Now that the HRM barrels seem to be readily available, I was wondering if the bore dimensions are the same as for the .17 centerfires. It seems that starting with a factory 23" bull barrel and re-chambering to .17 Ackley Hornet might be a cheap way to get a .17 centerfire as compared to going full custom.
I've never tried a .17 and would like to, but with a tight budget, and the cost of necessary form dies, I'd be over my limit to also buy a full custom barrel. I can trade a .223 carbine barrel towards a factory 23" HRM and probably come in around $250-300 for the whole project, including dies and re-chambering. Is this a bad idea? Is the quality of the factory HRM barrel good enough to bother? Seems like everyone loves the HRM, but I enjoy reloading and it looks like I can probably put together .17 reloads for similar cost to HRM ammo and gain some performance to boot. Thanks for any advice on this one.
Patrick