17 HMR Velocity Tests

These tests were performed April 20, 2002 in the Bullberry Test Pit using a Dr. Oehler Sky Screen Chronograph Model 33 with Shyscreen III system. The first screen was set 6 feet in front of muzzle. Screens are spaced EXACTLY 10 feet apart. The test was on a new production 17 HMR Bullberry bull barrel 22" long. The purpose was to determine velocities at this length, and every inch shorter down to the practical minimum length of 10". After each group of 5 shots, we cut the barrel by one inch and repeated the velocity test until we had reached our goal of 10".

I had predicted a higher velocity than currently reported from the Ruger and Marlin rifles, based on our tighter tolerance chambers. While this did not occur, it did prove my other theory that we would possibly see a maximum velocity in the 17 or 18 inch range. You'll see that it actually occured at 19" in our test.

Further was the HUGE surprise, in that the short pistols have a velocity so near the carbine. Our early accuracy test barrel in stainless shot only 132 fps slower that the uncut 22" blued chrome-moly carbine. When we finished the test at the 10" length, we found the chrome-moly barrel to be only 241 fps slower than the 22 inch length. And for some reason, unexplainable, the stainless barrel shot a bit faster than its counterpart in blued CM.

So on to the test velocities:

Summary: This 10" barrel produced velocity average of only 241 fps slower than the 22" length, and only 262 fps less than the best average of the 19" length.

All 5 shot groups were shot after a damp patch of Eezox was pushed through the bore. This was done to clean out any metal particles from the cutting operation and to assure a clean bore for each group.

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Bullberry's .204 Ruger Velocity Testing