Oh the anticipation

If he ignores me on this problem, it will be the other shoe dropping and I will tell all of my experiences with him on this project.

In retrospect, I wish I had bought a Savage .223 and screwed on a new barrel in .221 Fireball. It would have been a lot easier and cheaper. However it all started with my buying a used rifle that I thought was in good working order...

There's also a wildcat round called the .223 Short that is in between the Hornet and .221 for power. For just a little more money than converting a Savage to .221, I could have had a rifle in .223 short. The .223 Short was designed so that a cut down and renecked .223 Rem case doesn't need to be reamed to be used. It's a cool little round and a better choice than the way I went...

Tony
 
Did you have the magazine worked over for the .22 K-Hornet?

Every smith I’ve talked to about converting my 77/22 Hornet required sending my magazines along with the rifle. They all told me the shell cutouts inside the magazine need to be reshaped, and the feed lips need a little love to reliably feed the straighter wall of the K-Hornet.

Maybe true, maybe not, just thought I’d mention it.
 
When I bought the rifle, the mags would only hold 3 rounds because they had not be adjusted for the K-Hornet. It didn't take me long to figure out where metal needed to be removed so they'd work properly. I took a set of precision files to them and it wasn't long before I had solved the problem.

With the original barrel (that had a damaged chamber) it would feed fine from both mags. The one has a weak spring and sometimes wouldn't lift the rounds without rattling it some so I rarely use that one. One of these days, I'll remember or order a new spring for that mag...

From what I can see the back of the chamber has a sharp edge when the original barrel had a small radius there. It's been a day since I eMailed the gunsmith and I'll give him until Monday to reply before I'll trash him on the net. He should pay the shipping both ways and fix the problem but I'm not holding my breath on this one...

I shouldn't have to fix it myself.

Tony
 
I got a reply and he's blaming the problem on the mags. Both the mags I have were moded to work with K-Hornet but I'll give it due diligence and see if there's anything I can do to make it better.

To me it seems like there should be slight radius on the mouth of the chamber rather than a sharp edge... I wish I could post pix right now.

Tony
 
Geezerbiker said:
I wish I could post pix right now.
Click to expand...

Geezer, you can post pics right here on the forum.
When you're typing a post, use the button underneath the post window that says "Manage Extensions".
Upload the image there, close that window and in the same area as that button will be a link to your image. Right click the link, choose "Copy Link"
Then in the post window, click the button that looks like this
insertimage.gif
and paste the link there.

If you need to resize it to fit the window, I use Adobe's online image resizer
 
Well here goes. These 2 pics show the chamber and rounds catching on the way in. The standard .22 Hornet rounds were some very old Winchester cases from some rounds that I thought were too old to shoot so I pulled them down ages ago. I only had 4 but that was enough for making some dummy rounds for testing.

The second fail to feed pix is with my fire-formed but much later production Winchester brass.

I'm going to split this up over a few posts so all the pix don't all end up in one post...

BTW, that's a factory Ruger stock and part of the reason I fell in love with it on first sight... Now to only get her shooting as good as she looks.

Tony
 

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These next 2 pics are close ups of the mag loaded. The fist pic has my standard Hornet dummy rounds and the second pic is with my K-Hornet rounds.

In my opinion the H Hornet rounds actually point up a little higher but that could be the more pointed bullets. Either way it's a no go...

At one point I was able to poke at it with my finger enough to make the round pop out of the mag and it still wouldn't feed.

I think it's safe to say the problem is with the rifle and not the magazine.

I have 2 mags for this rifle and one has a problem. Even with standard Hornet rounds it will stick after feeding a couple rounds and I have to shake or slap the side of the rifle to jar it loose. I think that one has a weak spring but I haven't done due diligence for finding a new spring for it. I've also forgotten out to take these mags apart.

Tony
 

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I eMailed all these same pix to the gunsmith and I told him as politely as I could that I think he failed to radius the edges of the chamber mouth and that's why it won't feed.

What say all of you, am I right or crazy? Well probably both but that's another story...

Tony
 
Geezerbiker,

I have a Ruger 77/22 that Randy at CPC rechambered to 22k Hornet.

Here’s a pic of the chamber area and you can see that the lip/edge of the chamber is ever so slightly radiused/broken.


I also have a Ruger Model Ruger Model 77/17 chambered in 17 Hornet and as you can see the chamber lip/edge is chamfered as well (more heavily than my Model 77/22).


IMHO (as you’ve surmised) your barrels chamber needs to have that edge chamfered/radiused/broken as well.

Reference magazines, both my magazines feed and eject 22K Hornet with no problems. Problem is that I can’t remember if I had Randy at CPC fix my 77/22 mag to feed the K’s or not (most probably he did).

Magazine from my 77/17 is on the right, 77/22 on the left.


