22 Hornet AI

[25 Sharps]

Just checked and you can buy them from Brownells UK.

So this goes back to my original point, you have to buy a reamer! That means the costs outweigh the benefits.

Brownells UK is still shipped from Brownells in the US so still importing.

 

[User00046]

I’m a bit lost, are you saying that the reamer could be bought in from the US?

Gave up on the veg this year, house renovation to finish off! Plenty of shooting to do but jealous of your rabbits, a bit thin on the ground here so I only shoot where they are on the crops.

Just checked with Clymer and they do not say that they will not sell you the reamers. Whether it would be any cheaper buying direct is unknown because postage can be very high from the USA. Unless it's Amazon.

 

[User00046]

So this goes back to my original point, you have to buy a reamer! That means the costs outweigh the benefits.

Brownells UK is still shipped from Brownells in the US so still importing.

But the yanks do it. They think nothing of converting to K hornet. It's still cheaper than paying £600 for a new barrel.
This local gunsmith I mentioned before, once told me when my CZ 550 in .243 Win. went off, shooting 3 inch groups, to scrap it because he didn't want it, and buy a Tikka from him. He swore by them.
Anyway I said stuff that. This rifle was extremely badly bedded. And, he said Savages were even worse. So I set about bedding the rifle myself. It was hard work because there was no info at the time on specifically doing a CZ 550. I took advice from GunBlu490 an old gun buff on the net and also the said local gunsmith.
I ballsed it up first time and had to gouge all the plastic metal out. But I persevered, although a ballsed up again with the dremel tool which I do not like. Caught the top edge of the stock with it a bit, and there is grey plastic metal to be seen around the top of the stock. But I went on a rifle course in Wales after, and the rifle was doing 1.5 inch groups shooting off a bipod. And, I was hitting the kill zone of the deer targets at 150 yards.
So I took it back to the gunsmith and had him shorten the barrel to 22 inches and bought a silencer off him. If I'd have followed the gunsmiths advice I would have been £800 out of pocket. There's more to this story but it will have to wait maybe on another post.
Currently that rifle is doing 11/16ths of an inch with Sako ordinary factory 100 grain ammo. A lot better than my mates .223 Tikka.

 

[Bowland blades]

To be fair to the op he was just asking for info about rechambering a .22 hornet to K Hornet, and wondering if anyone knew whether it could be done on a specific type of lathe.
I think he just wants to do it for the interest and challenge of doing it, and we have all been piling in suggesting he does something else. I’m as guilty as anyone by suggesting he buys a used .17 Hornet!!!
I hope he gets the info he needs and gets it done. The k hornet is surely as much of a challenge to shoot well as anything else and from what I have read, is a worthwhile step up from the Standard hornet. I’ve owned standard .22 hornets over the years but never a k hornet. I hope the op comes back and tells us what improvements reaming out a .22 hornet to K Hornet makes to the rifle he is looking to buy.

The K is of course just a std .22 hornet that has had a reamer down it to create the shoulder . Velocity is usually not as much a gain as stated in older books as few had good chronos until fairly recently. Old Data was taken from trajectories
that said if someone had a std hornet and it just doesn't shoot so well putting a K reamer into the existing barrel has corrected a few

 

[25 Sharps]

