.17 Incinerator

The .17 Incinerator is a novelty Wildcat Cartridge created by necking down a .50 BMG case all the way down to .17 caliber - a process which takes many steps that this article will cover in a section below.

Origins

It isn't entirely clear who originally created the .17 Incinerator. For example, Frank Barnes' Cartridges of the World (14th Edition) claims that it was first produced by a machinist named Zachary Weighman. His version is inert, and contains no power. The primer is simply from the original spent .50 BMG round. At the time, he sold them as a novelty for $20 at gun shows and it is noted that the finished piece has no cracks on the neck of the case.

According to Zachary Weighman, "I started making these up for friends of mine, after seeing a drawing of ‘Dingbat cartridges’—drawings of mythical cartridges. I thought they were really cool, so I started trying to figure out how to make them. As you can see, I did get it figured out.”

The Process

As per his story in Frank Barnes' Cartridges of the World (14th Edition and on), Zachary Weighman says, "... the process takes many sizing and annealing steps and some lathe work to machine."

Weighman used his small home mill and lathe setup. He made a die to hold inserts for necking down .50 BMG cases, with each having a smaller diameter hole in it. After 13 steps, the case has arrived at the proper size. Several annealing steps (at least three) are taken during this process. A small lathe is then used to clean up imperfections on the neck and shoulder. Finally for the neck, he reams the inside diameter and trims to length.