With such a small selection of .223 bullets for older 22 hornet rifles, i was wondering if there are any .224 barrel liners available for older guns. I have a customer with Low Wall that was originally a .22 rimfire and some time past was chambered to .22 hornet. He wants to keep the original barrel for sentimental as well as cost reasons. I know you can get .223 liners in a 1-16 twist which theoretically would work, but limits the load selection i would think. It seems that most modern factory loads are in .224 bullet diameters.

Thanks for any thoughts.

I've had a couple older Hornets with the .223 bore. I used .223" and .224" bullets interchangeably. Both diameters worked equally well. My thought? .001" difference in a Hornet isn't anything to worry about.

what cragster said - there are lots of old 22 rimfires out there that were changed to hornets back in the prehistoric times (before 2010)

Those were kinda my initial thoughts, but I wanted to check and see what others thought so i could give an accurate recommendation to this guy. Thanks.

Well it's even better then that as it is only .0005" on a side.
Production bullets variance is about that much.

and depending on how old the rifle is it may have already worn that much too.

Old myths die hard.

Many of today's .22 Centerfire barrels are tighter than some of the ".223" barrels of older Hornets. Any of them can use .224" bullets, and often do better with very slightly oversized bullets.

Many Palma rifles use tight bore barrels. These are shooting the .308 Win and the bores go as small as .3065, though these days .307-.3075 is more common. No problems with pressure and these guns are incredibly accurate, capable of 10", ten shot groups at 1000yds and typically .3-.5" at 100.

I have a 1941 Savage Model 23D, which is a 223 bore. It actually prefers .224 bullets.

Jerry

Thanks again. I have always thought that a snug fit of BBL to bullet helped accuracy and didn't see a problem with this scenario. Good to know i'm not way off in the twighlight zone on this one.

Just so long as it not a .30-06 going down a .270
A little snug is fine