Mod 700 SA to 22 Hornet?
- Thread starter Chick
- Start date
ligonierbill
New member
I think that is what the OP means. And the answer is the rim diameter of the Hornet is too small for the standard bolt face.
Jim Watson
New member
I think a good gunsmith/machinist could bush the bolt face and install a Sako extractor and make it work for $ufficient fund$.
If you have " $ufficient fund$", you BUY a .22 Hornet to begin with. 
As far as I know, the smallest factory chambering for the 700 series action was .222 Remington head size, and used rimless cases significantly longer and fatter than the .22 Hornet.
Bushing the bolt face, installing a new extractor and headspacing to the new barrel is fairly straight forward and will give you a decent single shot rifle.
Now, if you want a repeater, that would involve extensive reworking of the magazine to fit and feed the smaller, rimmed Hornet and that isn't a simple or straight forward as the bolt work, and could easily double the cost of the project (or more) simply due to the trial and error fitting eating up time, and so increasing the cost,
Maybe not, but see it as likely that getting the hornet to feed properly and reliably from a Rem 700 magazine would be a more involved project than the bolt work.
As far as I know, the smallest factory chambering for the 700 series action was .222 Remington head size, and used rimless cases significantly longer and fatter than the .22 Hornet.
Bushing the bolt face, installing a new extractor and headspacing to the new barrel is fairly straight forward and will give you a decent single shot rifle.
Now, if you want a repeater, that would involve extensive reworking of the magazine to fit and feed the smaller, rimmed Hornet and that isn't a simple or straight forward as the bolt work, and could easily double the cost of the project (or more) simply due to the trial and error fitting eating up time, and so increasing the cost,
Maybe not, but see it as likely that getting the hornet to feed properly and reliably from a Rem 700 magazine would be a more involved project than the bolt work.
Jim Watson
New member
if you have my observations of .22 Hornets in action, you buy Something Else. I have not seen one as accurate as, say, a .222. Even a .218 Bee seems preferable.
In olden times, when guns were expensive and gunsmiths worked cheap, there were such things as 1922 Springfields converted to .22 Hornet. And the other way 'round, Winchester Model 70 Hornets converted to .222.
But we don't know the OP's reasoning.
In olden times, when guns were expensive and gunsmiths worked cheap, there were such things as 1922 Springfields converted to .22 Hornet. And the other way 'round, Winchester Model 70 Hornets converted to .222.
But we don't know the OP's reasoning.
I have a Ruger No.3 in .22 Hornet, and a 10" Contender barrel for the Hornet, also. Finicky to load, but I've found them accurate enough within the Hornet's easily useable range.
No, not in the same class as my .222 or .22-250, but they do the job they were made to do just fine, for me.
Also, despite the time and care needed to load for the Hornet, my handloaded Hornets are much cheaper than buying non reloadable .22 WMR, and downloaded a bit, can easily duplicate that performance, if that's what I want.
No, not in the same class as my .222 or .22-250, but they do the job they were made to do just fine, for me.
Also, despite the time and care needed to load for the Hornet, my handloaded Hornets are much cheaper than buying non reloadable .22 WMR, and downloaded a bit, can easily duplicate that performance, if that's what I want.