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  #11  
Old 03-20-2015, 05:14 PM
Bayou City Boy Bayou City Boy is offline
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Remington did announce the re-introduction of the stainless Model 7 rifle on Day 2 of Shot, IIRC, but I never heard or saw mention of the 17 Fireball while there. But maybe I missed it...........

Then again, and just speculating, maybe they polled the more elite Saubier member list and they only received 3 confirmed orders due to the poor expected quality of the resulting rifles, so they decided it wasn't worth the effort... ??

Just guessing on the last part...........

-BCB
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  #12  
Old 03-20-2015, 06:49 PM
Hog Patrol Hog Patrol is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bayou City Boy View Post
Remington did announce the re-introduction of the stainless Model 7 rifle on Day 2 of Shot, IIRC, but I never heard or saw mention of the 17 Fireball while there. But maybe I missed it...........

Then again, and just speculating, maybe they polled the more elite Saubier member list and they only received 3 confirmed orders due to the poor expected quality of the resulting rifles, so they decided it wasn't worth the effort... ??

Just guessing on the last part...........

-BCB
Talk to a hundred people at my two gun clubs and 99 wouldn't know what a .17 or .221 fireball is and wouldn't have any interest in buying one. Another issue is ammo. Unless you reloaded, you'd never realize anywhere near the potential of the round, the factory ammo isn't any help with accuracy. I doubt very much the bean counters at Remington or other manufacturers are going to market what's really a niche (Saubier members ) round.
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  #13  
Old 03-20-2015, 10:20 PM
Bayou City Boy Bayou City Boy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hog Patrol View Post
Talk to a hundred people at my two gun clubs and 99 wouldn't know what a .17 or .221 fireball is and wouldn't have any interest in buying one. Another issue is ammo. Unless you reloaded, you'd never realize anywhere near the potential of the round, the factory ammo isn't any help with accuracy. I doubt very much the bean counters at Remington or other manufacturers are going to market what's really a niche (Saubier members ) round.
I think your words pretty well sum up the marketing prospects for these rifles.

Even with the the lack of marketing skills at Big Green that I hear so much about on occasion, if I owned the company I wouldn't devote a lot of time to building and trying to market something that will sell slowly or not at all in the volumes I'd need to build them in.

JMO of course. And I hope it doesn't lead to any nasty PM's......

-BCB
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  #14  
Old 03-21-2015, 12:01 AM
basdjs basdjs is offline
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Default .17 Fireball

The .17 Fireball would do fine if Remington kept up production of its own cartridge and sold it at a reasonable price. Their .260 Rem hasn't caught on as fast as it should for the same reason. Remington introduced these cartridges and failed to support them.
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  #15  
Old 03-21-2015, 11:00 AM
LT17 LT17 is offline
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Sadly I think BCB is right about the bean counters and this is not just rifles almost any decent product now they only want to pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap. I bought .17 Fireball dies and brass a couple of years back as I planned on switching from .17 Rem to Fireball but as Remington got cold feet I decided to put it on hold.

I think Remington could still sell plenty of .17 Fireball rifles if they kept the range down to maybe a M7 and a 700 vssf. People like us will pay a premium for these rifles provided they shoot. I currently have a 22-250 SPS Varmint which, (once I replaced the stock with an HS precision stock) is a real shooter. However the shop where I bought it had a big selection of Remingtons and sadly several of the had some major flaws out of the box. If quality control is this poor people wont continue to buy them.
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  #16  
Old 03-21-2015, 08:47 PM
montdoug montdoug is offline
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Slightly off topic cause it sure isn't a handy little Model 7 but when Remington first introduced the .17 Fireball I figured I'd show my appreciation for their offering and buy one, I got a VSF Varminter. Here it is up and running.



My first disappointment was the above mentioned giraffe like throat, much like they did with the .204 Ruger. If I seated a 25 grain V-Max out on it's tippy-toes with almost zero bullet purchase in the neck I could get to the lands (almost) but it wasn't no way gonna fit in the magazine. Loading em single shot however it did give some pretty decent accuracy. This is about an average group all stretched out like that.



Because the barrel seemed decent I decided to get the rifle squared away with a little TLC from Greg Tannel. Greg single pointed the action, double sleeved and bushed the bolt and a number of the other things he does. He also set the barrel back a turn and rechambered the thing with a minimum spec zero free-bore reamer. I added a Jewel trigger as well but that's just cause I like em. At that point factory ammo with the 20 grain V-Max (excuse me, 20 grain "Acu-Tip" bullets ) fit in the magazine of course and also touched the lands. I figured if the barrel wasn't up to the task all I'd have to do is put on a new one cause the action work was already done.
First trip to the range after it's return and still shooting factory ammo for brass it laid down this 6 shot group right off the bat (that's with factory ammo that was actually clocking about a 100FPS over the factory promised velocities as well because of the short throat).