But the yanks do it. They think nothing of converting to K hornet. It's still cheaper than paying £600 for a new barrel.
This local gunsmith I mentioned before, once told me when my CZ 550 in .243 Win. went off, shooting 3 inch groups, to scrap it because he didn't want it, and buy a Tikka from him. He swore by them.
Anyway I said stuff that. This rifle was extremely badly bedded. And, he said Savages were even worse. So I set about bedding the rifle myself. It was hard work because there was no info at the time on specifically doing a CZ 550. I took advice from GunBlu490 an old gun buff on the net and also the said local gunsmith.
I ballsed it up first time and had to gouge all the plastic metal out. But I persevered, although a ballsed up again with the dremel tool which I do not like. Caught the top edge of the stock with it a bit, and there is grey plastic metal to be seen around the top of the stock. But I went on a rifle course in Wales after, and the rifle was doing 1.5 inch groups shooting off a bipod. And, I was hitting the kill zone of the deer targets at 150 yards.
So I took it back to the gunsmith and had him shorten the barrel to 22 inches and bought a silencer off him. If I'd have followed the gunsmiths advice I would have been £800 out of pocket. There's more to this story but it will have to wait maybe on another post.
Currently that rifle is doing 11/16ths of an inch with Sako ordinary factory 100 grain ammo. A lot better than my mates .223 Tikka.

I get all that (550s are great rifles, I have 2, though one has an after market barrel) but my point it there is a cost.

But UK smiths don’t like doing it’s so you are back to square one and doing it yourself. You have to import the reamer, say £2-300 with vat and postage. Dies, say £100 (I’ve got a set sat on the shelf) go-no go gauges. And it really doesn’t offer enough of a step up to warrant it over a standard hornet.

 

[kenbro]

Just checked and you can buy them from Brownells UK.

You can buy a reamer and go/no go gauges direct from PTG or Manson Reamers in USA.
If you do you have a chance of the parcel coming direct to you, or it might get snagged (My last on did a few weeks ago) by Customs and get tax and other costs applied.
My extra came to £50.67.
Best way is get a friend in US to send it over Asa used engineering tool with a value of $25.
Ken.
Ps. Total cost for Fireball reamer and a no go was £277.95.

 

[User00046]

You can buy a reamer and go/no go gauges direct from PTG or Manson Reamers in USA.
If you do you have a chance of the parcel coming direct to you, or it might get snagged (My last on did a few weeks ago) by Customs and get tax and other costs applied.
My extra came to £50.67.
Best way is get a friend in US to send it over Asa used engineering tool with a value of $25.
Ken.
Ps. Total cost for Fireball reamer and a no go was £277.95.

Thanks for that, But it will be Winter before I would do the work. And I've got the variation to get first. I might have to sell my CZ 511 in bits, because the two magazines I've got are worth more than I was offered for the rifle previously.

 

[User00046]

The K is of course just a std .22 hornet that has had a reamer down it to create the shoulder . Velocity is usually not as much a gain as stated in older books as few had good chronos until fairly recently. Old Data was taken from trajectories
that said if someone had a std hornet and it just doesn't shoot so well putting a K reamer into the existing barrel has corrected a few

According to my Lyman 50th edition reloading manual you gain about 160 ft/sec with a 45grn bullet.

 

[Bowland blades]

According to my Lyman 50th edition reloading manual you gain about 160 ft/sec with a 45grn bullet.

personally known 3 , one got ruined via a bad job and the other two shot pretty much the same in numbers . Of course a 45 grain shoots at around 2800 ( depending) taking it to 2960 is hardly noticeable . The conversion is worthwhile if you get a Hornet that wont shoot good as it "might" when the chamber is re-cut . There is some element of cost and risk in such a process though .
Speed though is however not a 22 Hornet thing ! Though its perfectly possible to run a std hornet very, very close to 3000 fps with 11-12.4 grains of lilgun single loading 40 grain v-max ( with a pretty good BC compared to the 35 v-vmax that will break that barrier as std ( But with such a terrible BC it wont mean a thing though on arrival ) . Its a shame these dont quite fit the CZ mag with reliable feeding as they are so easy to obtain and are frangible enough to do a good job at longer ranges
I no longer chase the extra performance from the 22 Hornet though , it is what it is and its not up to what 222 and 223 can do . At one time i really did and have a heck of a lot of load data from range testing and chrono readings, different brass prep , primers etc etc .
Today i am quite happy to drop loads into the case straight from the dispenser into a cheap PPU case then pop the bullets in and go shoot stuff . A far cry from where i have been with it in the past

