Some of you might remember how many posts I had regarding the Humble little Hornet . I could simply not find a very accurate load in this cartridge . After using the small pistol primer , things greatly improved , but not exactly what I wanted . Groups improved to just over .5" but still after many hours spent behind the bench. I then decided to have it rechambered to K Hornet . To my surprise I got more than what I expected . Out of 15 loadings I tried in the good looking little fella , I got an average of under .5" with all the loads I tried in tis rifle. The best groups running to a "perfect" .354" at a 100 m speeding a 35 gr V-max at 3050 fps ( yes I know it is a bit on the slow side but we only have one powder to work with ) It is very close to the W296 & IMR 4227 you guys have. So if at all I can give advice to Hornet owners , dont even think twice about rechambereing.

Regards from a very happy new K Hornet owner
Rudie

Heavens YES. Rudie I'll quickly second your support for converting the .22 Hornet to the K version! This is one of the most dramatic conversions a shooter can make and pound for pound, I doubt if there is an "improved cartridge" around that will give you a greater return for the effort.

I got my Hornet many years ago and it was already converted to the K version. What the rifle's history was before that I have no idea. It may have fired a million rounds before I got it, but it looked in excellent shape and always performed flawlessly....although mine was never terribly accurate. 1.5" group at 100 yards was about all it wanted to ever do. But it was one of the most enjoyable and lethal little rifles I have ever hunted with. It brings a tear to my eye this day to think I don't have that little darling anymore.

Is your barrel .223 or .224? This is an issue with some hornets as you will find both.

Anyway, delighted at your good report!

I've always been reluctant to K my Hornet, 'cause the little beast (an old-ish Savage 340) shoots sub-MOA with 40-gr BlitzKings or V-Max at 2950 fps with W296 -- and quite honestly, that's as good as I can shoot!

However, your report has me rubbing my chin (metaphorically) and wondering if ...........

Thanks

Bruce

Hi people,
one more 22K-Hornet beliver is with you, even if waiting to convert my rifle.
I' solving some trouble in converting an Anschutz Mod.1433.
On Saturday a friend of mine, expert and keen of craftmanship, begun the conversion planning all the activities, it seemed to us very simple, having to build a tool to turn manually the finisher reamer.
We took all measures, mainly of the bolt, and discussed about the possibility in take off the barrel. It seemed also all right, when ... I had a doubt: the barrel looked to me out of center compared to the bolt.
Well, Massimo, my friend took a calibrated steel barrel, and turned it to 7.5mm, and when we put it in, the chamber was out of center. Minimum 2mm.
Beeing the diameter of the bolt 16mm and the diameter of the reamer of 11mm, a 2/3mm of out of axle, make us have an insufficient space for the turning tool that we have planned.
And also with a more slim tool, it could be that we are out of center of the chamber.
For this reason today Massimo will bring the finisher to a friend of him to work it with special tools, making it more slim in the not cutting part. Then we will build a 11mm of diameter turning tool, and then ....
I hope to finish the work within Saturday, to test it on Sunday, and make you have some feedback on next Monday.

I won't guarantee anyone doing the "K thing" to a standard .22 Hornet will do wonders for your accuracy in the original rifle. (Most likely it won't have much impact good or bad in this department is my guess.) But what I can guarantee you is a great performance boost.

With the lighter bullets, the K Hornet is just about on par with the .222 Remington. Only noise is still down in the Hornet range.

My old K Hornet had 24 inch barrel and didn't make much more noise than .22 LR. In fact, many times I would jump multiple rabbits, shoot one and the others would stand around not even understanding they were under fire! But the K Hornet took no prisoners! It's a bad to the bone little varmit cartridge.

Hi Guys

Pecos45 to answer your question , I am sorry I never mentioned the make , and model of this new varmint eater. It is a CZ model 527 , I bedded the whole thing from front to back ( We dont realy have dramatic climate changes in my neck of the woods) . The gunsmith I took the rifle to checked the rifling for me , and assured me it's a .224 I also dont think the new rifles come out with .223 diameter tubes any more. Oh yes one thing I forgot to ask. I am currently using some old Sellior & Bellot brass I had laying around. Is it true that the Winchester brass has more case capacity.
We only have S&B , Sako and Winchester available to us.

