Closer in the Mystery .22 Rifle

by Hoot , Diversityville, Liberal-sota, Wednesday, February 17, 2016, 14:45 (3141 days ago)

So, months ago, I picked up a Husky bolt action single shot which was advertised as ".22 Hornet". In a fit of 'bid before research', I end up on the hook by the time it comes to me that Husqvarna never (that I can find) made their little single shots in a Hornet. Well, too late because you won the auction buddy.

Upon receipt, I do a bit of research and find in several sources, the Hornet was the result of experiments using the .22WCF (.228" bullet) circa 1930. I believe this bit. There does not seem to be any consensus that I've seen as to why the 'Whelen crew' chose a .223" (later .224") bullet.

Germany, in a parallel development released the 5.6x35R which, according to several 'net sources, was "identical to the Hornet". This is often identified as a 5.6x35R Vierling. However, the Vierling is a reference to a four barreled long gun, usually with 2 shotgun barrels and 2 rifled barrels (sometimes differing calibers). Some sources date Germany's cartridge to the 1890's which predates the Hornet by quite a bit. Interesting to note the 5.6x35R specs out a 5.63mm(.2216") maximum bullet.

CIP and SAAMI drawings show these are two very similar but different cases. There is also considerable differences regarding the dimensions of both in various corners of the 'Inter-Webs'. To further complicate things, the Vierling is often presented as yet another cartridge.

The rifle turns out to be Husqvarna's Model 365 which was a heavy barreled rifle originally chambered in .22LR. Some unknown mechanic did an awful lot of high quality work converting it to centerfire, adding a second recoil lug as well as relocating the extractor and rechambering it.

Standard Hornet cases would chamber but the shoulder was pushed back. Further, the extractor struggled with the rim thickness; it worked, but the rims seemed to be a bit much. I proceeded under the assumption I had the metric caliber and thinned the rims of some new Hornet cases and shortened them by a skosh. These were then loaded with a combination of 45gr cast and .223" jacketed bullets using cast bullet data for the Hornet from Lyman's manual.

The first opportunity to fire this rifle was at CSA 2015. Rounds chambered, fired and extracted without issue but, due to the nature of The Holler, I was unable to see where they were going. The end result was a number of fired cases which were visibly different than the parent case and which matched, as near as I can measure, the CIP drawing.

Last night, I put it on paper....sort of. Fired braced, at 15 yards, 2 cast bullets hit the target....sideways. The destination of the third is anyone's guess. The single jacketed bullet fired showed the same inclination.

I spent the morning scrubbing the bore. It was dirty but I am only getting some very small traces of lead. The crown looks good. The rifling at the muzzle "seems" fainter than that at the breech but is still very visible.

Also having trouble getting a good bead on the twist. My cleaning rod is close enough to the bore diameter that it does not spin freely. I am assuming it is a 'standard' 1:16 for the LR which should stabilize a 45gr bullet.

We'll try again with a clean barrel and see if that changes things.

Long winded story but if there are other things to investigate, I would be happy to hear of them.

Thanks for the indulgence.