Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Browning Low wall 22Hornet

Have a Browning 1885 in 22 Hornet(1995 mfg). What is the bore size, groove size? I need to order a pilot for my reamer.
Thanks

I have owned several of those 1990s era Browning Low wall Hornet over the years. They struck me as having rimfire dimensioned barrels (tight bore with 1-16" twists). They were ALL very accurate when properly hand loaded for.

The only way you are going to know for sure is either slug the bore or at the very least use a precise set of pin gauges to find the true bore diameter for the pilot you need.

Thanks jk16.

I’ve had mine since about 2000. Never slugged it, but it shoots standard .224 bullets very well indeed. I doubt any factory rifles were made with the old bore sizes since WWII. AFIK the twist is the standard 1-16, but at least one article I read reported very good accuracy with a 50gr bullet. Heaviest I use is a 46gr Speer FP.

Probably my favorite rifle, all things considered. Accurate, and fun and cheap to shoot. I use a Lee collet die and sometimes a regular Lee Loader. Don’t even own a FLS die.

The Browning Low Wall in .22 Hornet is the best Hornet I've seen, as far as accuracy.

I foolishly allowed a friend to buy mine. It took me a day to regret the sale.

Please tell me you aren't going to alter the chamber, except, maybe, to K-Hornet!

Yep, going to be a "K". New pilot .2166 just arrived. Will get after it tomorrow.

Dang it, looks like I'll be on the lookout for a replacement Low Wall.

Mine shoots so well as-is I won’t futz around trying to improve it. I have a lot of brass, and some has been fired four times sized with a Lee collet die. I have a .223 if I need more speed, in fact my latest concoction is a Speer 46gr flat-point over a starting load of H110 w/SP primers. That’s plenty for my use, shoots very well, and the bullets are cheap, less than $11 last time I ordered from Midway. Lets me save my VMs for my 5.7.

My Browning low wall Hornet is a great rifle. Shoots 40 gr Hornady Vmax bullets with Lil Gun very well.
Very reliable rifle with very nice wood. I don’t know anyone with one that has had problems with its accuracy. I thought about reaming it to K-Hornet but it shoots too well the way it is.

ss336- nice wood! Has it been refinished?

Yes, the original finish was very dark and bowling ball shiny. Now it has a nice oil finish that has a warm glow. 😎

Very nice indeed, ss336! That is going to be my next winter project.

I’ve had one and it was quite accurate, but my Anschutz 1730 beats it in accuracy.

One thing I eventually decided, after considerable experience with both standard and K-Hornets, is rechambering has little to do with the accuracy--as in "headspacing on the shoulder." Supposedly this is superior, somehow, to headspacing on the rim--yet there have been a BUNCH of very accurate rimmed cartridges over the years.

Instead I am convinced it's due to the tapered case, which tends to allow the case to tilt as its being pulled back over the typical expander-ball in standard dies, often resulting in a neck out of line with the case. When I have neck-sized fired .22 Hornet brass STRAIGHT, with various techniques and dies, the accuracy has been excellent due to far less bullet misalignment. The best example was a Ruger No. 1B I foolishly sold a few years ago, which would consistently put five shots under 1/2" with neck-sized cases. All the straighter-walled K-Hornet does is not allow the case to to tilt as much when being pulled over the expanded die, resulting in straighter necks--and hence better-aligned bullets.

The same thing happened with the converted BSA target rifle, converted from .22 rimfire, which I eventually bought to replace the Ruger. And yes, that was with .224" bullets in the "undersized" rimfire bore.

The velocity gained with the K-Hornet is minimal, and as a result I quit bothering with 'em--partly because rechambering usually results in lower re-sale value.

I decided the same thing very early, probably because I had such good results once I started loading my own with the collet dies. The extra velocity wasn’t needed, nor the extra work and expense. Even back in 2000 factory ammo was pretty expensive, and neither the Winchester nor the Hornady 35gr VMax very accurate in my LW.

I was really surprised when you sold that No.1. Thought sure it was a keeper…..

Sold it because I was using my CZ 527 in .17 Hornady Hornet a LOT more for the same purposes, primarily Richardson's ground squirrel and black-tailed prairie dog shooting, and found the .17 Hornet far superior.

But eventually discovered I still had a thing for the .22 Hornet, and am now on my second post-No. 1 rifle. The first was a BSA .22 target rifle on the small Martini single-shot action that had been converted to the .22 Hornet. It shot great, but about a year and a half ago ended up with an Anschutz bolt rifle. It shoots very well too--of course! So I sold the BSA Martini....

Thanks to all that replied to my post. I wanted my LW to be a "K", to go along with my 22" K Hornet Contender by Bullberry. Fireform loads shoot great, no case trimming to worry about, and it just plane looks cool. Will be shooting some fireform loads in the next few weeks. Time will tell if it was the right decision or not. We will see....

Nice rifle ss336

I eventually found a #1B in .218 Bee, with primo wood. Ruger apparently used 1 in 14" twist barrels, and it will stabilize 50gr boat tail bullets. It shoots extremely well. Brass is hard to find, but I have managed to squirrel away a few hundred cases, in recent years.

Thanks Bugger.

Definitely. The rifle is beautiful. LOVE the wood on it, great job refinishing it. I never see rifles like this (never mind condition, just the rifle type itself) in my area. I have looked for years at local shops and gun shows, no luck.