long lee adapted/converted to 22 hornet

[blackbahart]

I acquired a project long lee (dated 1893) that has had the barrel replaced to a 22lr and chambered to 22 hornet .It has a cast aluminium adaptor floor plate assembly .
It was started probably 20+ years before I received it about 5 years ago after the fellows passing ,so decided it would be time to look at art again .Rounded up the missing parts and got it to feed, fire, extract and eject .Once thats was all accomplished , I altered it a bit further as it is a bits gun anyways .
Have an old Medford sporterized stock set in the shed and changed the bolt body also to one with a safety as there is no provision on the action for one being from 1893 and not a fan of the rear sight so made up a base and adaptor plate to attach a Lyman peep sight
Sighted it in and it groups just under 1/2" at 50 yards so the sight does work repeatably
here are some pics
266685266686266687266688266689

[Mk42gunner]

So you're saying this is a repeater, or am I misreading? I thought most of these conversions were single shot.

Interested in the conversion either way.

½" at 50 yards sounds pretty good to me. You might want to hunt around for some of the older .223" Hornet jacketed bullets, I don't know if anybody still makes them or not.

Robert

[blackbahart]

yes it is magazine fed from a savage hornet 322 mag and uses the original mag release in the trigger guard .
So yes repeater
here a few more pics of the bolt face it is recessed to capture the rim ,the mag I had to mod to feed round nose bullets as it was pushing them under the chamber and the ejection spring that lines up with the cut in the side of the bolt head and flings the empties into the tall grass
266703266704266705

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I'm impressed....that's quite a conversion, and obviously a lot of thought and time went into making it work. I read the first post and description, and thought to myself "We really need some photos of the magazine and bolt face", continued down through the thread, and there they were. Good job. I can see in the last photo what you described in the first post as being "a cast aluminum adaptor floor plate assembly", and I'm wondering is that a one of a kind or did someone produce them? I once owned one of the No.2 conversions of the No.1 Mk. III to .22 L.R., and in addition to having been re-barreled to .22 the original 10 rd. magazine was converted to hold and feed the .22 rounds-- quite a different approach from your rifle. I'm wondering why you changed stocks, as they seem to be the same basic thing? Maybe the inletting?

[blackbahart]

the mag adaptor appears to be commercial cast as I have seen a couple more in pictures but not in real life .
there is no real good reason for changing the stock set other than having the one that is now on it is actually for the long lee and doesn't have the cut for the charging bridge ,,and the set on it now I like the looks ,just a personal thing
the cocking piece sight was an interesting project as I did not want to use the original Lyman base and had to make a fresh one to dove it for windage

[john.k]

The Savage mag does fit a SMLE....(or any of the ancestors)...and consequently are much sought after and costly.........Is your gun still got the boltcover.....IMHO ,this was the most impressive feature of the Lee Metford /Lee Enfield rifles......and must have impressed others too ,as Mauser and the Japs copied it..........As a bit of an aside .....a converted 22LR magazine ,if original is worth many dollars.....the Parker Hiscock mag has sold for $1500 in the past few years.

[Baltimoreed]

Nice build.

[blackbahart]

The Savage mag does fit a SMLE....(or any of the ancestors)...and consequently are much sought after and costly.........Is your gun still got the boltcover.....IMHO ,this was the most impressive feature of the Lee Metford /Lee Enfield rifles......and must have impressed others too ,as Mauser and the Japs copied it..........As a bit of an aside .....a converted 22LR magazine ,if original is worth many dollars.....the Parker Hiscock mag has sold for $1500 in the past few years.

the bolt has had the nubs for the dust cover ground off sometime in the past ,I used this bolt body to get the safety feature as the action is pre side safety .I can't use the dust cover any way as the ejector is protruding on the left side of the action and would be in the way .
Also its a bits gun started years ago by a friend who passed away in 2015 and I just got around to completing it and has no real value ,but for having been a friends

[Texas by God]

That’s the coolest .22 Hornet ever.

[blackbahart]

That’s the coolest .22 Hornet ever.
it was an interesting build to finish to the working stages and complete it with the cocking piece sight

[john.k]

The Lee Enfields make a good 223 as well ......the action is plenty oversized for the extra pressure of this little round,and the conversions can be very accurate.........I much prefer a gun with a nice open breech ,not the current crop of budget efforts where the chamber is seen thru a postbox slot.

[Hahndorf1874]

There were quite a few converted to hornets here in AUS. Lots of smellys to mess about with here!Was offered one for zip a few years ago but the safe was overcrowded.

Cheers
Mal.

[303Guy]

There were quite a few converted to hornets here in AUS. Lots of smellys to mess about with here!Was offered one for zip a few years ago but the safe was overcrowded.

Cheers
Mal.

Safe over crowded? Nonsense! You can hide all those overflows all over the place. Did I just say that? Oops! [smilie=1:

[john.k]

Well ,303 guy,I believe you ll be keeping all yours in a safe from now on,instead of behind the living room curtains,and in the broom cupboard.(thats where mine were kept pre 96)

[Eddie Southgate]

That's about as cool as anything ever needs to get , particularly so as you value it so much for having come to you from a friend who is no longer with us . I love it .


PS: Sierra still makes the Varminter 40 gr JSP in .223 diameter for older Hornets and Bee's .

[444ttd]

great rifle!!!!!!!

next year, after i'm done with my son's custom 93 mauser, i would like build a 22 hornet on a 1898 springfield armory action. i have the (2 of them)action without bolt and i already own a 30-40 krag, so..................

[blackbahart]

that would be an interesting project on the 1898 Springfield action .
This was started and I just had to figure out with what was done how to complete it .
the Springfield you will be starting from the beginning and may have to figure out how to feed it unless you go single shot ?

[444ttd]

it will be single shot, from what i heard and read it will be nitemare if i'm to go with a repeater.

2 1898 spr armory actions
https://i.imgur.com/9FtYpNK.jpg

[john.k]

Not necessarily.....you basically have a "blank canvas" to machine a slot in to take the magazine of your choice.One like a CZ or Zastava would be readily available.

[444ttd]

Not necessarily.....you basically have a "blank canvas" to machine a slot in to take the magazine of your choice.One like a CZ or Zastava would be readily available.

hhhmmmmmmmm........that one goes to the mental rolodex!!!!! thanks!!!!!

[blackbahart]

using the CZ fox hornet mag will be a great improvement on the flimsy savage mag used in my Lee adaptor .Was contemplating switching to a fox mag but the cost was a bit prohibitive and would have had to rework the mag well ,but the adding tab on the savage mag solved the nose dive issue on mine