Author Topic: Dies for .22 K Hornet (Read 1294 times)

Jim B. · « **on:** December 28, 2004, 04:40:12 PM »

I have a Ruger 77/22H that I am sending out to CPC to have rechambered in .22 K Hornet. I already have standard hornet dies. If I am only planning on neck-sizing the K Hornet brass what do I need for new dies?

Is a 22 K Hornet neck-sizing all that I need?

Is the neck-sizing die for the standard Hornet different from the K Hornet?

Is a FL K Hornet die necessary?

Thanks for any help.
Jim B. in IN

spispeza · « **Reply #1 on:** December 31, 2004, 05:25:27 PM »

some say that lee collet dies work for ackley improved cartridges?never tried it yet on 30-06 ackley that i have.still fireformingbrass.gonna try neck sizing with 300 win mag dies?hope this helps

2520 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 01, 2005, 02:50:42 AM »

I bought a 3 die set for my K-Hornet. I did not have a neck sizing only die for .22 Hornet; I turned the FL die out for neck sizing Hornet brass. According to my Redding die chart there is a difference between the neck sizing dies in the two cartridges; at least they have different part numbers. In preping newly formed K-Hornet brass I full length size the brass and trim before loading. Thereafter, I usually just neck size but you may need or want to FL size again at some future date. I use a universal die for decapping. Hope this helps. BTW my experience is that hotter loads for the K-Hornet have not been as accurate those loaded to regular Hornet velocities. The brass lasts a lot longer. Good Luck-Happy New Year.

Graybeard · « **Reply #3 on:** January 01, 2005, 03:19:18 AM »

VERY BAD MOVE~From what I've heard the Ruger rotary magazine WILL NOT reliably feed the K-Hornet ammo. You really might wanna rethink this project or look into the problems you'll have with feeding it after the modification. I've not tried it but from all I've read those Ruger mags just will not work with the K version.

Jim B. · « **Reply #4 on:** January 01, 2005, 08:20:49 AM »

Please tell me more! This is the first I have heard about feeding problems with the K Hornet in the Ruger action. Can you direct me to some particular individuals who have made this conversion and had this feeding problem?

Jim B.

Greybeard · « **Reply #5 on:** January 01, 2005, 11:30:33 AM »

You might try a search here at GBO. I wish I could be more specific but I honestly cannot recall where it was I read it. But there was a discussion on the topic and folks who had the conversion done were lamenting that it's now a single shot rifle. Ruger might also offer some advice. I honestly cannot recall where it was that the thread is located.

Just wanted to give you a heads up in time to do more ground work on this before you end up with an expensive single shot. I'd love to find it wrong as I was considering the same thing as you when I ran across it and was convinced to not do the conversion myself.

oneb · « **Reply #6 on:** January 05, 2005, 02:31:02 AM »

Graybeard et al,

I have two stock 22 Hornet mags from Ruger that I use w/o a problem in my 22 VHZ K Hornet!! I know of one hotbed of VHZ K rifles maybe a dozen or more in one small town and none of these users have experienced this problem.

The last time the allegation surfaced here I asked several users on the net and the only response about a failure was about a damaged magazine.

Its amazing how hard bad rumors die.

For the record while we are at it, .35 Whelens do have enough shoulder...

oneb

Graybeard · « **Reply #7 on:** January 05, 2005, 04:14:38 AM »

That's pretty good info to hear. Might mean I put that project back on the drawing board. I sure wish I could recall where it was I picked up on that and who it came from but for the life of me I cannot. I know it sure put the skids on my plans back then tho.

Jim B. · « **Reply #8 on:** January 05, 2005, 04:45:33 AM »

I just sent my Ruger 77/22H off to Connecticut Precision Cambering to have the barrel set back and rechambered to 22 K Hornet with minimum throat. The will also tighten up the two-piece bolt and bring the trigger to a nice 2 1/2 lbs with overtravel stop.

I will let you know how K Hornet cartridges feed when I get my rifle back (2 months).

Jim B.

2520 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 06, 2005, 03:57:07 AM »

The problem as I understand it is that the overall length of the reloaded cartridges is restricted by the length of the magazine which may limit the ammount of powder and the seating depth of the bullets. I used a single shot action and avoided all that. I have heard alot of good stuff about CPC.

oneb · « **Reply #10 on:** January 07, 2005, 01:16:23 PM »

The factory original VHZ had a very sloppy throat which is largely why they are know as poor shooters. In the K process, the smith set back the threads and tightened up the system. I do not have to reach way out there to get to the lands. A decent K job will remove the slop as part of the procedure.

The OAL on my reloads for 35 gr Vmax bullets alows the magazines to eat them like candy and shoot way under MOA. The only problem is reloading enough of them.

There also is no big problem with factory fodder in fire forming. 2-3 of 100 necks or cases split, but they did worse than that before the K process.

I won't get into fps or max powder but they really rip along and shoot best nearer to full capacity.

oneb