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What options do you have to build a 22 hornet? Been considering building one. Any opinions/recommendations?

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What I would do, maybe, is pick up a Ruger 77/22 hornet with the gray finished metal and laminated stock, set the barrel back enough to get a clean minimum spec chamber, then cut off whatever is beyond 20 inches.

The reason I said "maybe" is that the Ruger magazines won't handle the length of the 40 grain VMAX and Ballistic Tip so you have to single-load those. Of course, you don't HAVE to use the magazine. A buddy of mine from Colorado used a Ruger 77/22 hornet loaded with AA#9 under 50 grain VMAXes, single loaded, as one of his primary p-dog guns. Can't argue with results.

There are probably better rifles to start with but most of them use fugly cheap looking stamped metal magazines which stick out from the bottom of the gun. That's a look I just can't stand. I'd go with a single shot first. And, in fact, if you can find a Ruger #1 in .22 Hornet that'd be a good choice. Another good choice is a Thompson Center Contender carbine with an aftermarket barrel ... I like Bullberry.

I'd look really hard at K-Hornet instead of a standard hornet just to have it headspace on the shoulder, not the rim, hopefully improving case life a bit.


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A good single-shot action like the Ruger No. 1, Browning Low Wall or something similar. Don't have to dink around with getting the best bullets to fit in a magazine.

Case life is good with neck-sized brass from a SS or bolt, without the K-Hornet chamber, especially when using Li'l Gun, as pressures are much lower than with most other powders. My own No. 1B has shot well over 2000 loads of Li'l Gun and various 40-grain bullets and still groups them very well--and I'm still using some of the original brass fired in the rifle.

Had a T/C for a while but even factory loads stretched 1/3 of the cases too much for safe reloading. Of course that could have been the individual action's fault, but that's what happened.


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I have a factory Hornet in a Low Wall that is really nice.

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Have had mine for a year or so. Hope I didn't get taken at $600 and change. I like it a lot.

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CZ is front lug locking. That will give you an extra 100 fps over the Ruger rear locking bolt.


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Cheesy that is a beautiful rifle. Looks like it works too!


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Chessy, mine is exactly like that but w/a fixed 8X Lyman. Shot 800 rnds 13gr LG and a mix of 40 Varmageddons and VMax & Fed 205's @ gophers Memorial Day weekend. DBC'd the barrel before I left and didn't do anything till I came home. Plastic brush and Hoppes only and the groves & lands are as black as the day I DBC'd it, that stuff works. If I were going to spend the coin I would surely do another falling block single shot but on some sort of a high dollar action w/a good adjustable 1.5 # trigger and hammerless. The only things I don't really like about my WIN. LW are the crap stock (fit, checkering, that god awful huge Schnabel) and the trigger. BTW Cheesy were your factory scope blocks equal height above the center of the bore? Mine were .015" different and I had to shim the front one so the scope and/or barrel wouldn't bend when tightened and string 2 to 3" vert. Johnt, make sure you have some brass before you start your project, they are very hard to find right now. -Muddy

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Hornets are very well suited to ss actions. My fav is the 1885 and a close second is the ruger no 3. I bought a cz awhile back but haven't shot it much but it might be the one. I would maybe look at the rem 799 if you can find one.. I had a ruger 77 Horne for years bought one of the very first ones to hit the shelf. My son learned to shoot with it and I have since given it to him. It wasn't paticulary accurate but good enough for its effective range of 150 yds.. I don't think you would be disappointed with one as long as you don't expect it to be a 220 swift..

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Originally Posted by Cheesy
Have had mine for a year or so. Hope I didn't get taken at $600 and change. I like it a lot.


Take off the barrel, stock, and scope.
A usable 1885 action alone is worth $600.
I can modify the extractor to fit any cartridge.
The breech cut on the barrel is a pain, though.


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Originally Posted by Mule Deer
Case life is good with neck-sized brass from a SS or bolt

Man, it wasn't for me. Something was FUBAR with some of Ruger's heavy barrel 77/22 hornets at least for a while. The two I had cut case heads off at the web even with factory ammo. I'd get about 2 out of 10 with case head separations on the first firing and lose 2-3 more out of 10 during sizing. I started packing a pistol rod with a .357 brush to pull the busted cases out of the chamber.

In hind sight, I probably should have sent them back to Ruger. I was in a hurry for success, it was in the middle of varmint season, and I wanted to kill [bleep], not lose the rest of the season waiting for customer service, so I took them back to the store and swapped them for something else ... 700 LVSF in .221 Fireball if I remember right.

Tom


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Originally Posted by muddy22
Cheesy, mine is exactly like that but w/a fixed 8X Lyman. Shot 800 rnds 13gr LG and a mix of 40 Varmageddons and VMax & Fed 205's @ gophers Memorial Day weekend. .


