Is there anyone out there who has fired cast bullets in .17 caliber centerfire rifles? I'm not talking about the pip squeak rimfire cartridges, I'm talking about real rifles. I have a .17 Mashburn, which no one except me and possibly a few other old-timers have ever heard of. I built it with the old man Mashburn's shop made reamer. I met a fellow with a .22 caliber black powder rifle a few years back. He was a member of the Arkansas Black Powder Association.. by their rules he had to shoot a patched round ball in competition but his favorite loads were with .22 caliber pellets. It was very accurate. I planned on building one but I have too many projects.
After reading the information on bunny rifles I got very interested and have one under construction. And of course being a .17 caliber fan I got to thinking about the possibility of shooting lead pellets in my .17 and have a unusual variant of a bunny rifle. The .17 Mashburn that I have has about the same powder capacity as a .17 MK IV. The shoulder is 40 degrees and the neck is about .173 thousandths in length, A much hotter cartridge than the .17 Ackley Bee. One tenth of a grain powder increase results in about 100 fps. I ran through about 2.5 lbs. of powder working up the loads that I shoot. If there is anyone who has experimented with something like this or has a interest, I would like to hear any and all comments.
Mashburn
David a. Cogburn