 

[Hairysausagefingers]

I've got a .22 K Hornet and I bought it already reamed out.
My thoughts… it confused the firearms bods on variation and I ended up with K Hornet on the ticket plus sep ammo entries for std H and KH. It was protracted.
It's a pain fireforming brass if you need to do it in volume and have civilisation nearby.
Both std and KH really let you know when they don't like a load, so there's frustration on the horizon with both. Equally, in my experience, there's no doubt when they are happy.
Way less brass movement with the KH. Minimal trimming.
Fwiw I'm getting 3,150fps with 40gr Varmageddons and 13gr Lilgun in PPU brass. Fairly stiff but brass life seems okay. 1 in 12 twist.
Before anyone has a pop, that happened to be where the accuracy came together and wasn't me chasing velocity. Yes, I butchered a CZ mag to get them in. It (mostly) feeds okay.
Rabbits at 180yds the other night with 4 clicks elevation. Foxes… 150ish, then a bigger rifle to be honest. I prefer a good amount of overkill rather than searching for the entry hole.
I love it but it's primarily a precision bunny basher.
Would I bother reaming out a standard Hornet… no, not if I could get it to shoot okay to start with.

 

[Smellydog]

Before anyone has a pop,

Good on ya. Some would wet themselves.

 

[Hairysausagefingers]

That's made me smile

 

[User00046]

I've got a .22 K Hornet and I bought it already reamed out.
My thoughts… it confused the firearms bods on variation and I ended up with K Hornet on the ticket plus sep ammo entries for std H and KH. It was protracted.
It's a pain fireforming brass if you need to do it in volume and have civilisation nearby.
Both std and KH really let you know when they don't like a load, so there's frustration on the horizon with both. Equally, in my experience, there's no doubt when they are happy.
Way less brass movement with the KH. Minimal trimming.
Fwiw I'm getting 3,150fps with 40gr Varmageddons and 13gr Lilgun in PPU brass. Fairly stiff but brass life seems okay. 1 in 12 twist.
Before anyone has a pop, that happened to be where the accuracy came together and wasn't me chasing velocity. Yes, I butchered a CZ mag to get them in. It (mostly) feeds okay.
Rabbits at 180yds the other night with 4 clicks elevation. Foxes… 150ish, then a bigger rifle to be honest. I prefer a good amount of overkill rather than searching for the entry hole.
I love it but it's primarily a precision bunny basher.
Would I bother reaming out a standard Hornet… no, not if I could get it to shoot okay to start with.

I would be hoping for heads shots if I got an hornet. Would the rabbit be edible after the kill or would the bruising travel into the meat?

 

[Bo Diddley]

Would the rabbit be edible after the kill or would the bruising travel into the meat?

I shoot rabbits with my Hornet using 35Vmax reloads mostly, always headshots (never much of a head left), and you get some "blood shock" in the loins when you dress them out, never get that when I use my fac air rifle, lovely clean carcase when I use that.

 

[User00046]

I shoot rabbits with my Hornet using 35Vmax reloads mostly, always headshots (never much of a head left), and you get some "blood shock" in the loins when you dress them out, never get that when I use my fac air rifle, lovely clean carcase when I use that.

That might put me off getting an hornet then. Because I would want to sell the carcass, or give them to a mate who likes rabbits. I don't particularly like the smell of them, although I know a few people who do like them. I don't like wood pigeon either too livery.
Thanks for the info.
I suppose shooting a lyman lead bullet out of an hornet at reduced velocity would be asking for ricochets? Or a less destructive bullet you don't need overkill on an headshot. What about a 25-20 Winchester. They were a small game cartridge.

