Hunting & Fishing 17 fireball fun by accident

[Southbreeze]

Never thought too much of the 17 centerfires, got a rem fireball from a fellow 'hider for my good lady to work over the red/gray fox population with. She hates recoil and I though this'd do her up just fine.

In the process of getting it set up for her....I went in had a required physical for work. The second one in three weeks, also by accident. As it turns out, I have the widowmaker. which means a quadruple bypass at 42 years old! How 'bout that for a kick in the ass? No reason to whine about it, get to cutting and fixing. So I'm doing fine and back to work but my buddy the heart surgeon tells me no recoil for a year. Let's make sure that breast bone is healed up good before you start booting the crap out of it with your big guns.

Enter the good lady's 17 fireball. This time home, we were cleaning out the barn and I had a shit ton of questionable duck/chicken eggs. We put them out as bait on the far side of the creek and set up coverage. I will say this, I'm impressed to hell with this little non-recoiling cartridge. In the course of the first week I killed 3 yotes and 5 gray foxes,a coon and a couple of possums. The shots were avg 120-150yds and they were lethal! I was so impressed on the 'yotes hitting the ground dead from that little 20grn accupoint.

All this has really opened my eyes to some small caliber possibilities.

My point for all this meandering around is that fun can come from really small packages, you just need to be in the right frame of mind!

Cheers,
Breeze

 

[KHill3611]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

Congrats on you beating the widow maker & those small calibers are allot of fun. My father-in-law gave me a 22mag a few years back & I've shot allot of different thinks with. My daughter loves to shoot it also.

 

[SilencercoJames]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

glad to hear you are doing well. I have been contemplating a 17 fireball of the 17 hornet my self lately. After having so much fun with an accurate .22lr it has got me wanting a little pea shooter to carry around in the truck.

 

[JelloStorm]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

Yeah get well brother! I absolutely love my 17 HMR and I'm real excited for the 17 Hornet. Hornady boasts ballistics almost exactly like 5.56 from a piddly little 17 caliber! Can't wait!

 

[Advokaten]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

To your health,

can be nothing better for recovery than to shoot and enjoy that small yet potent firearm.

Never had the chance to shoot a fireball however a 17HRM and a 204 Ruger and they are all sort of the same.

There is a lot of death in those small bullets.

/Chris

 

[Southbreeze]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

Thanks for the well wishes guys! It's been 7 months since I had a cigarette and I've managed to drop twenty pounds...without starving myself to death.

As for the little 17, it's not like i didn't disrepect it.....i just hadn't learned to respect it yet. Does that make sense? Holy shit, this little bitch is bad to the bone! Am I going bear hunting with it, no. Am I thinking about trying the 25/30grn pills for better wind resistance, damn right.

From what I'm reading though, the fireball might not be the best choice for the 30grn. So I might be looking at looking at a 17rem to get enough powder to push the heavier pill. You could be right, though just stick with the 204 and call it a day.

For grins, here's my darling's little Rem, the scope has been changed for a trijicon 3-9x40 yellow dot crosshair. That's serious night hunter's scope as well.

And last but not least, for all you boys that think this shit wont' happen to you....this is what it looks like and it ain't funny.

 

[Advokaten]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

Girls love a man with a few scars,

or so I have heard.

Let the healing take its time and enjoy the smallbores for a while.

/Chris

 

[Southbreeze]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

Hey Pal, last year I was at your next door neighbors in Stavanger, Norway. Ran out of time but was going to get a hunt in with some local friends up north of Bergen.

Met a beautiful example of your country's women...Malin. My God, she's easy on the eyes. All that cold weather and beautiful women, it's a wonder there isn't a population explosion! I know I could think of a few things to do to keep warm

Taks so micou??? Thanks so much or something, but not Tousan Tak

Cheers,
Breeze

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

Glad to see that you've head this one off at the pass. Enjoy what you can, and make the best out of the rest.

 

[MTyotehunter]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

I bought my first custom rifle at 11 years old, a little singleshot bolt action in 17 machIV I still have it and still love it!! Good action! keep it up

 

[tstevens]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

I absolutely love my 17-204 on yotes. Granted mine is built with a #5 barrel, its a kitten to shoot and watch the hair ripple on a coyote on 14X when struck with a 30 grain Hammett.

 

[Southbreeze]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

thanks for the kind words guys...it had me a little sceer'd at first! Now, it's balls out and W.O.T.

okay tsstevens, you've piked my interest. That sounds like a bad ass set up. What kind of barrel length/twist we looking at? I've got an old mauser 22-250 with a shot out throat....I was thinking of a 257 roberts rebarrel and giving it to the good lady.

How rough is it on the throat, pushing it hard is it a barrel burner? You bastard, I'm already gun ADD as it is and now you've thrown me curve ball and I'm off in another direction now.

cheers,
Breeze

 

[tstevens]

Re: 17 fireball fun by accident

Im shooting a 26" 9twist tube and getting 4100 easy with the 30grain bullets. I'm definately not expecting the barrel to last forever. However, I don't shoot prairie dogs with it, just coyotes. Therefore at 50-100 rounds a year it will last me a long time.