22lr to 22 Hornet conversion in a Contender

[ktw]

I have a little Contender Carbine (18" barrel) that my girls learned to shoot with. Now that they are older they prefer the full-sized 22's. I was knocking around some ideas with respect to re-working the gun for another use.

Rather than buying another barrel I was wondering what the pitfalls might be to simply re-chambering the existing 22lr barrel (1 in 16" twist) to a centerfire like the 22 Hornet. I'm currently not all that familiar with loading for any of the 22 centerfires. Do standard bore/groove dimensions vary significantly between the centerfires and the rimfires?

-ktw

[WILCO]

Interesting thread here: http://64.120.52.50/forums/index.php?topic=228736.0

The OP asks the same question.

T/C Website: http://www.tcarms.com/index.php

[leftiye]

.22 LR is supposed to have a .223" groove diameter. Hornet, 22wmr, and all high power 22s have a .224" groove diameter. Can still be done, rechamber, and extractor must be cut down and shaped. Actually extractor work is probly not even needed.

[kywoodwrkr]

I've got/have a project in mind doing something similar. I'll be trying to generate a 22 Harvey K-Chuk on a S&W frame.
I plan to use 22 Jet bullets in it if jacketed is in the plan.
They are somewhat smaller than the standard .224, being .222 I believe.
Also a jacketed bullet swaging die could be used for the very small amount of variance.
You had to remind me of this old 'round to-it' didn't you!:-)
Herters used to sell a twenty two converted to 22 hornet and it was actually unsafe-in my opinion. Bought one and returned it.
Evaluate bolt locking methodology.
FWIW

[drinks]

There are still some .223" bullets available for the prewar .22 Hornets which were .223"
The 1/16" twist would about require 40gr or lighter bullets, may be able to use 45 and 50gr, but likely will have keyholing with them.
The firing pin will require relocating, I am not familiar with the action, it may be simple to do and may be a bear.
Have fun, it is always fun to mess around with guns.
I am sure a .222 sizer of the Lee type could be used to swadge down a .224, really not much of a change in size.

[JeffinNZ]

Lots of BSA .22RF target rifles have been converted to .22WMR and .22 Hornet.

[ktw]

Thanks for the replies. The link provided by Wilco was particularly helpful.

The whole project would have to come in at 'cheaper than buying another barrel'. If I'm not in a rush and wait for a good deal on a reamer to come along that might be possible.

Hadn't thought about having to change the extractor. Thanks.



The firing pin will require relocating, I am not familiar with the action, it may be simple to do and may be a bear.

The action is a break-open single shot. In stock form it comes with two firing pins, user selectable on the hammer for rimfire or centerfire, depending on the type of barrel you choose to mount to the frame. That shouldn't be an issue in this case.

-ktw

[williamwaco]

I've got/have a project in mind doing something similar. I'll be trying to generate a 22 Harvey K-Chuk on a S&W frame.





DO NOT let this project fall off your top priority list. I once owned one ( K-22) chambered ( rechambered ) for the standard K-Hornet. It was the MOST FUN handgun I ever owned. I would give a pretty penny to have it back. Unfortunately it fell victim to the recession of the late '80s.

[williamwaco]

There are still some .223" bullets available for the prewar .22 Hornets which were .223"
. . .

I am sure a .222 sizer of the Lee type could be used to swadge down a .224, really not much of a change in size.




The only rifle I ever saw shoot a 0.00" three shot group at 100 yards was a prewar Winchester Model 54 chambered for .22 Hornet.
It was really a Frankengun. You wouldn't believe what Winchester had to do to that action and magazine box to make it handle that tiny cartridge in a space that was designed for the .30-06. But handle it it did. It feed flawlessly. And was one of the most accurate rifles I ever owned.

That group was fired in the late '50s. Even then, it was almost impossible to acquire .223 bullets, so I used the .224's. The tiny group was fired with a Hornady 40 grain .224 over 2400. ( I don't remember the charge. The group was so small that a single bullet slid into the opening touched all the way around. The outside diameter of the group measured 0.200 as close as I could measure with my "high precision" $3.99 vernier caliper. How many users here can read one?

( Oh yes, did I mention it was a pre-war 22 Hornet with a .223 bore and a.224 bullet. )

I fired at least three thousand of those bullets through that rifle. As far as I can remember I never found a .223 jacketed bullet. In those days it was possible to buy .22LR swaged bullets ( bullet only ). I bought 100 and fired about 10. They splattered all over the backstop so I tossed them into the Saeco pot.