Regards
Rudie

Rudie, I think you're right that the .223 bore hornets were the "older rifles." I don't think any of that bore have been built for years now.

As for the brass and case capacity...I don't know. I never measured it. Mostly I used whatever brass did the best job of fire forming. And I THINK most of my brass was WW.

If my feeble memory serves me correctly, it seems like my best powder in the Hornet was Hercules 2400. Have you tried any of it?

Also, I got into bullet swagging about the time I had my Hornet and I made a VICIOUS looking hollow point bullet that just took varmits apart. I made these down to as light as 26 grains just to see how they would do. Even these extra light bullets seemed to do OK...but my normal make was around 35 - 40 grains. Wts would vary with batches. Devastating on rabbits. The rabbits and crows were very happy when I sold that gun.

The k-Hornet is a great "dual purpose" cartridge, large enough case capacity to be an honest 200 yard varmit round with jacketed bullets, and still small enough to be a fantastic cast bullet shooter out to at least 150 yards. I probably have shot 50 cast bullets for every jacketed slug out of mine, but that extra capacity allows for the use of a Lyman 55 gr fngc at over 2200fps ant that beats the hell out of the .22WMR at less than 1/3 the cost.

Unfortunately I cant seem to get any imported powders any more. No one wants to go through the extra trouble anymore. I would have loved to try some of the new lilgun powder going around. I will just have to stick with the only local powder I have got to work with

Regards
Rudie

Hey I too am a K-Hornet fan. I have an 18" Contender carbine barrel made up by Mike Bellm. After trying a lot of different loads, I settled on a small rifle primer, 11.0 grains of Alliant 2400 and the Nosler 40 grain Ballistic Tip. It easily shoots in the 1/2 minute range at 2700 f/s.

Last weekend my partner and I went up to Wyoming for a prairie dog shoot. It was one of those rare Wyoming weekends when the wind didn't blow. In this case the K-Hornet was just the ticket. Believe it or not, I was getting solid hits well beyond 200 yds. And they say the Hornet is a 135 yd rifle - - Hah!!! In fact I shot better with the Hornet than with a Remington 700 Varmint Special in a 223.

Sometimes small is just fine

Don Shearer

Dammn....I think that I have to wait my return from holydays to have the work done. I hoped to bring with me rifle and reloading equipment during my holydays....... When I'll be back the range will be closed for works,in August a lot of activities, sporting too are closed for holydays....... ooohhh well I'll go in some free from people area and I'll try it before go to shot to pests.
bye

Glad to see we have another would be K Hornet user joining the club. Good luck , and I hope you get the same results as I did ,cause it was nothing short of amazing. The weekend is coming up soon , and we got a nice place to go try the new found love on some Dassies . I simply cant wait to see what the 35 gr V-maxes will do to the critters. One more question , and I know this is a difficult one to answer.... here it goes . The powder I am working with has great pottential , but has too much of a bulk density . I am currently craming in 13.5 gr ( 3143 fps ) using 35 gr V-Maxes , these show absolutely not even the slightest ammount of pressure . What brass would you suggest I use .... just for that extra bit of powder in there

Regards
Rudie

Rudie, it's been so long since I played with a K Hornet that I can't honestly tell you. I think generally Remington brass had the highest case capacity. But don't quote me on that. You may not want to try to blow the doors off each round anyway just to extend case life a little. I'm sure you nor your victims will notice the difference if you throttle back just a tab.

<Voice of moderation talking to you here. >

Even with moderation in mind this is still a great little cartridge .... for its intended purpose . I never use full house loads in any of my rifles , accuracy simply falls off once you reach max loads in my own experience, I was just kind a curios to see what I can squeeze out of her just for the fun of it . But thanks for the advice Pecos45 , I will stay with the 13gr S265 load at just a tad over 3000 fps, this is quite a moderate load.

Regards
Rudie