.17 cal in a .22 mag. revolver?

undertaker

Anyone know if if you would be able to shoot the new .17 cal ammo in a 22LR revolver or 22 magnum revolver?

leeblackman

No, its very dangerous, don't do it. The 17 will probably fit in the chamber of a .22wmr, but the bullet is to small for the bore, and will bounce down the barrel, not only that but pressure can lead ahead of the bullet in the barrel causing an explosion in you barrel, and you could die or loose your hand.

If you want a .17 cal revolver, you may look into taking a .22wmr revolver to a gunsmith, and having them bore out and install a .17cal barrel sleeve and reshape the forcing cone or replace the barrel with a .17cal barrel. I warn you that this should only be done by a competent gunsmith who knows what he's doing.

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nmyers

Leeblackman is correct about the dangers.

However, there is no more value in making a .17 revolver than there is making a .22mag revolver. These high velocity cartridges were designed to be fired in a rifle barrel because they require a long tube for all the slow-burning powder to ignite; they lose a lot of velocity and energy in a short tube because much of the powder fails to ignite and is just blown out the muzzle.

Neal

CS8161

NMYERS is correct, at handgun barrel lengths, the 22 LR actually outperforms the 22 Mag. The 22 mag needs at least 12" of barrel to start moving towards its highest velocity.

Chris8161
Admit nothing, deny everything, demand proof!

v35

In the early '80s I tested various 22 and 22 Mag ammo in barrels usin common pistol barrel lengths between 2 1/2 and 6". The 22Mag with 40 grain bullets out of unvented barrels gave 1460fps avg for a 5" barrel and 1163fps for a 3" barrel. It's a mistake to think one can expect anywhere near the published ballistics from short barrels using rifle ammo. Additionally, the shot to shot variation in velocity increases as you decrease barrel length. At a 2 1/2" barrel length, highest velocity in a 5 shot sample was 1580fps and the lowest was 1032fps.

TaiChi

Taurus is coming out with a 17 HMR and 218 Bee pistol on the Raging Bull frame in barrel lengths from 7" to 12".

gruntled

Go to the North American Arms web page. They have the velosity tables
for a wide range of ammo in their mini .22s. Even in the 1 1/8"
barrel there is a substantial increase in velosity for the .22 mag
over the .22LR. Note that this is not an exact comparison because
of the different cylinder lengths. I had always wondered if a magnum
made any sense in any caliber in very short barrels & this seems
to suggest that they might.

CS8161

I learned something new today...I was always told that the 22 MAG needed at leat 12" of barrel to get going, but out of the little NAA mini revolvers, there is a velocity edge to the magnum cartridge. Thanks Gruntled!

Chris8161
Admit nothing, deny everything, demand proof!

leeblackman

quote:
NMYERS is correct, at handgun barrel lengths, the 22 LR actually outperforms the 22 Mag. The 22 mag needs at least 12" of barrel to start moving towards its highest velocity.

Chris8161
Admit nothing, deny everything, demand proof!


Dude, you don't know what your talking about. You shouldn't mis-inform people with stuff you heard...

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