Author Topic: OH Boy...OH Boy... I love my NEF Hornet! (Read 1633 times)

coyotehunter223 · « **on:** April 09, 2006, 01:37:21 PM »

Had my NEF Hornet for about 5 years now. I always got pretty good groups with it. Lately I've been reading about some of the do-it-yourself home barrel crowning tricks using a round Dremel stone and a ball bearing with polishing compound. I decided to give it a try. I also polished the bore with JB Compound just for the heck of it. I loaded up some 35gr v-max's with my favorite powder, Lil' Gun. Previously, my best groups with the 35's were about 1" to 1 1/2" at 100yrds. Take a look at these results from the range yesterday! Man, I'm impressed. :grin:

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MSP Ret · « **Reply #1 on:** April 09, 2006, 02:25:28 PM »

Thats great shooting coyotehunter223, from the looks of those groups and by the name you go by those coyotes had better move out of your area!!!....<><.... :grin:

Paul5388 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 09, 2006, 04:26:55 PM »

It looks like you have found a load it really likes! :-D

What are the load specs you're using? I have some of the 35 gr V-Max, but haven't gotten them to shoot that good.

coyotehunter223 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 09, 2006, 05:26:55 PM »

Quote from: Paul5388

It looks like you have found a load it really likes! :-D

What are the load specs you're using? I have some of the 35 gr V-Max, but haven't gotten them to shoot that good.

Mine never really like them either until now. I guess it was the crowning and JB Paste :grin: My load was as follows:

35gr vmax
13.4gr Lil'Gun
Winchester Brass
CCI BR4 Primer
1.760 OAL
Light Crimp with Lee Crimp Die

Paul5388 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 09, 2006, 06:54:59 PM »

Thanks for the info!

I'm surprised you can get that much Lil'Gun in that Win brass. I use 13.5 gr, but that's with a 40 gr V-Max and R-P brass. I have some Win brass too, so I'll give it a try! :-)

myarmor · « **Reply #5 on:** April 11, 2006, 10:07:35 AM »

Thats some great shooting, and especially from a 22Hornet :toast:
Where did you get the info on the crowning procedure you used?
I have an old Nagant that I would like to try this on.
-Aaron

Hammerspur · « **Reply #6 on:** April 12, 2006, 01:56:48 AM »

Great shooting, Coyote...and YES, please share with us the methods you used in crowning/muzzle lapping. :-)

coyotehunter223 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 12, 2006, 01:07:00 PM »

I wish I could point you to a specific post or web site that would tell you all that I read but my search took me to many articles. I'll tell you how I did it but please search the web for "barrel crowning" and read as much as you can. My method was to first get the courage to put a spinning grinding stone attached to the end of my battery drill to the end of my barrel! You don't know how many times I was set to start then chickened out! Anyway, I put a 3/8" round dremel stone in my battery drill and went at about half speed. Don't use a lot of pressure, let the weight of the drill do the work. As you are grinding you absolutely must keep the drill oscillating and I also rotated the barrel a quarter turn every 15 seconds or so. This took me about one minute to get enough material removed to where I "thought it looked good". Then using a steel ball bearing, some posts recommended a brass cap nut, I coated the bearing with Flitz and started polishing up the newly ground crown. I did this for a good 1/2 hour because I felt it had to be polished to a clean shine. To make handling the bearing easily, it removed the screwdriver bit from a four way screwdriver and set the bearing in that cavity that housed the bit. This was a perfect fit. I then put this assembly in my battery drill and went to polishing. When I was finished I had two days to wait until I could go to the range for trials. Those were the longest two days of my life! I kept thinking " oh well, if I ruined the gun I needed to buy another one anyway" to try and comfort myself. As it turned out, this was the absolute best accuracy trick I could have done to my Handi hornet. Everything else is stock. No trigger work, no washer under the forearm or anything. I'll try to post some pic's of the methods I'm tryng to describe. Hope this help. Good luck!

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quickdtoo · « **Reply #8 on:** April 12, 2006, 02:24:14 PM »

I was waitn for you to post a web site, here's one that's been posted before on the subject. I've done this with several barrels, some were just touch ups, others were completely cut and re-crowned.

