New Member - 22K Hornet / 17 Hornet questions

[SEK_22Hornet]

Hello all - I just signed up today and spent a lot of time browsing the board.  I have a 45LC carbine, a full stocked 22 Hornet H&R, and my wife has a slick little Topper Classic youth model 20 Ga with red dot sight (it came that way).  I have had several other break tops over the years but these are what I have now. I am curious about the K hornet and what improvements  a person might see accuracy wise - thinking of ordering a barrel for the 45 LC and re-chambering it for the K Hornet - is that a practical job for a novice?  Also anyone had any thoughts about the new 17 Hornet?  Would a re-chambered 17HMR barrel be a possible way to go and is anyone else interested in this new cartridge?

[cwlongshot]

WELCOME!!!

Unfortunately the 22Hornet was discontinued from the H&R lineup some time back. You would need to find a used barrel and fit it to your reciever. Then rechamber to the "K". A number of guys here have them and most find excellent accuracy with it. Its a good caliber! I have thought about it myself more then once, but with the accuracy I am getting and the fact that I also own a sub 1/2" MOA shooting .223 I really do not "need" a "K".

As for the 17Hornet, I hand reamed two of them and screwed them both up doing it!!  One ended up a 17 Fire Ball ( Thank you Larry!!) as its octagon shaped chamber would not extract. The second one is not as bad, shoots very well but will "work" its brass a bit more then it should. #'s of reloads before the brass is shot will yet to be learned.

IF you do a 17 Hornet, let someone with a Lathe do the re-chamber.

Best of luck & nice to talk to you,

 CW

[jeepmann1948]

I would recommend the K Hornet over the 17Hornet unless you shoot in a windless environment .I have several Handi's chambered to the K Hornet and enjoy them very much. They are very accurate and easy to load for.I load mine using standard  hornet data (the max loads in a std hornet are fine for me in  a K Hornet) I went with the K version because of case life not extra speed.
 If you decide to go 22K Hornet, the reamer is available for rent here on GBO and is an easy hand job, just use plenty of cutting oil and take your time cleaning the chips very frequently.
 Cases are easy to form, just fire regular rounds , reloading is easy, powder goes a long way, bullets are cheap, What's not to like

[moorepower]

From the Hornady ballistics calculator.
.17HH 20 grain V-max 3650 fps 100yd zero
drop @200 2.2" @300 9.7" drift @ 50 .3" @100 1.3" @200 5.5" @300 13.6"
22KH 40 grain V-max 3100 fps 100yd zero
drop @ 200 3.6" @300 14.4" drift @ 50 .3" @100 1.4" @200 6.3" @300 15.6"
All wind drift is at 10 mph. I also checked the 35 V-max, but the drift is double the 40 grain.
 

[SEK_22Hornet]

Thanks for the input Guys - I see H&R still lists the 22 Hornet barrel in their list of barrels available for the barrel program, but I haven't checked on it to make sure it is available.  I'd also like to have a .357  Mag to re-chamber to .357  Max - I had one that I bought when H&R went out of business in the 80's but traded it for a lever gun in .357.  It was lot's of fun to shoot.  I see they list the barrel, but I'd rather have one with sights instead of scope only.  The 45LC I have is a fun gun to shoot with cowboy loads, too.  Thanks again and I'll be digging around the posts for a while to get caught up.  I'd really love to find a brass trigger guard and forend spacer for my 45LC if anyone knows on any still around...