Have been away from this site for months. Lots going on including some health issues. However, I am back with a new project to share. My .25 Hornet project.
The idea for this project started several years ago with an article in Handloader Magazine about a .25 Hornet in the Thompson Contender single shot pistol. My gunsmith and I talked this one over and decided it would be neat to have a rifle chambered in this cartridge. We were fascinated by the fact that this cartridge looks like a minature .45-90 or a scaled down .32-40. We started looking for a suitable action and decided to use the Uberti Baby Rolling block platform. This Baby Rolling block is a replica of the Remington #2 rolling block and is about 1/2 the size of the #1. This small action would make a perfect "buffalo gun" in minature using a minature "buffalo cartridge".
We decided that the easiest conversion would be to acquire one in .22 Hornet and simply reline it with a .25 caliber liner from Brownells (these are Redman liners). We ordered a reamer from JGS reamers in Coos Bay, Oregon. We contacted CH4D for the dies. We sent CH4D the reamer drawing from JGS and viola we had two sets of .25 Hornet dies. These dies run around $85.00 delivered and are of excellent quality. The people at both JGS and CH4D were super to deal with!!
Kept looking for a Uberti BRB on line (these are discontinued in .22 Hornet). Finally was the successful bidder on Gunbroker. The rifle arrived and my gunsmith immediately relined the barrel and chambered the liner in .25 Hornet. The Brownells liners are .250 bore and .257 Groove and have a 1-14" twist.
I have a .25-20, so I have lots of cast bullets for this caliber ranging from around 67gr to 90gr. Bullets that I have are 257420, 257463, 257464, and 257312. From the onset only cast bullets were to be used in this rifle. I worked up and shot dozens of loads using the above cast bullets.
As per the latest Speer reloading manual for the .22 Hornet, I used CCI 500 small pistol primers exclusively. These primers really smooth out the extreme spreads....making very uniform loads...with ESs running under 50fps.
The very best all around powder is Hogdgdon's Lil'Gun. Six grains with bullets over 80gr (velocity around 1600fps). Six to seven grains for bullets around 75gr (velocity in the 1700fps range). Eight grains for the 257420 bullet. Pressures are mild.
I just took a chance and bid on and got, at a very attractive price, 1000 257420 Hollow point bullets on Gunbroker. They were sized, gas checked and lubricated and appear to made from linotype!!! (Imagine the time it would take to cast these up using a single cavity HP mold!!!!). They weigh 67grains. With 8.0 grains of lil'gun they exit the muzzle at 1950fps with NO leading. They shoot less than 2" at 50 yards using the iron sights.
With this kind of performance, I decided that I needed to have a better sighting system. So I ordered one of the 6x Malcolm scope replicas from Midway. It is 18" long. My gunsmith mounted it on the Baby Rolling Block and I was in business for some serious shooting. The 67gr HP bullet, with the 6x Malcolm, will shoot under 1" at 50yds!!
I am planning on using it "buffalo (gopher) hunting" next spring on a nearby ranch where the gophers (ground squirrels) are overrunning the place.
Will enclose some pics later.
Bearmn56
Montana Territory