Thoroughly enjoyed the article on the .17 Ackley Hornet.

Good shootin'. -Al

As usual, a great article. I have a lot of exp. with the .22 Hornet & .17 Rem. but not that little Jewel.

Thanks very much, Al!

Obviously I found both the cartridge and rifle very interesting--which makes the writing fun!

What was the rifle MD? I owned an Anschutz that I had rebarreled about 30 years ago but eventually sold it.

Thumbs up on that one. A very good read. No experience with Hornet wildcats but as a Hornet owner & fan all things Hornet are interesting.

It was what might be called a semi-Anschutz. The guy who built it was a rifle loony and competitive shooter who had a complete shop to build his own rifles. Somebody gave him a bolt for the .22 Hornet Anschutz action, but he couldn't find a boltless action to go with it--so he made one. This was in the 1990s, and eventually he and his wife decided to move into a retirement home, so he sold his machines and guns, and they sold the house. Through a mutual local friend, 10at6 on the Campfire, I was able to buy the rifle--and a little later one of the guy's other guns, which I'll be writing about in an issue of HANDLOADER.

That was a real interesting facet of the story. That guy must have been fascinating to know, ( at least from a rifle looney perspective). My reaction was like; "OMG; he was given a bolt without an action and couldn't find a bare action....... So he built his own ? WOW." So now can we be spared the suspense and speculation of that other gun that was purchased later ? I'm a HANDLOADER and RIFLE subscriber and eagerly waiting to hear about the next "chapter" in this story.

Let's just say it wasn't a rifle.

And thanks for a nod to Ron Pence for his work with .17 cal. barrels. His work with the .168/.172 barrels really paved the way for .17 barrels that worked.

John, if you ever want to re-home that little rifle, I'm just one state East of 'ya.

Good shootin'. -Al

I liked the article too! But an AI? Since you have at least one 17 Hornet I was surprised at the AI version. Seems like a lot of work with the little cartridge case, but that is what loonyism is all about.

It's also the work I get paid for!

Al, will put you name first on the list if I ever decide to sell the .17 Ackley. That may just happen sometime in the next couple of years, as am starting to thin the collection as I attempt to "semi-retire" more!

Very interesting article. Read it for the second time last night. Wish I had not sold my Cooper 17 AH a few years ago.

When I was choosing my profession why didn't I think of that?

love my little cooper .17 AH. With the suppressor screwed on the end it is just a pleasure to shoot and it's wicked on the prairie dogs.

Thanks. John! -Al

what magazine is this article in?

Tag

Careful Mule Deer, AL NYHUS will get you hooked on Drag Racing & "no telling" what else !!

RIFLE No. 319, November 2021.

John I've been trying to retire more for almost ten years. If you get it figured out please let me know. Thining the herd is a good thought but I just go from rifles to shotguns and now it's revolvers. I await a custom #1 which should be done by deer season. It's a never ending cycle........and I love it.

GSPfan,

Writers generally don't ever retire, they just write less. My semi-retirement has been relatively successful, since I'm now writing half as many articles per year as a decade ago.

Have reduced my centerfire rifle collection by about 1/4 this year, but gained a little in shotguns. Bought three older side-by-side 12s, a "Birmingham" British 12, basically a Webley & Scott boxlock extractor gun slightly remade by a small shop in Derby, a Sauer back-action sidelock hammer gun made in 1911 in excellent shape but with 2-1/2" chambers, and a W.W. Greener boxlock ejector made in 1895, with Damascus barrels. Have taken birds with all three so far this fall using appropriate handloads--but also got all three due to very decent deals. So with the rifle sales am still well ahead!

I deal with seniors on their Medicare benefits so I don't ever fully retire either because I take care of my existing clients and do referrals. The shotguns sound nice I haven't bought one in over a year but the rifles keep popping up and vintage S&W revolvers have taken over most of the discretionary funds. With the shotguns RST shells are your friends. I load their hulls exclusively and 12's, 16's 20's & 410 are all 2 1/2. I have really come to like their 2 inch 12's in an English light game gun. It's the only 12 I hunt with.

I deal with seniors on their Medicare benefits so I don't ever fully retire either because I take care of my existing clients and do referrals. The shotguns sound nice I haven't bought one in over a year but the rifles keep popping up and vintage S&W revolvers have taken over most of the discretionary funds. With the shotguns RST shells are your friends. I load their hulls exclusively and 12's, 16's 20's & 410 are all 2 1/2. I have really come to like their 2 inch 12's in an English light game gun. It's the only 12 I hunt with.
I'm just getting back from a month of grouse hunting and Rifle along with some others are waiting so I look forward to your article on the 17 Ackley.

Am familiar with RST ammo, but I get paid to write about handloading. Plus, I've killed enough birds with various kinds of shot (whether lead or non-toxic) to understand how they work in the field, including various sizes/hardness of lead shot. Started using Bismuth in the mid-1990s, and since then have used various other kinds of old-gun friendly non-toxic shot in gauges from 28 to 10 to have a pretty good handle on how they work.

Keep telling yourself that!

The proof is in my "firearm" bank account, which has almost tripled this year.