BAT SV in 22 Hornet

[FJVance]

I've had several Hornets over the last 40 years, but never one built on a BAT SV receiver. Would order right bolt, right port. How are they with feeding?

 

[SmokinJoe]

FWIW, I bought a Neska "T" based custom Hornet that had been part of an estate sale a couple years ago. It has a coned bolt. Because of the coned bolt there is no way for the rim to hold headspace, so that was a problem. It shot new ammo just fine, but the firing pin energy knocked the brass forward about.025, so with reloads brass would have seperated pretty quickly. So I "K'd" it to control headspace on the shoulder but still had headspace issues of about .005-.006 even with firing pin spring at 16#. "Discovered" the 22 Spitfire/ 5.7 Johnson cartridge which has a boltface about .015 bigger than the Hornet rim. Had the boltface opened up a little to accommodate the Spitfire, got reamer and gages from JGS and dies from Graf & Sons, then brass from Reeds Ammo and put it all together with a new 1-12 Brux barrel. I is now my absolute favorite short range varmint rifle. Have tried the Reed's brass which is made from Graf's, Starline, Hornady and Winchester. I re-anneal, then just run through my FL die and it is done, must re-anneal before forming. I also opened up the neck of my Redding FL die from .242 to .250 so as not to work the brass so much and it has worked very well. The only problem I have had is the Winchester brass; about 25% of it cracked in the neck/shoulder area on 1st firing, won't be using any more of that. It looks to me like the Starline is probably the best brass to work with. I'm easily getting 3200-3300 fps with varmint 40 gr bullets and accuracy in the .2-.3 range

 

[FJVance]

That is very helpful, thank you, IDNK the BAT SV had a coned nose, really?
And RBLP? Does that help at the bench?
I'm a fan of original Hornet, and usually don't do K or Ackley.

 

[FJVance]

Thank You
You might look at my post on this forum, 5.7x28 Vance

 

[JSH]

FWIW, I bought a Neska "T" based custom Hornet that had been part of an estate sale a couple years ago. It has a coned bolt. Because of the coned bolt there is no way for the rim to hold headspace, so that was a problem. It shot new ammo just fine, but the firing pin energy knocked the brass forward about.025, so with reloads brass would have seperated pretty quickly. So I "K'd" it to control headspace on the shoulder but still had headspace issues of about .005-.006 even with firing pin spring at 16#. "Discovered" the 22 Spitfire/ 5.7 Johnson cartridge which has a boltface about .015 bigger than the Hornet rim. Had the boltface opened up a little to accommodate the Spitfire, got reamer and gages from JGS and dies from Graf & Sons, then brass from Reeds Ammo and put it all together with a new 1-12 Brux barrel. I is now my absolute favorite short range varmint rifle. Have tried the Reed's brass which is made from Graf's, Starline, Hornady and Winchester. I re-anneal, then just run through my FL die and it is done, must re-anneal before forming. I also opened up the neck of my Redding FL die from .242 to .250 so as not to work the brass so much and it has worked very well. The only problem I have had is the Winchester brass; about 25% of it cracked in the neck/shoulder area on 1st firing, won't be using any more of that. It looks to me like the Starline is probably the best brass to work with. I'm easily getting 3200-3300 fps with varmint 40 gr bullets and accuracy in the .2-.3 range

I would think you could have done it much like any of the TC actions, Contender or Encore. The rim is for extraction as much if not more than headspace.

Just bump the shoulder when sizing. Play with the 32-20/30-20 a bunch, nothing more than a some what bigger Hornet case.
I think there is a fair bit of misunderstanding that guys either praise or cuss the old Blackpowder design type cases.

Not argument from me on the rechamber that is just cool.
Jeff

 

[SmokinJoe]

I have 4 Hornets (K-Hornets) so I'm not anti-Hornet, but in the case of the custom action with coned bolt it just amazed me at the headspace problems that presented themselves, and the Spitfire was just a perfect solution as it turned out. Just trying to save some others from the frustration I went through and share a better way to go in that class of cartridge. And of course there are other similar cartridges like the Garin series and Calhoon's Badger that are made from the M1 Carbine brass.

 

[JSH]

I have had a few hornets. I have seen some “odd” chamberings. Most all of them had what I call headspace issues.
Had a couple of Tc barrels. One a custom “match” chamber supposedly. A factory barrel also at the same time. The two were as different as night and day.

 

[searcher]

How are they with feeding?

I'm assembling parts to build a BAT SV in .22 Nosler. I just pulled the action out and looked at it. I think

I've had several Hornets over the last 40 years, but never one built on a BAT SV receiver. Would order right bolt, right port. How are they with feeding?

I looked over my BAT SV with a .223 bolt face that I'm going to build in .22 Nosler. It might be a bit tedious extracting the shells in a Hornet. Those Hornet shells are pretty small to fish out of the small opening in the SV. I'd likely order it with an ejector. Not sure how they might feed.

 

[FJVance]

I have a BAT SV on order, with ejector.
I will try to be patient.
Open
Open
Open

 

[SmokinJoe]

The Sako or M-16 type extractors also give better results than the slide gate style when you need a little fudge factor. Isn't that what is shown in the above pictures?

 

[SmokinJoe]

That is the common slide gate extractor used on custom actions almost exclusively until the last few years. I don't have a Farley in Hornet but have one, and a couple of Nesikas, in 223 bf. Have one Nesika T in Hornet that has been opened slightly to accommodate M1 Carbine brass for the current 22 Spitfire. They are all wonderful actions, so smooth.

 

[CajunBlake]

I like the extractor on the Farley Firefly better...although you'll play heck finding one. I only know of two with Hornet bolt faces that were built years ago...and I know who owns the other one. A couple of pictures of a Farley Firefly coned nose Hornet bolt. The extractor is a small ball bearing and coil spring set-up. Works extremely well. 7315br

my ears were burning