I'm confused . My 17 Ackly Bee is giving me strange velocities. 24in. barrel Fireform load of 10.2 gr IMR 4198 25gr hornady hp gives average3240 fps 15 shot average. 10.2gr IMR 4227 20gr Vmax gave 3135 average according to ackly 10 gr 4227 / 20gr bullet gives 3640 . According to Nick Harvey 10 gr IMR 4227 with 25 gr bullet gives 3350fps.The 4227 loads were already fireformed Just neck sized. Why so slow for a 20gr . Tried a few on gophers at 85 yds accurate and blew a few right in half. Didn't seem to be affected by the 30 mph breeze either.
Rich.

Not sure this is you problem but it is something to check. What type of Chronograph do you have? I have a cheap Chrony (F1 I think) which works well when the light conditions are correct and I install the sun shades, but when the sun gets really bright or very low in the sky the reading are less then accurate.
Also it seems to be more sensitive to light conditions with the 17cal bullets then say a 6mm bullet, it could just be the velocities too. (17Mach IV @ 3600fps+ vs. a 243AI @ 3200fps). I have also found that moly bullets seem to registed better then Non-Moly, I am guessing this is because of the "black" color.

Goos Shooting
Jeff in ND

[This message has been edited by Jeff in ND (edited 05-03-2001).]

Jeff Used a top of the line chrony (remote reading , printer, extended screens exc} then used the old cheap chrony and got the same readings.

I just completed an extensive test on my 17 Ackley Bee and featured it in our spring issue of Small Caliber News Magazine. I found H-4198 and Vit. N-130 to give outstanding velocity and accuracy. My Rampro rifle had a Douglas 24 inch barrel and both powders exceeded 4000 fps with the 20 gr. Hornady V-Max bullet! By the way, the chronograph actually sees the bullet's turbulance not actually the bullet itself if I understood Dr. Oehler's explanation a few years ago. I was concerned about the small size of the 17 caliber bullet when he explained that to me. Dr. Oehler assured me that the 17 caliber bullet gives a large turbulance. So really it matters less if your bullets are coated or not. I may ask the kind folks at Oehler to explain that to us again for a future article. And then again are all chronographs the same? Hope this helps.

Todd Kindler- Editor, Small Caliber News www.smallcaliber.com

Todd
Have you tried IMR 4227 and 20gr.my question was why is it so slow.
RR