Reference my rifles, both are fairly unremarkable in the looks.

My 77/22H is a first year gun I bought brand new from a small gunshop in Cypress California in 1995 for the princely sum of $200.00 (it had sat there for a year with no one interested in it and the gunshop owner wanted it gone). It was converted to K Hornet back in 2008 and I had the barrel threaded for a suppressor about 6 years ago. I replaced the stock trigger with a model from Rifle Basix and it has been exceptional.



The 77/17H is fairly stock except for another Rifle Basix trigger and threaded barrel.



Both have been used fairly vigorously with the 77/22H accounting for many thousands of jackrabbits and a few coyotes; it’ll hold groups into an honest one inch with my handloads.

The 77/17H is exceptionally accurate and it’s factory performance/trajectory lives up to its advertised hype in that sighted one inch high at 100 yards, it’s dead on at 200 and 6 inches low at 300. It’ll cut half inch groups at 100 with factory ammo (when I do my part) and is devastating on jackrabbits.

It’ll knock a jackrabbits head smooth off (when the bullet is properly placed) out to 125 yards.


 
Nice rifles. Thanks for going to the effort to post chamber pix. It shows for certain that the smith that installed the barrel on my rifle clearly skipped a step on cambering the barrel. He told me to ship the rifle back and I'm going to do that tomorrow and I hope he doesn't charge me any more to radiusing the back edge of the chamber.

To be honest it was the first thing I noticed when I got the rifle back (the bolt was out.) I figured or at least hoped he knew what he was doing.

I had my barrel threaded for a suppressor too but the way the economy and things are going I'm doubtful I'll get one...

BTW, Ruger made this rifle in .17 Hornady Hornet for awhile and I ordered one of those mags last night. I figure it'll be less work to get to feed K-Hornet than a standard Hornet mag...

That way I'll have 2 good mags and a 3rd if I can ever get the second one I have to stop sticking. I've had it apart a dozen times and can't find anything wrong with it. If I could find a new spring to buy, I'd order one...

BTW, I had a Handi Rifle single shot converted to .17 Hornady Hornet about 5 or 6 years ago. I haven't gotten nearly enough opportunities to shoot it as I'd like. Here's to a ground squirrel problem in my sister's garden again this year...

Tony
 
Geezerbiker said:
Thanks for going to the effort to post chamber pix. It shows for certain that the smith that installed the barrel on my rifle clearly skipped a step on cambering the barrel. He told me to ship the rifle back and I'm going to do that tomorrow and I hope he doesn't charge me any more to radiusing the back edge of the chamber.
Click to expand...

You're better man than I. I wouldn't let that guy touch the gun again. I think I'd fix it with a Dremel first.
 
I considered that but if I buggered it up, I'd only have myself to blame. If he makes it worse, I can hope to get him to pay for the mistake... I also hope this was just an over site and he will make it right.

Tony
 
Well she's on the way back. I insured it for the full value I'm into it and I hope it has a save round trip and comes back to me fixed properly this time.

BTW, I bought a new .17 Hornet mag off eBay for not a bad price. I was pleased that it holds all 6 .22 K-Hornet rounds. I can only assume that it will feed OK since the rifle was on the way back before I collected the contents of my PO box. This mag was cheaper than most places charge to convert a standard .22 Hornet mag to K-Hornet...

Tony
 
If I were you I would keep my eyes peeled for a CZ 527 American in .221 Fireball. I have one that was willed to me by my great uncle. With the sporter barrel it shoots like a laser beam at 100 yards. With either 40 or 55 grain bullets. I missed out on picking up one at a local shop a while back. They had it for $550 plus tax. The single set trigger is something you have to shoot to understand. Even not set the trigger is awesome. Also the rifle is still under 7 pounds even with my heavy long 6-24x44 varmint scope.
 
When I bought this rifle there was also used CZ in .22 Hornet right next to it for the same price. I bought the Ruger because it had been converted to K-Hornet. I'm still kicking myself for that decision...

Tony
 
Latest update. The gunsmith eMailed me and said there's nothing wrong with it and sent a video of it cycling rounds with him closing the bolt very quickly. To me it looks like he's pounding the round in.

So you've seen the pix. Could it be that by closing the bolt slowly like I typically do, could cause the rifle not to feed or is he BS'ing me...

Tony
 
I’ve never heard of a bolt gun who’s action had to be operated smartly to feed.

Leverguns, sure, but not a bolt gun.

I assume he’s using factory ammo or his own handloads in his video.

Could it be that the rounds he’s using have the case mouth ever so slightly turned in not unlike a crimp to facilitate feeding?

Regardless, I’d ask him to break the chamber edge while he’s got it and pay him for his trouble.

The alternative is to have him ship it back and do it yourself.
 
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