Tim

http://www272.pair.com/stevewag/muzzle/mz.html

coyotehunter223 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 12, 2006, 02:41:19 PM »

Thanks Quickdtoo, that was one of the sites I read

DPRinks · « **Reply #10 on:** April 12, 2006, 03:17:01 PM »

In the '60's, with $15 milsurps being sporterized by the 1000's, the process was to hacksaw the barrel off, use a file and square the muzzle.
Then put a plug of cotton down the barrel, take a brass round head stove bolt and some medium and fine valve lapping compound, chuck the bolt in a hand or electric drill holder, yes, we still used hand crank drill holders then, and lap until a nice ,clean crown was made, clean up and go shoot.

myarmor · « **Reply #11 on:** April 12, 2006, 06:12:13 PM »

Interesting. Thanks for sharing this. So let me get this straight, does the ball bearing actually spin in place with the force of the drill?
I guess what I am saying is that, if you take the screw driver assemble that has the bearing on it, and turn it upside down, would it fall out?
I hope that makes sense :?

coyotehunter223 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 13, 2006, 03:31:42 AM »

Quote from: myarmor

Interesting. Thanks for sharing this. So let me get this straight, does the ball bearing actually spin in place with the force of the drill?
I guess what I am saying is that, if you take the screw driver assemble that has the bearing on it, and turn it upside down, would it fall out?
I hope that makes sense :?

The bearing spins with the rotation of the drill. It worked perfect for me. I'm guessing the polishing compound helps to make a good seal.

Hammerspur · « **Reply #13 on:** April 13, 2006, 04:37:25 AM »

I have a 45 degree brass muzzle lap I bought from Brownells some years back. They rated it right for up to .45 cal, if I remember right. The working end measures .622" diam. to allow some 'slack' during the oscillating process.

I made my own from aluminum (.801") for redoing the crown on my .58 Huntsman, and used silicon carbide valve lapping compound with good results.

Using the Dremel stone in the first step is the part that would take some guts!

Paul5388 · « **Reply #14 on:** April 13, 2006, 03:18:59 PM »

Anyone who has done very many valve grinding jobs knows those stones are pretty soft. That's why you have to reface the stone periodically, whether you're doing a valve face or a valve seat. Stones also come in different degrees of coarseness. Clover valve lapping compound normally comes in a 2 compartment can and has either coarse or fine grit, depending on the end you open. I think I would be more apt to use the coarse lapping compound than a stone.

Bad Irv · « **Reply #15 on:** April 13, 2006, 03:30:08 PM »

Yes, I find this very interesting also. Quick, have you found this technique worth trying for improved accuracy, that is, do you think that it is good enough if a guy suspects that the crown is damaged or not cut properly? Or sould one buy the Bownels tool or take the rifle to a smith? I let my son borrow my 223 ultra and later found out that he fired some NATO amo and a case got stuck. He didn't have a cleaning rod with him, and tried to straighten out a rusty steal rod that he found behind the clubhouse and used that to free the stuck case. I was very upset, and the rifle hasn't shot a tight group snice. The rifling looks OK, but the crown has a scrape mark. Maybe I'll give it a try, I have nothing to loose really. If it doesn't work, I'll take the rifle to the smith, and pay the price. This rifle was shooting less than one inch groups all the time. Dang kids anyhow.

Irv

quickdtoo · « **Reply #16 on:** April 13, 2006, 04:06:51 PM »

Sorry to hear that, reminds me of our senior member here that had nails in his bore, compliments of kids......right Marv!!!

Yes, it's well worth the try, the most recent one I did was on a 17hmr Sportster I bought from a fella who couldn't get it to shoot, touched up the crown with a small carriage bolt and permatex valve grinding compound that comes in a tube, it shoots great now!! Here's another link on it.

http://www.varmintal.com/ashot.htm#Kissed

Tim

coyotehunter223 · « **Reply #17 on:** August 09, 2007, 03:24:25 PM »

I've had mine for 6 years now. Mine is very accurate and the more I shoot it the more accurate it seems to get. I love mine!

LONG LIVE THE .22 HORNET!!!!!

burntmuch · « **Reply #18 on:** August 09, 2007, 03:54:42 PM »

So the ballbearing cleans the very end of the rifling?

Hofs01 · « **Reply #19 on:** August 09, 2007, 04:22:47 PM »

Is there anything Varmintal does not have on his site? What a vast amount of knowledge!

quickdtoo · « **Reply #20 on:** August 09, 2007, 05:18:22 PM »

Quote from: burntmuch on August 09, 2007, 03:54:42 PM

So the ballbearing cleans the very end of the rifling?

It touches up the crown making it nice and crisp the way it should be. It won't fix major defects, but will clean it up enough to make a difference.

Tim