.17 Bumble Bee
The .17 Bumble Bee was born back when the
longest barrel available for the Thompson/Center for its single shot pistol
measured 10 inches. At that time, a number of reduced capacity cartridges
were developed for what was thought to be a higher level of efficiency that
could be achieved with full length cartridges in the short barrel. Another
cartridge was developed for this same purpose was the
.30
Herrett.
Like a number of wildcats of the same caliber, the .17 Bumble Bee is about
as dead as last year's news. This is true for a couple of logical reasons.
Due to the relatively light weight of the .17 caliber bullet, its effectiveness
on varmints is greatly dependent on extremely high velocity, a characteristic
missing from the Bumble Bee's short list of credits in either a rifle or
a short barreled pistol. In addition, no logical reason exists for choosing
a .17 caliber wildcat for the Contender when Thompson/Center offers the far
superior .17 Remington chambering. The factory loaded .17 Remington will
generate around 3500 fps for a 25 grain bullet in a 15 or 16 inch barrel,
close to 1000 fps more than is possible with the Bumble Bee, and it will
do it without the use of case forming dies.
All of this is not meant to say that Contender barrels chambered for the
.17 Bumble Bee should be relagated to gathering dust. But it is to say that
when shots on varmints exceed about 100 paces, the Bumble Bee starts running
out of sting fast.
Source: Hodgdon Data Manual, 26th Edition
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