22 caliber speed

[22-243middlestead]

thanks for letting me join. I'm currently experimenting with REALLY fast 22 cal wildcats. I'm loading a 22-243 middlestead and trying to reach 5,000 fps. Looking for recommendations on any other short action calibers that might get me to my goal. I'm open to about anything. I would prefer to not go below 22 caliber. TIA

 

[Dean2]

Realistically, there is only so much powder that you can burn, even in a 32" barrel. In a short action the largest powder capacity options would be to neck down a a 264 mag or 7mm WSM to 22. Probably about the largest powder capacity available in a short action. Both hold about 30 more grains of powder than the 243. Would make an interesting build.

Barrel life however will be about 50 rounds.

 

[daymoney]

I would think you'd be awful close with a 22cm and 40gr bullets. Not sure what the volumetric difference in case capacity would be, 4300 with 55's is pretty average so....

22-6mm ai or even a swift will shoot that pretty easy with 40's.

16tw and custom bullets would surely be in order

 

[chutinlead]

You should try the 22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer.

 

[Dean2]

Problem with that idea is one it isn't a short action and two, unless the newer powders work it never got close to 5000 FPs. At a certain point the case becomes too large and you actually hurt your abilty to get velocity.
[h3][/h3]

What in the World is a .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer

When it comes to funny and impractical cartridges the .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer may be the craziest. Not only does it have a funny name but the shell looks pretty funny as well.
The cartridge was a wildcat round designed in the 1960s by gunsmith P. O. Ackley. The entire goal with the round was to get a .22 caliber bullet to travel over 5,000 ft/s. After all his experimenting the fastest he could get the bullet to travel was 4,600 ft/s.

From the literature of Parker Ackley:
Ackley was not just a wildcatter, he was a researcher as well, often testing firearms to destruction in the search for information. He also produced a number of experimental cartridges, not intended to be practical, but rather to test the limits of firearms. One of these experimental cartridges was the .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer. This humorously named cartridge was developed by Ackley for Bob Hutton of Guns & Ammo magazine, and was intended solely to exceed 5,000 ft/s (1,500 m/s) muzzle velocity. Ackley's loads only managed 4,600 ft/s (1,400 m/s)(Mach 4.2), firing a 50-grain (3.2 g) bullet. Based on a .378 Weatherby Magnum case, the case is impractically over-capacity for the bore diameter, and so the cartridge remains a curiosity. The advent of new slower-burning smokeless powders may have changed the equation, but in a cartridge case that routinely holds over 100-grains of powder, it is hardly worth the effort.
I scoured the internet trying to find a video of someone shooting the round but alas I came up empty-handed. There is however a song by the German rock band Steppen Wolf that shares the name with the round, and I did find another cartridge with a name just as funny and equally impractical, the .17 Flintstone Super Eyebunger, based on the .22-250 necked down to .17 caliber.

 

[chutinlead]

Yeah not practical but the name is hilarious. I like the 17 Flintstone too lol