That rifle can still take out a field mouse with a head shot at 100 yards today. I know where it is, I think I will try to buy it back.

Years later I acquired a .22LR (K-22) that had been converted to .22K Hornet. See immediately prior post. ( It never saw a .223 bullet either. )

[Mk42gunner]

I would think that it would be as simple as renting a chambering reamer and headspace guages. Is the extractor on a Contender anything like the ones on a Handi rifle?

Robert

[WILCO]

Thanks for the replies. The link provided by Wilco was particularly helpful.

Glad I could put something useful on the table. Keep us posted as to how you proceed.

[redneckdan]

Todd, just call up T/C. Another extractor is less than 10 bucks. Especially if you are shooting cast, a .223 instead of .224 bore is not going to matter. A reamer can be rented for 30 bucks, gauges for 8.



PS- wanna sell that 6mm BRP mould? It shoots very nice. :shock:

[ktw]

PS- wanna sell that 6mm BRP mould? It shoots very nice. :shock:

Sorry. Works good for me too. If I had a spare I'd pass one on, but I don't. If I had known BRP was going to close I would have ordered a spare. You can draw more out of my already-cast-up inventory for the time being if that will get you by.

If you can work up a group buy for the 45 2.1/BRP design in brass blocks I'd order another. I'm interested in comparing the dimensional/fit differences between the BRP mold I have and the NOE mold you ordered.

-ktw

[redneckdan]

Sorry. Works good for me too. If I had a spare I'd pass one on, but I don't. If I had known BRP was going to close I would have ordered a spare. You can draw more out of my already-cast-up inventory for the time being if that will get you by.

If you can work up a group buy for the 45 2.1/BRP design in brass blocks I'd order another. I'm interested in comparing the dimensional/fit differences between the BRP mold I have and the NOE mold you ordered.

-ktw

No worries, figured it was worth a shot. I have a 10 shot group at 100yds that can be covered with a quarter. This is out of a T/C pistol off a bipod.

[uscra112]

Pilot on a modern .22 Hornet reamer may be too big for the .22 rimfire bore. But otherwise it's a good project. I have a coupla period .22-3000 Lovells that used rimfire barrels, and they work just fine. Sierra still sells the .223 bullet, by the way.

Experience with my own Hornet 'tender caused me to ream it out to the K-Hornet case. I have .004 excess headspace on that barrel only. My other barrels are right, so shimming the firing pin bushing was not an option. The K case can headspace on the shoulder.

[leftiye]

You can lengthen your chamber with a chucking reamer. then cut a leade with a throating ramer.

You can modify a chucking reamer to have a pilot and simply lengthen your chamber (.244" reamer). You will then have to use a throating reamer on the leade/bore - unless you are able to further modify the original reamer with freebore/leade ahead of the chamber front step/ taper. This could actually be done with a toolpost grinder and careful hand cutting of the back relief, and sharpening.

[303Guy]

( Oh yes, did I mention it was a pre-war 22 Hornet with a .223 bore and a.224 bullet. )Yup. Not a problem. By the way, the 22lr bores are not all the same either. I have an oversized one lying around waiting to be converted into something. Either a lightweight single shot 22 Hornet or a 303-22. I already have a bolt action 22 Hornet and not only do I use 224 bullets in the 223 bore but I use 55gr spire points driven to 2700 plus fps. I get no case stretching and indefinate case life. This is on an action built to take the 222 Rem. Even so, some loading tricks are needed (starting with Lil'Gun powder). It also shoots 60gr spire points just as accurately. Funny thing is that it seems the K-Hornet cannot be driven as hard. Shape of the neck and case volume and compressing of the powder or something.

[Willbird]

My first pistol that fired fixed ammo was a 10" 22 hornet contender, octagon barrel. I graduated to a bull barrel. One thing about saami 22 hornet chambers is they are too large for the brass. Leading to short case life if you like to run the maximum loads. On my to-do list is a custom 22 hornet reamer made to fit the brass.


I ended up with a 7.5x adj objective IER scope on it to shoot 200 yard pistol matches, got some groups 3" to 4" at 200 yards for 10 rounds. Rules allowed a backrest type shooting chair, gun rested on your knees. The 1/14 twist will barely stabilize the 53 grain sierra BR bullet.

I thought a 22lr was .222 groove dia ?

Bill

[bearcove]

K-Hornet for longer case life.