I've been looking for a No.3 in .22 Hornet locally for a while. There's always some for sale on Gunbroker, but was hopeing to find one at a gunshop or gunshow. Last month I found a .223 No.3 at a local gunshow and even though I was looking for a Hornet, the price was right so I bought it. The stock has been refinished and checkered and a recoil pad and forend cap has been added along with a Kepplinger set trigger. I couldn't pass it up for $575.
The No.3 on the right was originally a .22 Hornet that had been rechambered to .221 Fireball when I bought it back in the early 90's. In '94 I had it rebarreled with a Shilen barrel chambered in .219 Wasp. A couple of years later I bought the aftermarket No.1 wood and finished it with tung oil. Shot it 6000+ times at paper and PD's before I had it rebarreled to .204 Wasp in 2010 with a 11" twist Pacnor.
The No.3 on the left also started out as a .22 Hornet but had been rechambered to .22 K-Hornet and had the wood replaced with No.1 wood before I bought it from a friend about 15 years ago. I had EABCO rebarrel it to their .224 BRM in '05 and had Penrod Precision rebarrel it again last year. The latest chambering is my wildcat .219DW PDK which uses a 30-30 case 1.900 long with a 35 degree shoulder. I have a No.1 in the same caliber with a 14" twist barrel but this one is a 8" twist Shilen. Built it to shoot 75 or 80gr A-Max's at long range PD's.
The case on the left is loaded with a 53gr V-Max and is ready to fireform. The Right case is fireformed and loaded with a 75gr A-Max.
This is my .204 Wasp wildcat loaded with a 39gr Blitzking at 4100 fps. I've had a No.1 in this chambering with a Krieger barrel for a couple of years. The No.3 hasn't been PD shooting yet, but the No.1 has been twice and has proven to be a very good PD rifle.
That's the short version of my No.3's and the calibers they are and have been.
Dave