I'm going to order some of those Varmageddons from Shooters Pro Shop and give a try. Using a 36grain (or 35? I don't remember) Hornady "Hornet" soft point with good groups out of it. Dad loaded up some 40 Ballistic Tips and said they were tumbling on him. He swears he tried the VMax as well, but I don't remember buying any. Lil Gun powder, not sure what primer he used.

Originally Posted by muddy22
If I were going to spend the coin I would surely do another falling block single shot but on some sort of a high dollar action w/a good adjustable 1.5 # trigger and hammerless. The only things I don't really like about my WIN. LW are the crap stock (fit, checkering, that god awful huge Schnabel) and the trigger.


My trigger isn't terrible, haven't put a scale to it, but I've been tempted to drop it off at Lee Shaver's (supposedly one of the top 1885 smiths/shooters around), he is 20 miles from me so it would be convenient, and have him go through it.

Originally Posted by muddy22

BTW Cheesy were your factory scope blocks equal height above the center of the bore? Mine were .015" different and I had to shim the front one so the scope and/or barrel wouldn't bend when tightened and string 2 to 3" vert. -Muddy


The bases I bought were Burris labeled, from what I've picked up their the same as the factory/Browning labeled ones. I don't recall a height issue. Hiding it from my wife so dad mounted the scope up and did the load work up, he said the rings I sent with him (standard Leupolds I had leftover from something else) wouldn't tighten down on the bases right. He had a set of rings from a cheap Tasco scope I had bought 20 years ago that worked fine though. I think I'll clean it up with either some Talley's or go all out with Conetrol or something like that.

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I've got or shot every Hornet thus far mentioned and some that ain't.

Pass the 77/22...setback,punched K-Hornet and lopped to 20". [bleep] 'Lil Gun and pass '296,headspaced shoulders,400's,a 32,33 or 35V-Max kiss and 3400fps+.

Have shot dozens of 'em so converted and they are easily THE pick of the litter.

Hint.

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If I had to do it, I'd build an Improved Hornet as Boxer suggested. Personally, I'd quit messing around with the hornet and build a .221 FB pushing 40's at 3500 on a Rem 700.

Last edited by Grand; 07/23/14.
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I'd be hard pressed to go FB on a 308 lengthed receiver...especially when 223/223AI brass is all but free. I'd be quick to use about 2.500" of the available 2.800" COAL and spin it 8".

The 77/22's beauty is in the modest length(when bobbed to 20"),mild mannerisms,eerie Precision and that spectacular Ruger OEM magazine.

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Couple Cadet's for me!
22H, 22K, 218 bee, 218 mash bee

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Originally Posted by johnt_ms
What options do you have to build a 22 hornet? Been considering building one. Any opinions/recommendations?


Course no-one has owned or shot as many 22 hornets as B,
but I've had a few follow me home.


Buy yourself a pre-enjoyed Cooper model 38

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whether in a 17 Ackley, 19 Calhoon or 22 Hornet

and don't look back.

You'll not be sorry.

Best,

GWB


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Ruger 77/22 or the cz 527 which is my fave.


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It is one of Life's more hilarious constants,that it takes but a single fact...to get a Texan Whining. Laffin'!

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I reckon I don't feel too compelled to apologize,for being afforded the luxury,of not being forced to guess. Though in fairness...the Texas Version of everything is [bleep] HILARIOUS!

Happiness is a Blued/Walnut Safe Queen,wearing windage adjustable rears. Nice to set 'em on the shelf now and again,so they can at least look out the window and see The Outdoors.

Laffin'!

Yet another of Life's hilarious constants is,them who Whine the most,"do" the least.

Bless your heart.

Good talk.

Laffin'!





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Every Hornet I've owned over the years but one was a single shot of some sort. One Winchester LoWall that started life as a Winder Musket and built by R.F.Sedgley, one Winchester HiWall that started life as a .25-20 Single Shot and re-built by myself, two small BSA Martinis, and a custom 1B 30 years ago. (The 1B was the least accurate of the bunch and didn't stick around long.) The lone bolt gun was an M2 Springfield which was also the only K-Hornet. My old man had a liking for his M340 Savage, but I could never warm up to it. My current Hornet pet is a pre-war German stalking rifle in 5.6x35R that is blissfully accurate with the 50 grain cast bullets I feed it.

There is a small Greener Martini next in line for a project makeover- might as well make another Hornet since I have around 1000 cases on hand now. ('Twas gonna be a .25-20 cast bullet shooter until I came up against the cold hard facts of life concerning .25-20 brass these days.) It's a takedown action so perhaps a second barrel chambered in .25 Hornet to give me my small .25 caliber fix.

To say I like small classic single shots in .22 Hornet is an understatement. And since I love experimenting with cast loads in them, I'm not too concerned about going the K-Hornet route as brass life is boringly long with the regular cases and low pressure loads. When I want to shoot 40-50 grain bullets at 3000 or so fps, I reach for the .22 Maximum Lovell Krag and be done with it.


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