Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Super Redhawk Hornet

I just noticed Ruger is now making a Redhawk in 22 Hornet. It’s an 8 shot. I have the 44 mag from them and would consider the Hornet. I don’t need it for any other reason than to have fun with.

What’s attractive to me is the possibility of reaming out the drum to 22 K Hornet. I have a Cooper model 38 rifle in that cartridge and all of the reloading stuff to go along with it so it wouldn’t be like starting fresh. Have any of you heard of such a conversion before? It seems simple to me but maybe it’s not?

Thinking a .22 Hornet revolver will not generate adequate interest to sustain production long term. If I were into that sort of thing, I'd buy one and put it on a shelf.

As far as reaming it to K-Hornet goes....I don't see how you'd exploit the modest gain in performance with a revolver-length barrel and a revolver's practical range limitations, but I would not be one to dissuade anyone from a gun project on a practical basis. Go for it and report back to us.

It's been done before, my cousin has a K-22 that someone had converted to K-Hornet before he got hold of it. I doubt he's shot it much, but he was pretty tickled with it when he got it, as the K-Hornets cases don't slip backwards out of the chamber like the old .22 Jet used to. It was, I think, one of the more popular conversions back in the 1960s, but only amongst the really hardcore experimenters back then.

K-Hornet is a big improvement over the OEM version. I punched out a CZ 527 and a Contender. Did it myself, very carefully until empties from one would chamber in the other. And that was my first rodeo. Rented the reamer, Go/No-go gauges.

I have a Smith .22 Jet, so don’t really need or want a K revolver, although that big Ruger looks cool. And going K version would be an upgrade, IMO.

I’d get that job done professionally.

DF

Most people looking for Ruger revolver probably do not know what .22 Hornet is. It would be smarter of them to offer SP101 or GP100 in .22 WMR.

Just had a thought (dangerous for a Loony).

What if I got a .22 mag or LR cylinder for my Smith Jet and had it bored to K-Hornet. That would be a better round than the Jet.

And that gun has a lever on the hammer to go between rim and center fire.

Now, do I really want to go to that much trouble??

DF

Edited to add, a Google search shows the M-53 Jet barrel diameter to be .222. I don't know what the 9 shot Super Blackhawk diameter to be, would guess .224. They don't specify in their data.

My Contender and CZ 527 are .224. I load .223 bullets in the Jet. So I don't want my K-Hornet loads to be a combo of .223 and .224, so maybe not a good idea. Just a passing Loony brain fart.

Look up the 22 Harvey Kchuck. It was a hornet based wildcat used in converted K22s with the length and taper adjusted to fit the cylinder and deal with back thrust issues.

I saw that.

The Jet back thrust is manageable if you keep the chambers really dry, no oil; like swab them with acetone, etc. And, don't load them to the absolute max.

The Jet seemed like a good idea at the time, but one that didn't stand the test of time. It's more of a curiosity than a really solid concept. If they had shaped the ctg case differently with less slope, it may have functioned better.

DF