An observant forum member seen a post I made about always wanting a 22 K Hornet and sent me a message to say he had one he would consider selling.
After a few emails back and forth he kindly dropped the rifle and all the other bits I needed, in order to have a turn key setup at a mates place. I was able to pick it up when I flew in from work.
I rarely buy 2nd hand firearms (3 in last 30 years) and where rifles are concerned I would normally not consider buying one unless I was able to shoot it.
I bought this wee gem after only looking at a few pics and some obvious questions.
First turn bolt centerfire I have had in over 20yrs as well. [emoji16]
Knowing the owner and great deal he gave me, I was more than confident on it being a nice accurate little rifle.
Barrel has a 1:12. 224 bore so I was happy I could use heavier than normal projectiles than what most use in the caliber.
The rifle came with dies, heaps of formed brass and projectiles.
I intend to use the rifle for varmints but mainly, for fringe and creek hunting deer and the like.
When I first started using a 223 on deer my favorite bullet was the hornady 55gr sp.
Having a few hundred in my projectile stash I loaded a few up along with some 50 gr Vmax using Lilgun for the powder. Cleaned the barrel and adjusted the trigger to suit me, then headed up the range.
I used some loaded ammo that came with the rifle to get on paper and a rough zero as I had changed the suppressor. It ended up being only a couple inches out at 100yrds.
First 3 shots using supplied loads went around a half inch. I was pretty happy with that for the first time shooting the rifle.
I then started with the 50 Vmax and shot another reasonable group that was 2885fps avg
After a while to let the barrel and suppressor cool I tried the 55s and they went nicely at 2850fps with only a 20fps ES.
I was over the moon happy with the rifle.
Certainly fast enough, with plenty of energy to clean shoot a deer out to 100yrds.
A330driver whom has been an absolute legend helping me out, is sending me a new bolt handle with some 30mm rings from his place in the states. I plan to mount another scope that I have a little lower than the 465 action normally allows.
Once I have done all that I will muck around finalising load development and then get out to find its first victim.
Target below has the 55gr on the left with the Vmax on the right.
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