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Little Stinger
I recently purchased a .17 Ackley Hornet barrel for the contender
on a whim. It is a 10" barrel, and is the only 10"
barrel that I own. I thought that it would make a nice little
gun for shooting gray squirrels in the winter. I also had
heard so many good things about the cartridge, that I thought
I should try one. I bought the barrel from Bullberry when
I saw it listed on the internet specials page.
My excitement was peaked by this little package on our first
date at the range. I had loaded up some 50 formed cases for
fireforming. I bought the cases already formed from John Delozier
and only had to anneal them prior to loading. I had some IMR
4227 and some 20 grain Starkes that I chose to use. I looked
in my Sensational Seventeens and came up with some appropriate
loads for fireforming. I used 11.0 grains of 4227 under the
20 grain Starke bullets using the winchester cases and CCI400
primers. I was amazed at both the accuracy and the velocity
achieved with such a stubby barrel. Please keep in mind that
this is my squirrel gun and that the intended range is 50
yards or less. I was sighting in at the range at a guesstimated
50 yards which turned out to be 60 yards after measured.
I look forward to the load development for this gun and a
successful squirrel season in the fall. I will be submitting
a full article late this year for publication in Small Caliber
News.
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