While visiting a mate not so long ago I was having a look through his small collection and happened upon this sweet little Sportco Martini Hornet.
Sportco was a company founded by Jack Warne of Kimber Rifles fame.
He grew up in Kimba, South Australia, and shot rabbits and kangaroos throughout his youth and soon began to design guns.
Sportco was founded in Adelaide in the early 1950s and would go on to make many different guns including bolt actions rimfires, Hornets, semi-auto rimfires, break open and semi-auto shotguns and ultimately the Sportco Omark M44 7.62 target rifles that were the staples of long range target shooting here in Australia for decades and continue to feature in that scene.
Warne eventually sold Sportco to the Omark company before moving to the USA in the 1960s.
The first rifles Sportco released were these Martini Cadet conversions.
Knowing that the NSW Dept of Defence had 40,000 up for sale, and recognising their potention rebarreled to .22lr and .22 Hornet, Warne picked up the entire shipment and then at some profit sold half of the shipment, still crated in their boxes, to Golden State Arms in California who had failed to win the bidding for them.
Here's a pic of the Sportco Hornet from the catalogue.
And here is the rifle belonging to my mate........
As you can see apart from the scope rail that has been brazed onto the top of the bbl and the missing rear leaf sight which is still at my friend's house it is standard.
The stock has some dings and dents but is original down to the sling swivels and steel buttplate.
This rifle also has a nice little feature, a button safety that prevents the trigger from moving backward when it's engaged.
Here's a closer pic:
You can see it just behind the trigger.
I certainly wouldn't trust it but it does a good job of preventing accidental firing for what it is.
As you can see the BSA stamps have been ground off the action and the only markings are the words
SPORTCO MARTINI Hornet along the top of the bbl.
All in all it's a light little rifle that comes to the shoulder easily and is very comfortable.
Now, it's no secret that I LOVE Martinis despite their shortcomings but funds are a little tight at present so my mate's proposal was one that filled my heart with a warm glow.
He would let me borrow the rifle for as long as I wished and provide me with the necessary dies and components to work up someloads for it and use it both at the range and in the field.
If I should then feel more disposed to purchasing it from him, as he already owns a fine 22 Hornet built on contract for Sportco by Lithgow Small Arms Factory on a SMLE No1 MkIII* action, he would feel safe in the knowledge it was going to a good home.
I need to pick up some rings for a standard .22lr groove and will mount an old Japanese 4x32 JENA scope with post reticle to test her out.
But I think you can see why it's such an attractive little proposition.
Along with the rifle my mate gave me the dies, 100 Win cases, 100 Remington SR BenchRest primers, half a box of Sierra Varminter 40gr Hornet SPs and a full box of Hornady 35gr V-Maxs.
My choice of powder, at least for the moment, will be ADI AR2205.
It's the fastest rifle powder they make and while it left a lot of unburnt powder when used in my 25-20 Martini Cadet it may suit the Hornet more.
I certainly hope so as I have a full bottle of it and it's just sitting there doing nothing at present.
On their site ADI say a 11.6gr max load of 2205 will generate about 2900fps out of a 24" bbl.
As the Martini only has a 22" bbl and velocities are often a little more optimistic than realistic I think I'll be getting MVs around 2800fps.
So tomorrow night I'll load up a few rounds of the V-Maxs and Sierras to test out at this Saturday's range meet.
