Smallest caliber centerfire?

[Oldnamvet]

http://www.saubier.com/smallcaliber/russlucas.html
http://www.jamescalhoon.com

Evidently there is a lot of interest in smaller than .22 caliber centerfires. This was around before the .17 HMR became so popular. Smallest I have personally seen is a 5mm (.20) but it seems like .19 and .14 rounds are also growing. What is the smallest centerfire caliber being used? At what point does it become silly?

 

[Hardcorehunter]

The .17 rem is a very accurate round. Downfall to small bores like these is having to clean them often between shots and limited ammo availability.

 

[Dave R]

I shoot a .17 centerfire wildcat for varmits, and it has given me a great interest in under .22 calibers. Small, light bullets at high velocities dump energy fast when they hit the target. Just the thing for varmits.

My next rifle might be a .204 Ruger. I like the specs..

Smallest I have seen pictures of is a thing called the .14 Flea. Saw the pix in Speer No. 13 reloading manual.

I think .14 is getting too small to be more useful than a .17, but I've never shot one, so what do I know?

 

[rangerruck]

14.223. saw one a t a show here in houston, fps was 4800 plus at the muzzle! but you have to load yourself. the 17 rem is a regular store bought cartridge.

 

[theCZ]

THe last issue of "The Varmint Hunter Magazine" had an article about the 14-221 Fireball. Very specialized, but a good informative article. I found out I didn't absolutely have to have one.

 

[Brian Williams]

I have often heard about .14 and might have heard about some guy making .10, but not sure. A couple of guys around here like the .17 for Fox.

 

[DWARREN123]

I have heard of a .10 cal, bullets swaged from solid copper wire.
Custom to the max.

 

[Wes Janson]

Wouldn't the barrel life on those be rather short?

 

[max popenker]

From what i know, back in the SALVO, SPIW & ACR days US Army tried various micro-caliber rounds, some as tiny as .13
Hardly useful as military, as stopping ower was nil, and capilar eect was realy bad (can't take water out of the bore easily once it is in)

 

[db_tanker]

either a 10 or 12 caliber Flea IIRC...


know a guy that is a TC nut who has one...I also seem to recall an Eichenberger Dart...thats the name...I think its a 12 caliber...


most of them I think are based off of a 25 ACP case or somthing similar in size.

I wouldn't imagine them being very exciting...after about 2 or 3 rounds you would have to swab the barrel due to fouling I would guess.

 

[Oldnamvet]

I wonder how they would clean something like that. A bore snake made of kite string? Dental floss? A cleaning rod would seem to be too thin to be strong/stiff enough to push a patch/piece of lint through the barrel.

PS. dbtanker. Typo. Isn't your K-31 Swiss? Not Swede?

 

[halvey]

They guy making the custom accessories and bullets for the .14 also makes them for the .10.

I read that article about the .14-221 and while interesting, what do you really gain? You have an expensive custom gun with custom expensive dies and accessories. If you are concerned about 'report', then get a .221 fireball or .17 Rem. or geeze, even a .22 LR.

That said, I'm glad there's guys out there who want to experiment on this stuff. If not, we wouldn't have all the wildcats of yesterday that are now standardized cartridges.

 

[db_tanker]

DOH...

Your right Vet.