Homespun .22 Hornet SS Carbine

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

The other week someone gave me this Continental Arms Company .410 with a bent barrel. The forearm was also buggered and it was missing a firing pin. About the same time a buddy mentioned that he had a .22 Hornet chamber reaming die and I remembered a random 10/22 barrel tucked away in the shop. Poor Impulse control took over and a project was born. My buddy mailed me the chamber reamer and I was off.

I cut off the .410 barrel at the front of the chamber and bored it out to 5.8". Then I turned down the breech-end of the 10/22 barrel to 5/8" and silver-soldered it into the breech. I reamed the chamber for .22 Hornet and modified the extractor for the smaller cartridge. Since I'd had to cut the barrel a bit to get it onto the lathe it's now 16-3/4". I made a flat on top of the breech and screwed a random piece of Picatinny rail on. I fabricated a firing-pin and made a new full-length fore-arm out of some old Douglas Fir 2x4 I had lying around. I made a plate to fit onto the muzzle and ran a 1/4-20 screw into it to secure the forearm. I mounted a TRS25 I also had laying around for test-firing.

The first time out it ejected blew the primer and ejected the firing pin, which hit me in the forehead. I made a new firing pin to much tighter tolerances and tried again, this time holding the gun at an arm's-length.

This time it didn't hit me at lease. OK, I bored out the hole for the firing-pin retention pin to 3/16", modified the firing pin to work with the larger-diameter pin and secured it with a pin made from the shank of a chromium-cobalt drill bit. That worked. It wasn't ideal though; shotguns have large firing-pin holes and primers were flowing back into the hole, necessitating a sharp rap on the barrel to get the gun open after firing. On the right track but not there yet. I bored out and sleeved the firing-pin hole with a threaded insert and modified the firing pin again and voila! problem solved.

For a finishing touch I cut off one of the pieces of brass with a blown primer and inset it into the tip of the fore-end so the retention screw would be bearing on metal rather than the wood of the fore-end. A buddle of mine came up with an old Weaver fixed-4x scope and I mounted that. Looks like this one is more or less finished! it's light and handy, barely topping 6lbs. with the scope mounted and balances nicely.

OK, to address the issues- I was a bit worried about the 1-16 rifling pitch, but from a casual rets it's stacking bullets at 25 yards so I guess that's alright. When I can get it to a proper rifle range we'll see how it does at 100 yards. the other concern was that .22 Hornet specifies a .224 diameter bullet and .22 rimfires typically have a .221-.222 bore. using factory PPU 45gr. ammo this does not seem to have created an issue, but when I reload this brass I plan to use .221-.222 bullets.

I'm super happy with how this has come out. I need to get some .22 bullets for reloading; I'm running low on ammo and it's gotten kind of hard to find.

 

[adcoch1]

That's pretty cool, I've always wondered what a short mannlicher stock setup would look like. Love the barrel cap! Looks like a fun little walking varminter.

 

[StrawHat]

The original designers of the Hornet used a rimfire rifle they rechambered to various shapes before settling on using the old 22WCF shape. Wotkyns, Woody, Whelen, and Woodworth were working at the Springfield Armory and used the Springfield Model 1922 as the basis for the conversion.

So, your 16” twist is a proven winner.

Kevin

 

[MacAR]

I used to have a Hornet that was built like that, on an Iver Johnson 410. It was pretty neat, and accurate, and I kick myself every time I think about it since I sold it! Great job on the build, I'll be very interested to see how it groups at the longer ranges. As for bullets, I think I have a box of 40gr Sierra Hornet bullets I would send you - gratis. If you're interested, PM your address.

Mac

 

[Jim Watson]

made a new full-length fore-arm out of some old Douglas Fir 2x4

Reminds me of a coworker whose hobby was "fixing up" old shotguns. He restocked one with a cedar fence post.

 

[doubleh]

I am amazed as some of the things you create, Mr. Pierce. Also how well your projects turn out.

Reminds me of a coworker whose hobby was "fixing up" old shotguns. He restocked one with a cedar fence post.

As a high chool senior that was required to take shop in Ag class I made a set of table lamps for my girlfriend. I went to the lumberyard and purchased the largest cedar corner post they had to turn them from. A few months later I learned a little something about finishing cedar. Raw cedar will not hold a finish because of the oils it contains that makes it a rot free wood for posts. Even on kiln dried wood it will eventually go bad. As an aside I have no idea what happened with the lamps or girlfriend but I quit using cedar in any of my wood working projects.