Fun 17 Hornet project

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rwnblack

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I just finished a fun but probably crazy project. I had a cheap rusted out Stevens Shotgun from the 1950's and was practicing casehardening on the action and it turned out ok so I decided to rebarrel it to something interesting. I bushed the firing pin, did my best to refinish the very scratched up Tenite stock, touched up the trigger, put a crinkle finish on the trigger guard, stubbed the barrel, threaded it and fit a 17 cal green mountain barrel from Bits o' Pieces. I bought a reamer from Manson Reamers for the 17 Hornady Hornet and it worked really well. I finished of the barrel to 24" long and tapered it so it was not so muzzle heavy. I blued the barrel with Belgium hot water bluing method and mounted a very cheap 22 scope on the rifle. I had it out to the range last week and what a fun little gun to shoot and wow does it shoot. The scope is not great at 100 yds so the bulleseye was not really that clear but it was still shooting 3/4" groups. At 50 yards the scope is very clear and the group in the picture is my first group after geting it on target. It measures 0.15" center to center. I think this gun will shoot better than I am capable of and will be a killer on gophers. Best part I have very little cash tied up in this project.

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Normally you would unscrew the barrel and thread a new one to fit but with a break action there are no threads so I had to make threads. I think some call this stumping. I cut the barrel of just ahead of the lugs (monoblock), bored it out and cut a 7/8 special thread in about 1.5". This way I could thread a new barrel in and barrel it like you would a normal threaded action. I assume your bolt action shot guns have barrels threaded on so you shouldn't have to do this. Don't put a smokeless chambered barrel on an old black powder shotgun, the steel will likely be to weak. This was a smokeless action and according to my calculations it will hold the 17 hornet. Also most shotguns have really big firing pins and need to be bushed as well.
 
rwnblack said:
Normally you would unscrew the barrel and thread a new one to fit but with a break action there are no threads so I had to make threads. I think some call this stumping.
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It is called "stubbing." I have done a number of stubs on H&R SB2 actions... nice job... too bad you couldn't get some nice wood on it.
 
rwnblack said:
Normally you would unscrew the barrel and thread a new one to fit but with a break action there are no threads so I had to make threads. I think some call this stumping. I cut the barrel of just ahead of the lugs (monoblock), bored it out and cut a 7/8 special thread in about 1.5". This way I could thread a new barrel in and barrel it like you would a normal threaded action. I assume your bolt action shot guns have barrels threaded on so you shouldn't have to do this. Don't put a smokeless chambered barrel on an old black powder shotgun, the steel will likely be to weak. This was a smokeless action and according to my calculations it will hold the 17 hornet. Also most shotguns have really big firing pins and need to be bushed as well.
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I just read your description of your stub project and I can't see how what you describe would work... you can't thread in an inch and a half... you have to thread the entire stub and screw the barrel completely through to the breach face... then the barrel is fixed and face-trued and then the chamber cut... threading an inch an a half leaves the barrel to breach surface inset a long way from the breach face.... I only see a thin line that doesn't appear to be a joint on your gun about an inch an a half in front of the lug... that would not be a typical location to cut a stub... can you provide some more detail.
 
The line you see is the end of the stub. I put lots of grease on the threads but the grease kept the seam between the two from blueing. I made the stub fairly long as the lug was very long and the barrel blank was only 1.060 in diameter which is smaller than the chamber portion of the barrel. I cut it off on the taper to match the diameter of the blank. Since the stub was so long, I only threaded half, similar to how a stevens 44 1/2 is cut. I. Bored the whole stub out to the minor diameter of my 7/8 special fine thread and tapped it staring from the muzzle end of the stub not the breach end. Starting at the breech end, the stub had about 1 1/2" of smooth shank cut to minor diameter of the tread followed by the treaded portion for the rest. I spent some time truing up the breach square with the barrel so the barrel blank was butted up straight and true to the action. Machinists blue was very helpful for this process.

I should have bought a handi rifle but the idea of recycling the old shotgun with the Tenite stock was too tempting plus I built this on the cheap. In the end, I am very pleased with the finished product.
 
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rwnblack said:
Since the stub was so long, I only threaded half, similar to how a stevens 44 1/2 is cut. I. Bored the whole stub out to the minor diameter of my 7/8 special fine thread and tapped it staring from the muzzle end of the stub not the breach end. Starting at the breech end, the stub had about 1 1/2" of smooth shank cut to minor diameter of the tread followed by the treaded portion for the rest.
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So the barrel tenon was stepped? The breach end O.D is sized to the minimum thread diameter and then stepped up to provide thread engagement at the maximum thread diameter? That would work fine, but why not thread the whole shank and tenon?
 
Thanks,

You're correct about the stepping. I didn't thread the whole stub because it just seemed like over kill. An 1 1/2" of 7/8 thread is more than enough to hold.
 
Wow. Nice work. You did great. I was the fellow at Jo Brooks who sold the the 17 Hornet ammo and showed great interest in your project. You are a craftsman.
 
lpel said:
Wow. Nice work. You did great. I was the fellow at Jo Brooks who sold the the 17 Hornet ammo and showed great interest in your project. You are a craftsman.
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Thanks, I appreciate that. This is a crazy hobby or obsession. I left Brandon very encouraged you have more experience with 17 cal rifles than anyone I have ever met. I used the rifle for golfing as well. At 50 yards the balls almost make it back to the 100 yard line. The range is only 100 yards so I am not sure how far they would fly back from the 100 yard spot but this little cartridge is very peppy for sure.
 
rwnblack said:
Thanks, I appreciate that. This is a crazy hobby or obsession. I left Brandon very encouraged you have more experience with 17 cal rifles than anyone I have ever met. I used the rifle for golfing as well. At 50 yards the balls almost make it back to the 100 yard line. The range is only 100 yards so I am not sure how far they would fly back from the 100 yard spot but this little cartridge is very peppy for sure.
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I'm not sure that the owner of the driving range will be as impressed...
 
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