Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors What else can I do?

Like Calhoun said, a HP barrel has .220-.221 bore diameter, and grooves are typically .004 deep, x 2 (opposite each other) = .008, so there's the .228 groove diameter. Remember bore diameter = the naked smooth bore before the rifling grooves are cut. Groove diameter is what drives bullet diameter (at least with jacketed bullets).

Something's definitely rotten in Denmark here as no way should a .224 bullet drop through a .22HP barrel. I wish I could see this thing for myself! Hold off doing anything else until you get the bore cleaned as much as possible. It might end up that no .228 bullet of any weight or length will shoot ok out of it. If that's the case then it's either bye-bye gun barrel or go the custom bullet route.

.224 bulllet drops through - Could it a have been re-bored to a 22-.243 for 22-.250? I thnk the lands on a .243 are .237ish

243 is too long for the action, so almost surely not. It'd have been a single shot with massive work to the internals (Right, Loggah? ).

Another possible path forward.... rebore to 25-35.

What I meant was keeping the 22hp case but expand the case neck to take a .243 bullet. Re-bore the barrel and the neck portion of the chamber to accommodate a .243 bullet. I think .243 bullets run from about 55 grain to 120 or so. Maybe not possible? Like the discussion of making a 35-300.

Well, a 25-35 is a necked down 30-30. A 22HP is a necked down 25-35. It's possible somebody wildcatted it to a 243-22HP, but then the .228" bullets would slide right through.

Since a 22HP is a necked down 25-35, reboring to a 25-35 "should be" easy. Others can speak to difficulty of going from rimmed to rimless chamberings with the 99 internals. I have no experience in that.

What does a fired case neck measure on the outside? Might give a clue?

I went to the SAAMI website to compare case dimensions between the HP and .25-35. They list .25-35 but no HP so I couldn't do a direct comparison. But, since when I form HP's out of .25's the shoulder is so far back as to be not touched by the HP sizing die (those of you who've done this know what I'm saying, re: that kind of weird subtle "double shoulder" that gets left behind but which gets snapped out upon the first firing). That tells me that the the .25 has a longer neck and a tiny bit shorter shoulder than the HP, such that a .25-35 reamer wouldn't quite clean up a .22 HP chamber. I think because of that, Keith's idea of a 6mm High Power or a .25 High Power makes more sense. (Simply re-bore and ream the neck/throat, but boy-o-boy keep that scheit straight in line with the original chamber while doing it.

I don't know for a fact, I'm kinda thinking out loud here as I'm not where my reference books are that could give me the .22HP cartridge drawings.

Perhaps a better approach would be to ream/rifle the bore to 6mm, .25, or 6.5mm, and create a wildcat based on necking down a regular old .30-30. That would surely clean up the old chamber (don't call me Shirley). Maybe call it the .25 Savage M1899 Creedmoor.

Here you go Gary. Don't know how accrurate these are. Based on the drawing the shoulder of the 25-35 starts 0.020" below the start of the shoulder of the 22HP... hence the small part of the shoulder of the 25-35 that does not get worked by the 22HP sizier. Neck of 25-35 is longer than neck of 22HP. Also, if you do the math, the length of the 22HP shoulder is 0.218 and the 25-35 is 0.190. The shoulder of the 22HP ends at 1.616; the 25-35 at 1.568.

Additional Edit: Note that the shoulder of a 30-30 ends at 1.563 (compared to the 22HP 1.616), so a 30-30 reamer would not cleanup all of the 22HP chamber either. A 7-30 Waters' shoulder ends (start of neck) at 1.733", so it might be worth a closer look.

Thanks, Keith. My gut instinct was right- a .25-35 reamer won't clean up a .22HP chamber. .25 High Power Creedmoor anyone?!

Yep, won’t go. I’d suggest naming it the 25 Newton, but there probably already is such a thing.

Well, there was a .256 Newton, but it was a 6.5mm on the '06 case. A fearsome beast well ahead of its time.

Seems like 6.5x30-30AI would be a good choice. It's been done before, maybe not in 22HP convervsion. I know I sure like my contender in 7-30 waters, which is basicallhy a 7mmx30-30.

I think Bullberry make the 6.5 Bullberry and 6.5 Bullberry Improved, that I believe are 6.5x30-30 and 6.5x30-30AI and have load data available.

I sure like the way you fellers think.

OK, I understand the "real" barrel dimensions better now, thanx Calhoun, so I guess what I'm really gonna have to do is either find another 22 hp barrel(good luck with that idea). I kinda like the idea of a .243 bullet, like Keith suggested, but a problem would be suitable brass. What I'm getting from all this is that the 22 hp barrel is nfg, There is another idea, how about a 25-35? Thing is, I paid a lot for this gun, more than any of my others, and I can't, in good conscious sell it to somebody knowing it's basically unshootable.

Don't hit the panic button until you have the bore cleaned up as well as it can be.

Reference our discussion re: .25-35 conversion above. Changing the gun to .25-35 is a capital idea but would require a new barrel. (The existing rotor and cartridge guide would work ok for that too.) The other option in that regard would be a wildcat, as discussed above too. Either option wouldn't be cheap, but neither would it require a second mortgage on the house. If you end up going in either direction contact ctw here on the forum- he can fix you up.

Going with oversize bullets in the original bore, if it has usable rifling after it's finally cleaned, would be the cheapest route of all. But say goodbye to ever using factory ammo of any flavor.

You have brass that you fired in the rifle, take some measurements like CTW recommended so you can see what you are dealing with.

Who knows, I might have a 22HP barrel out there....

I just checked and yes I have a 22HP barrel with a great bore, outside lost it's blue a few decades ago.

Is it period correct? Interrupted 1/4 turn threads? got any pictures? Most important...what do you need to get for it? leave me a message, thanx

Maybe push a lead sinker through the bore and measure it when it pops out. It sure sounds like you have a 6mm rebore. Then get CTW to spin you up a new 219 zipper barrel for it. Use the same brass with .224 pills