 

[Bo Diddley]

That might put me off getting an hornet then. Because I would want to sell the carcass, or give them to a mate who likes rabbits. I don't particularly like the smell of them, although I know a few people who do like them. I don't like wood pigeon either too livery.
Thanks for the info.
I suppose shooting a lyman lead bullet out of an hornet at reduced velocity would be asking for ricochets? Or a less destructive bullet you don't need overkill on an headshot. What about a 25-20 Winchester. They were a small game cartridge.

The loins are still perfectly edible, they just have a tinge of red/pink running through them, it's pretty much the only part of the rabbit I eat, cooked rustic Italian style, not every rabbit is affected either, none of the ones I head shoot with the air rifle are ever affected by this they are always lovely clean white flesh.
The rest of the meat is cooked for the dogs.
It may not be the same situation if you use something like a 40-grain SP instead of a Vmax bullet

 

[Smellydog]

If you use a traditional hornet bullet the rabbit will be fine.
You can get ricochet with any bullet.
I use to buy cheap S&B bullets for my hornet when collecting rabbits for sale.
45gn fmj and green dot powder iirc.

 

[NP435]

But the yanks do it. They think nothing of converting to K hornet. It's still cheaper than paying £600 for a new barrel.
This local gunsmith I mentioned before, once told me when my CZ 550 in .243 Win. went off, shooting 3 inch groups, to scrap it because he didn't want it, and buy a Tikka from him. He swore by them.
Anyway I said stuff that. This rifle was extremely badly bedded. And, he said Savages were even worse. So I set about bedding the rifle myself. It was hard work because there was no info at the time on specifically doing a CZ 550. I took advice from GunBlu490 an old gun buff on the net and also the said local gunsmith.
I ballsed it up first time and had to gouge all the plastic metal out. But I persevered, although a ballsed up again with the dremel tool which I do not like. Caught the top edge of the stock with it a bit, and there is grey plastic metal to be seen around the top of the stock. But I went on a rifle course in Wales after, and the rifle was doing 1.5 inch groups shooting off a bipod. And, I was hitting the kill zone of the deer targets at 150 yards.
So I took it back to the gunsmith and had him shorten the barrel to 22 inches and bought a silencer off him. If I'd have followed the gunsmiths advice I would have been £800 out of pocket. There's more to this story but it will have to wait maybe on another post.
Currently that rifle is doing 11/16ths of an inch with Sako ordinary factory 100 grain ammo. A lot better than my mates .223 Tikka.

I find the comment about Savages interesting, I own a few, none required reworking the bedding. All shoot very nice groups. My CZ550 has a laminate stock and as purchased accuracy was ok, not world class. Investigation found a barrel channel with lots of high spots some time sanding later no further contact with stock and barrel accuracy was superb. By the way what is plastic metal?

 

[User00046]

I find the comment about Savages interesting, I own a few, none required reworking the bedding. All shoot very nice groups. My CZ550 has a laminate stock and as purchased accuracy was ok, not world class. Investigation found a barrel channel with lots of high spots some time sanding later no further contact with stock and barrel accuracy was superb. By the way what is plastic metal?

I was only told this about Savage rifles by the local rifle smith. My CZ 550 had terrible bedding just a couple of spots of some sort of epoxy either side of the recoil lug. It was no good following any of the Youtube videos about Remington 700s etc. The CZ 550 is a lot harder to glass bed requiring a lot more aluminum Devcon, (plastic metal in days of yore). My CZ 550 is an American model. It was OK for a start.

 

[Hairysausagefingers]

A normal Hornetised rabbit has some mush where the head was and maybe a couple of bits of ear flapping about. If you want to eat them or pass them over to someone who does you really do have to go with headshots and tolerate some bruising.
That's assuming ultra thin jacketed stuff or V-Max equivalents.
Mine replaced a .17hmr, but if you want a pretty carcass the good old .22lr takes some beating.
I would say headshots at 125yds with the Hornet is what I aim for. I don't get them all, but I like the idea that a miss is a miss whereas just catching them normally results in a kill.
It is my favourite calibre to shoot but it drives me mad working up a load most of the time.