17 Caliber Revolver What if

[Davemuzz]

A few years back I owned a Smith 17hmr six shot Revolver. I found it to be woefully anemic as it couldn't push any 17gr. bullet much past 1900fps. I sold the gun.

Recently I had worked up a load for my re-barreled Stevens in 17 Fireball. Now, this is a 17 caliber (the Fireball) that is worth shooting.

I was just "thinking out loud" if a aftermarket gun smith\company like Bowen could chamber...say a 5 shot revolver for the Fireball?

Pressures for the Fireball are a bit higher than the 44 mag, but lower than the 454 Casull.

Just would be neat to have one in an 8" barrel. I would guess you could get around 3,000fps out of it? But then, maybe that's too fast for a revolver.

Dave

[trotterlg]

I think it would be an easy task, the .221 Fireball was designed as a pistol cartridge, so you may even find a frame made for it.  Not exactly sure how you would handle the cylinder, but the barrel would be easy.  Larry

[GatCat]

Bowen and others do .22 hornet and .219 Bee conversions, so no reason why they couldn't do a .17 hornet, or the .17 fireball. Maybe a rimmed round might extract better.
Mark

[SHOOTALL]

A quick way could be rebore a Ruger SA 17  to a wildcat that uses a 32 or  327 fed mag case necked down to 17 .