometimes hard to get. Last summer you just couldn't find it anywhere. Now there seems to be a good supply.

First batch - I worked 12 cases from start to finish, 4 different kinds of 223 brass. The easiest brass to work is Winchester as it appears to have the thinest webbing and requires less meat be turned off the neck.

I use an outside neck turner, the K&M model (my main Christmas present this year), with their expandiron and the carbide mandrel that can cut out the "donut". I also got an anvil micrometer that can measure in .0001" increments.

The brass ring donut will form on the inside of the neck when they are fire-formed in your gun. From what I can tell it comes about after firing because of the thick brass at the neck/shoulder junction. It gets pushed into the bottom of the neck area.

I should add - I'm going to all this trouble because I really like the gun, Rem 700 with a Boyd's Thumbhole Laminate stock, and intend to shoot it for many years and didn't want to have a brass supply problem in case it goes completely out of vogue with shooters.

NewStock2.jpg
 
I've done it and I'd rather hunt up real .221 brass. The neck is so thick when formed from .223 that it really is a pain. To see for yourself take a .223 case and a .221 case. Hacksaw the .223 case where the .221 neck would end up being and see how much thicker it is. You'll be neck reaming all day...hmm, that sounds a bit pornographic.
After you're all reformed, reamed, drilled washed and waxed...check the case capacity. The shortened up .223 case has less capacity and in some cases...a lot less. In a case as small as a .221 it can be a problem if you're intending to load anything nearing a max load.
 
Yes, you do have to turn quite a bit off the re-formed brass. As far as case capacity, I have zeroed in on three powders, IMR 4198, Reloader #7 (my favorite), and Hodgdon LilGun. All three have a bit of room to spare, especially LilGun, in a factory 221 so I should be able to work up an equivalent load with a slightly reduced volume.

My hope is to get long life from the re-formed cases, if that proves true it will be worth the effort.
 
Because the walls will be so thick, it should have very long life, no?

I will look for thin walled .223 cases if i start this.
 
I would use the .223 conversion as a last resort. If there is .221 available I would hoard it and only use .223 if I ran out. You can always use .223 right?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top