To bring this to the point. I think the .17 Fireball is a great round and a fine tribute to the .17 MachIV, unfortunately like with the .204 the "bean-counters" that BCB mentioned are frequently lawyers and the are frightened to death about the way .17 and .20 caliber rounds spike pressure so they did everything in their power to keep reloaders from getting projectiles near the rifling. Not good for our side but if I was in their place I might well feel the same they do. Where I ended up on my .17 Fireball is buying what was then an $890.00 rifle and then spending also what "then" cost $807.00 in smith work alone to make it what I wanted it to be and it is now a favorite. On the up side, I could now probably sell it for close to a $1,000.00 "if" I left the Jewel trigger on it. Do the math on that factory rifle. On the other side, I know a lotta guys have bought .17 Fireball's and .204 Ruger's and the guns shoot like crazy so ya pay's yer money and ya take yer chances. If I was a bet'n man on the reintroduction thing however I'd lay odds BCB is right again and it isn't a financial risk they are gonna take, sad to say.
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  #17  
Old 03-21-2015, 10:25 PM
Bayou City Boy Bayou City Boy is offline
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When the 17 Rem Fireball first hit the gun shops around me, I bought the first one I saw. It is an SPS Sporter weight rifle. After first shooting it in full factory mode with the original plastic stock attached, it shot so well that I put it into an H-S Precision stock I had in the closet, and to this day with both factory ammo and hand loads it shoots better than I can hold it.

I've never worried if I can touch the lands or not when a rifle shoots this well pretty much as it came from the box, and in this case, later on with only the better stock attached just because........

-BCB
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I miss mean Tweets, competence, and $1.79 per gallon gasoline.

Yo no creo en santos que orinan.

Women and cats will do as they please. Men and dogs should relax and just get used to the idea.

Going keyboard postal over something that you read on the internet is like seeing a pile of dog crap on the sidewalk and choosing to step in it rather than stepping around it.

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  #18  
Old 03-22-2015, 02:42 AM
hemiallen hemiallen is offline
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That's a nice looking rig Doug. And I d gladly give you 1100 as it sits...LOL
I have the same exact gun but put it in a B&c A5 type vertices grip adjustable stock and the it's my go to big 17 currently. It gives me 5/8 or so groups with the big jump.

Nice upgrade you have there.
Allen
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  #19  
Old 03-22-2015, 03:31 AM
Groundhog Devastation Groundhog Devastation is offline
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I had the exact same gun as Doug's example..........beautiful looking little varmint rig with as Doug's description..........giraffe, maybe WHALE would be better description, sized chamber. WSFS,,,,!computer talk for "wouldn't shoot for ....!!!" All kinds of loads tested. Documented, sent documentation and rifle to Remington. They agreed that it was inferior........would replace with rebarrel..........three weeks later phone call.....we don't offer the 17 Fireball anymore so we can't rebarrel. We will do a 204, 223, but no 17 Fireball........I told them they couldn't hold a candle to SAVAGE as far as a 204 went and the 223 was an inferior offering as EVERYBODY tried that one and it was never a match for the OORIGINAL 222MAGNUM!!!!! Send me my money back!! I sent them receipts from the purchase and they refunded the money! Prior to that I had owned two (2) of the 2007 CDL-SF Special Edition rifles in 17 Fireball...........note to self..........don't make a d... How bad that guy wants it, don't sell it because it will be hard to replace!!!!! The Special Edition rifles from Remington have been good examples of craftsmanship. Other offerings over the past decade.........buy a Savage or a Tikka if you don't want to break the bank and have acceptable accuracy out of the box!! Spend a bit more (2-3x) and get yourself a COOPER and be satisfied from the get go!! And even the first Cooper was a bit perplexing......shot factory 25 grain loads into the smallest FIVE shot groups the Cooper folks had seen at 100 yards but couldn't be duplicated with VMAX 25's or even come close to with 20 VMAX!! Solution.........................20VARTARG!!!!!! Don't want the little short 20???? Get the 20TAC!!! What should have been the factory offering in 20's anyway!!! Equal or more velocity with same powders reduced (2230, 2520) and no recoil.........I love these little chamberings!!!! It's hard to cut a decent 17 caliber barrel. 20's are doable with relative consistency, .224's and up...........staple offerings of a lot of barrel makers.

Last edited by Groundhog Devastation; 03-22-2015 at 04:00 AM.
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  #20  
Old 03-22-2015, 12:06 PM
df06 df06 is offline
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Default 17 fb

I have a Rem 700 limited edition 17FB. Bought it new, sold the CDL type stock with genuine plastic black fore end tip and mushy recoil pad. Put on an HS precision stock and it shoots 3/4" groups with ease.
A model 7 17FB would be great if they put on a 22" barrel.
And as some one said, great platform for a 20 VT.
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