Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing 22 Hornet to 22K Hornet

I just bought a Rem 799 mini mauser made by Zastava, in 22 Hornet, what is involved in making it into a 22 K Hornet?
Why did they bother to put a shoulder on the 22 Hornet?

BobnRoy:

I am NOT a gunsmith, but after 18 views without a reply, maybe my response will shame a gunsmith type to provide a definitive answer...

From the little I know, not much is involved to make it into a K-Hornet; I think just obtaining a K-Hornet reamer and the skills to use it correctly (I have neither). This based on a machinist guy I know who did one and he was quite happy with it.

It would be great in a Mini-Mauser (I do have one of those in .223) and I like it a lot.

Buckeye,
that is what I figure, and maybe set the barrel back a bit, At least that is what is needed to go from a 257R to a AI. After looking at the reloading tables there is not much of an advantage, you only get an increase in MV on some of the bullet selections from what I saw.
Ya when I asked about this rifle it got some bashing from ones that do not own the 798? and 799, but anyone that owned one that chimed in liked thiers, saw a used one at Cabelas in 375HH and looked, felt, and action was smooth, blueing was great. I would not think Rem would have put thier name on something that they did not set a decent QA level on.

BonRoy:

My comments are strictly my opinion (as noted); a good gunsmith can do it for you to make sure the head space issue is competently addressed. You're right there isn't much advantage re the Hornet vs. K Hornet...

Another [better?] non-wildcat chambering choice may be the 221 Fireball; more oomph than the Hornet and factory brass available.

My Zastava is a Charles Daly action that I had barreled to a .223; while the CD actions were finished better than the 799s, there is nothing wrong with their function and their size is the great thing.

I wouldn't worry too much re the "experts" on this board cause' a lot of em' aren't!

Was hoping a real gunsmith would chime in here to assist - the gunsmiths here DO know what they are talking about.

You shouldn't need to set the barrel back since the headspace will be controlled by the rim of the Hornet cartridge.

The best advantages to the K-Hornet are no more trimming really, greater case life, and less chance of collapsing those little buggers when reloading them.

I've had 2 rifles rechambered to K-Hornet. Accuracy improved in both.

I had a M1922M2 Springfield that was converted to .22 Hornet that I had re-chambered to K-Hornet. All it took was running a K-Hornet reamer in. Case life was improved (not that case life was bad with the regular Hornet), velocity gain of around 100 fps, accuracy the same. Probably wouldn't do over if given the choice. The main issue was firing pin breakage with that gun, so away it went eventually.

As others have said the advantage is in case life and not having to trim every loading. The ones I've done did seem to have a small accuracy improvement. I think because the K case is more efficient. It is a very easy job to do. I have a .22K Hornet reamer I will loan you if you decide to go that route.

Bob