A noted (and old) American Gunsmith, Mr. Parker Ackley, did a two volume set of books, that you can often find on ebay or buy new (in paperback) from eabco.com, sinclair International, and others... In these books, Mr. A surveyed hundreds and hundreds of cartridges: ---factory, Improved (which can fire in the factory chamber), and wildcats. His smallest were .12 caliber. He lists a number of .17 caliber. And on up. 600 Nitro is the largest as I recall. He retired in the middle 1980s and has died. Progress has continued and there are cartridges that have come out since, but if you found a set of the books, say on Ebay,... Great information from a man of long experience. I almost built a .17 BEE (.218 Winchester necked down. Money problems got in the way... oh well). I still have and refer to my two volumes. If you are serious, I cannot suggest a better place to start. best of luck.
