How fast can I make it go?
I just bought a 17 HMR and it got me to thinking about rebarreling one of my Win. model 70's into a new wild cat caliber. What is the top fps one can push a bullet and keep it stable in 17 cal. ? I wonder how fast it would be if I necked down a .223 to fit a 17 cal. bullet. Has anybody done this before with any success?
0
-
Your 40 years to late Sherlock, GOOGLE, "17 Remington". 0 -
I think the problem will be enough twist to stabilise, but not too much to keep the bullet from flying apart mid air. Remember reading about the 17 rem as mentioned being at 4000fps, and a wildcat 14 cal that never hit the target. After close examination, the bullets were being torn apart mid air by the twist.
Edit - if you go with a solid bullet (like the Barnes stuff) you'll probably be able to avoid it spinning itself apart.
For giggles you should consider something like a 458wm or similar necked down to 25 or 22 caliber. Don't think you'll find lots of bullet choices in 17, but at 22 or 25 your choices will open up.0 -
gjshaw
Check out the research that Roy Weatherby did for the military. Not sure of the time period. 40's, mabey 50"s HAWKSHAW0 -
Thanks all, I have some reading to do and then I will reinvent the mouse trap. With the newer bullets, I wonder if 5000 or 6000 fPS is out of the question. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by gjshaw
Thanks all, I have some reading to do and then I will reinvent the mouse trap. With the newer bullets, I wonder if 5000 or 6000 fPS is out of the question.
I would think it was out of the question right now in 2011.0 -
I think the limit for burning gunpowder is around 5600 fps. On the other hand the electrical magnetic rail guns are around half the speed of light. Personally I'm holding out for the plasma rifle in the 5 megawatt range. 0 -
The military A1 tank uses a SABOT type round and theirs is SMOOTH BORE. I think that is the only way to keep a bullet/ projectile in one piece at high velocity and also have even a resonable barrel life. Of course Then you have the problem of accuracy. That is the one part that I feel the military has a grip on that they are not sharing with us. 0 -
Why limit yourself?
Just neck down a .50BMG to .223.
That's the old canard about taking this to its natural limit.
And this sort of thing isn't exactly a new concept:
http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2010/05/10/22-eargesplitten-loudenboomer/
quote:Originally posted by gjshaw
Thanks all, I have some reading to do and then I will reinvent the mouse trap. With the newer bullets, I wonder if 5000 or 6000 fPS is out of the question.
Sure.
Its physically possible to get over 5000 fps with a conventional gunpowder burning rifle, assuming you have enough powder pushing a small enough bullet.
The real-world problem with this approach is that the combination of high bullet velocity and high powder burn-mass eats up barrels for breakfast.
Throat erosion is so bad that its been said you can virtually see the throat get longer after every single shot! More realistically, barrel life gets measured in hundreds of rounds (or less), not thousands.
With all accuracy quickly destroyed just by working up a few loads and zeroing them, then the gun needing a re-barrel (with a custom barrel), I think the effort and expense takes a lot of the fun out of this sort of thing.0 -
The PPC case necked down to .17 caliber gives 4600 fps with 20 grain Vmax and no bullet problems. Accuracy runs 1/4 to 1/2 MOA but best with 25 gr Bergers and Varget powder in my rifle with a 1 in 10 twist. Throat erosion is .030 after 500 shots. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by zimmden
The PPC case necked down to .17 caliber gives 4600 fps with 20 grain Vmax and no bullet problems. Accuracy runs 1/4 to 1/2 MOA but best with 25 gr Bergers and Varget powder in my rifle with a 1 in 10 twist. Throat erosion is .030 after 500 shots.
Thanks, That is what I was wanting to hear.0 -
A very good example of what Beantownshooter is talking about, but in a factory round is the WSSM-Winchester Super Short Magnum family. The 223 WSSM is capable of 4600 FPS out of the gate...barrel life is very poor, especially if mis-treated, and shot hot, and/or dirty.
Best0 -
quote:Originally posted by charliemeyer007
I think the limit for burning gunpowder is around 5600 fps. On the other hand the electrical magnetic rail guns are around half the speed of light. Personally I'm holding out for the plasma rifle in the 5 megawatt range.
That would be quite a feat of miniaturization. I built a gearbox used in the testing of 3 through 12 megawatt alternators for the army's pulsed beam weapon power supply. That was about 30 years ago.
5 megawatt falls in that range and would be about 6700 horsepower.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
12 comments