Greetings,
I've been thinking about adding another .22 Hornet to the collection lately, and converting the Ruger 77/22VHZ into a K-Hornet. Now, it seems the .19 Calhoon conversion kit has caught my eye, and by golly I don't have anything in .19 in the cupboard! Have any of you folks had any experience or exposure to this conversion kit and it's performance, versus conversion to .22 K-Hornet?
Many thanks & Happy Holidays,
George.

just when i figure i know what i want, you go and post something like this...why do i even bother...

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When in doubt, do a nuclear strike.

Do you have a barrel vise and action wrench, to take them apart? Also,where do you get a kit like you are talking about? How will you correct headspace if it is wrong? My thought is just have a competent gunsmith do the work. Mark

I got interested in this stuff from an ad in Small Caliber News. I looked up the website, www.jamescalhoon.com to find out more about it. It looks like the barrel has to be threaded & installed by a gunsmith, and it's certainly more expensive than rechambering to .22 K-Hornet. They offer a "kit" for the Ruger 77/Hornet, which includes dies, cleaning rods, and a supply of bullets of which you choose what weight you'd like. Other than that, and prices, I don't know the rifling twist or anything. I'm just thinking, though, it might be fun to have something a little different... so long as it works, of course!
George.

[This message has been edited by George Capriola (edited 12-16-2001).]

Go for it George! This one fun and unique cartridge. Mine is built on a Browning Micro Medallion, and is one of my favorite 'truck' guns. The barrel is a Pac-Nor #1 contour finished at 23". I normally shoot the 27 grain bullet at over 3700 fps with N-120 powder, and last time out to check zero it averaged .4" at 100 for several 5-shot groups, and shot a 3-shot group of .8" at 300 yards. The thing is devastating on prairie dogs and the like.

I did take one coyote with it using the 32 grain bullet at 3400 fps. While one example does not say much, he went right down. Case forming is a no brainer, and since Calhoon designed both the reamer and the die specs, they are a perfect match, something not often found as you know.

The reamer is cut with a .294" base diameter so the cases don't bulge as do many hornet-based wildcats do. Most reamers are cut to the old SAAMI brass specs which don't work well with today's brass. The cartridge iself is much like the 17 Ackley Hornet, but with a longer body and shorter neck for max capacity.

If you need more info or would like some pics, let me know.

BTW, Calhoon is in the working on offering complete rifles based on the Ruger bolt action

Dan C