I just lucked into one of these. It is the Classic model with a straight stock. The serial number is H***. Does anyone know which "series" the H-serial numbers were a part of? Early, late, otherwise?

THANKS!

Stoney,

That would be the early production....."H" being for the Hornet cartridge. Pretty sure.

I have an S series 22 Hornet....hence, the HS*** serial number.

Kevin

hey i got one of them from steve hughes this spring.

I too own a Kimber Of Oregon Model 82 Series "S" Hornet. Mine has open sights also, and I bought it back in the 1980's.

quote:

Originally posted by Kevin Gullette:
Stoney,

That would be the early production....."H" being for the Hornet cartridge. Pretty sure.

I have an S series 22 Hornet....hence, the HS*** serial number.

Kevin

Thanks, Kevin. That was what I had been told, so this one must be among the first 1,000 or so (depending on what number they actually used as a starting point.) I will get a chance to shoot it this weekend. If it does as well as the M82 .22 Magnum I have, I will be very pleased.

Stonecreek, That would also be of the Shilen match barrels era. Several my partner had would shoot about .6 MOA. We were using W296 back then and the Nosler 45 grain Hornet solidbase bullet. Now I'd try the LiL Gun first. Great little rifles.

Thanks, 308Sako. I'll find out in the morning. Hope the wind will let me alone for a little while after sun up.

Well????

As luck would have it, I smashed my trigger finger in an electric gate mechanism and my shooting is suffering greatly. I did try the Kimber, but have had to use my middle finger on the trigger because the index finger is just too sore. (Nice to have a use for the middle finger other than "traffic management", though!)

The wind has also been pretty blustery, so the combination of using an unnatural finger on the trigger and gusting wind hasn't yet offered the little gun a fair test. Suffice it to say that I've found it definately does not like the 35 grain V-max loads that my Sako M78 shoots so well, and that is shows some promise with heavier bullets like a 45 grain Hornady and Sierra. Vertical stringing has been a problem with the 35 gr V-Max, but not so much with the heavier bullets. I switched from an unknown primer that was in some new cases to a WW WSR and found that my velocity swings went up and accuracy deteriorated, so my next step is to try a different primer with the same loads, and also a different powder. I've gotten a couple of three-shot groups in the .6" range and a couple of ragged 5-shot groups at about an inch, so I know it has the potential if I can just find the load that suits its tastes.

Maybe my finger will heal and the wind will die sometime in the next week so that I can narrow down to the "holy grail" load for this neat little rifle. Our group has scheduled a prairie dog trip for early July, so I'm humping to get it to shoot the way I want.

I too experienced vertical string with the 35's and it was worse with Lil Gun than any other powder. For that reason I only shoot 40's now.

WW680 was by far the best powder for every Hornet that I have owned. AA1680 did not deliver the same results, but I have had fair results with H110 and 2400. Am trying to find some W296 and give it a try.

Stonecreek, My best most recent results with the Hornet are with my BRNO and LiL Gun, but I only use CCi small pistol magnum primers Using the small rifle primers is just too much ignition for the small charges of relatively fast powder. I must say that the 35's should have done better for you.

I shall prayer for your finger. Broke my little toe today. SOB smarts some.

Good luck and good shooting.

I had pretty encouraging results yesterday evening with the Kimber. I'm still having to use the middle finger on the trigger, but at least the wind was leaving me alone yesterday. I fired just two five-shot groups, one with 13.5/AA1680, 45 gr HNDY .223" Spire using Fed 205s, and the other identical except using Sierra 45 Spitzer .224". The Hornady's went into .93" and the Sierras went into .60". I suspect that the slightly undersized bullet is the primary difference in the size of the groups. The scope is a Leupold Compact 2-7, which only has about 6.5X magnification at the top end. I would guess that using a 12X or 18X scope could shave about .10-.12" off of these groups.

I notice that the Kimber magazine is a tad longer than the magazine in either of my other two Hornets. I gave up on using 40gr Vmax or Ballistic Tips in those (even though they shot exceedingly well) simply because they could not be seated short enough for the magazines. I would like to try either bullet (or the corresponding Blitzking) in this gun, but my stock of them is depleted right now.

By the way, the Kimber trigger is so nice and crisp that using the less-sensative middle finger doesn't seem a big handicap. Teaching that middle finger to do something on it own other than traffic signals is very gratifying.

I did find some 40 grain V-Maxes to try out and they are outstanding. The Kimber magazine is just long enough to accomodate them, where my Sako M78 and Ruger 77/22H magazines are not.

The 40 grain VMax is going into nicely rounded groups of .4-.6" using 13.5 grains of AA1680 for 2725 fps with a standard deviation in the single digits. The only small pistol magnum primers I had on hand were some Winchesters, and both the groups and velocity deviations were larger with the SP primers than with Federal 205 SR primers. So I've settled on the Federal 205's.

I'm might be able to crowd more velocity out of this bullet with another powder, but I don't intend to use this gun past 200 yards on prairie dogs (and will have a .222 Magnum waiting in the wings when distances exceed that amount), so the velocity is plenty -- especially with it putting the bullets dependably where I want them.

quote:

... both the groups and velocity deviations were larger with the SP primers than with Federal 205 SR primers. So I've settled on the Federal 205's.

I'm glad you mentioned that - I use Fed 205's and can't find anything wrong with them but just wasn't sure I had the best there was (for the hornet).

quote:

I'm might be able to crowd more velocity out of this bullet with another powder, ...

I'm told 31000fps is a breeze with Lil'Gun and 40 grainers - if one is not shy to compress the stuff. And I mean really compress it! So much so, the powder is best compressed separately from seating to make sure the bullet stays put!

But in your case - if it aint broke then no need to fix it.

I have one of these as well, great little rifle. Anyone have any idea where I could find another mag for it? - dan

L and M enterprises sometimes has extra clips for these.
It will be spendy.