Was bored after coffe this morning.... dug this thing out of the back of the safe... was my great gran dads made in 1941 from the serial # When I acquired it at 16 years of age it was equipped with a weaver 330 with mega fine cross hairs and a target dot it was sitting in vertical 3/4” in vertical steel rings (two flatheads holding each ring together. It sat on a one piece redfield base with redfield stamped on the base (I know to some this kills the collector value of this rifle ) rear sight is missing (nice blank in its place) front sight is a redfield with a brass bar almost (has redfield stamped on the sight itself ) the old weaver cane off years ago and it now has a gloss vari x 11 on it after dusting it off and digging out a box of Remington 45 gr hollow points I eased out to my shooting bench in my back yard placed a target down range and waited for a little shooting light.... shot it five times over 5 minutes or so....... went down range (100 yard set up) pulled a quarter out of my pocket covered up the group with a little room to spare..... I’m still amazed by this old rifle and I’m sure my great gran dad is grinning as I type this

Let's see some galldamn pictures

Yes! Pictures or this is nothing but a fish story.

lol since I have hell posting pics here if anyone wants to post pics here Pm me with your cell # and I will be glad to forward as many pics of the rifle as you like Target has been discarded but I can always shoot another group as I described 🙂 But all kidding aside I don’t mind getting some pics to the thread Doing all this off an old iPhone 8 Will try to post some pics but if I can’t Feel free to Pm me and I can take and text ya some pics

Lucky Dog, nice rifle to inherit...

I'd love to have one of those, but to admit seems about as useful as bikini on a bull! Action more than a 'bit' oversized. That said I do have its progenitor, the Model 54, all original in "Standard Rifle" configuration. Acquisition, more fact of pristine and the right price at the right time rather than seeking all my life!
Incidentally, for the record, era correct receiver sights known to be supplied by the Factory, utilizing only the correct factory holes, ARE considered factory original. Particularly If logical. That means on a Hornet, likely. On a fifties era .458 Win Mag... Likely not!

Pix below!
Best!
John

Thats a nice rifle.
My buddy had a couple model 70 hornets, they had been re chambered to .222.
After his death I met a gentleman who acquired one.
He started telling me about the rifle and I told him it had been rechambered. He wondered how I knew

Missed a M 70 22 Hornet std target model last year. Went for 5500 +20% BP

Congrats on that heirloom, fun little rifles, mine is iirc a '48 year model, i loaded it for max effectiveness the first couple hundred rounds with 45gr tsx at 2922 fps over lil-gun powder with cci-450 mag primers in new WW brass, that little load was a burner, i used it one morning on an 88 yard coyote pestering a cow down trying to calve, i dont know if he was waiting for the sack or wanted the whole calf, nevertheless, that 45gr tsx entering his chest and exiting about 2" off dead center nutbag cured his menu concerns, he never even twitched.

I load it now with the same 13gr lil-gun under the 45 and 46gr soft point bullets for the Hornet, one being a flat nosed bullet, great fun and accuracy for easy 200 yard pest control through the old M8-4X.

Gunner:
Ihave the similar standard M-54 with a Griffin &Howe sidemount-Lyman Alaskan rig.
The little hornet was used to neck shot on a white tail decades ago.
It came to me from the same uncle. Family rifle. I use 45 gr SPs with a Lee rig.

The last coyote killed here was with a neck shot from a 450 Alaskan.
Before that, chest shot to one in a creek with an 1885 HiWall in 45-60.
He did'nt suffer.

Good stuff to know 450, i always figured the little Hornet with 45gr tsx would be a fine deer killer, but the gestapo f&g department bureaucrats seem to think it takes 55 grains!

I had a Pre-war Winchester Model 70 Carbine in 22 Hornet. With the period scope on it, I couldn't hardly shoot it past 100 yards, so I sold it. The first thing you want to check with those older Hornets, is to see that it hasn't been opened to a "K" Hornet...

I have a M54 Hornet with 8x Lyman Targetspot, re-chambered to K-Hornet by Lyle Kilbourne inventor of the K chambering, and have been keeping one eye peeled for a pre-war M70 Hornet to go with it. I don't mind the re-chambering as it's a viable alteration but more importantly makes them affordable for me. That M54 is a shooter's shooter, and I still owe a debt of gratitude to Digital Dan for selling it to me!

I have a .22 Hornet M 70 prewar 20" barrel I got dirt cheap @ $30, as rechambered to .222 Rem. It bears the integral front sight ramp confirming its early rifle origins. Conjuring perhaps a rebore in chambering to taste as also compatible with donor action bolt face.

Unassociated caution: In scoping any of the earlier rifle w/receiver sight installed combos, beware a large potential problem. The stock necessarily "inlettied" to accommodate such installation; displaced by scope, resulting in unsightly stock scars... A matter to be reckoned with! That's why many instances, seeing such rifles with scopes, as yet retaining the base half of the receiver sight yet attached. Not a happy compromise but looking better than 'naked' scar!

On that note...
Best!
John

very nice

Nah. The simple expedient from 90 years ago until now is to leave the sight base in place and insert a slide blank into it when the slide is removed for scope clearance. Lyman used to sell them for a couple bucks and they turn up on eBay now and then but cost more than a couple bucks though. A late buddy made me a couple of them a few years ago, I wish he was around to make a couple more. Just don't lose the sight slide while you have it off!

That is BEAUTIFUL! The rifle is great but to have the boxes for the Lyman Alaskan and Stith mounts too? Wow!