Converting rimfire to centerfire choices/help

[denydart]

I'm looking at buying either a Ruger 77/22 or Remington 799 in 22 Hornet. The end use of this rifle is primarily going to be to shoot starlings but I want to load the Hornet down to the 1300-1500 range with 30-35gr bullets.

Given a budget of 1000$, would I be better off to get one of the above rifles, fork out for a new trigger/trigger work and probably bases and rings for the 799, OR, convert and rechamber a 22LR or 22WMR to something like the 22JGR?

I have a CIL 190S as a donor rifle, already with a match trigger and good rings, a stock that I love and a nice short bolt travel. It just likes expensive match ammo that doesn't perfom well on game past 60yds. I would also consider a Marlin or Savage 22WMR as a donor but don't know if they will convert to centerfire either.

Where should I put my money?

 

[vagrantviking]

If you want to build a centre-fire start with a centre-fire action. You will be way ahead in terms of action strength, extractor fitting, feeding and firing pin position.

Going with a Hornet or Khornet would be the easiest in terms of reloading tooling. The 218 Bee might be considered for the retro fan.

Thou if all you want is 1500fps why not stay with the rimfires and buy premium ammo?

 

[denydart]

That's just it. I have been using rimfire match. It seems to be a trade-off. I can either use Yellow-Jackets and eviscerate those damn birds reliably out to 50 yds. or I can hit them every time out to 75 yds. but never really know because they don't die right away with the not so expandable lead match bullets.

What I want to try to get is a 100yd MOA rimfire/small centerfire that can keep muzzle velocities below 1500fps. I'm shooting these birds out of trees and although I know exactly witch trees I can shoot them out of, I still need to limit overall range to less than 2km.

 

[ben hunchak]

Your best bet would be to get yourself a good accurate boltgun in one of the smaller .22 centerfires, the .222 or the .221 fireball would be optimum. Load them down to as slow as you want with cast bullets, save lots of money on the bullets and the very small amounts of powder(as little as 5 grs./load). I have loaded cast bullets down to 600fps in rifles with good accuracy. The best barrel for such work would be a 1-14" twist.

 

[Bobby Ironsights]

Umm... Ok on one hand I applaud the desire for a hornet. I loved my hornet, and just had to sell it to get over a temporary funds shortage.

But for your use, it sounds like what you really want is a shotgun a reasonably tight choke to reach out to 60-70 yards, with a low powered shotgun scope for good accuracy. (70 yards is pushing it though, you'd want to make sure to pattern a number of shells on a sheet of newsprint to make sure you're getting good coverage with the load you make.

I think that such a setup would have you decimating the local starling population in no time, with a very safe maximum range. Since lead shot is only outlawed for waterfowl use, and is still completely legal for use on land, you wouldn't have any issue with the reduced range of steel shot or the spectacularly high cost of tungsten mix.

P.S. How often does it happen that we can recommend a person spend LESS money, rather than more, to get what they want accomplished, eh?

 

[gunpro]

get a Savage in 17hmr, no wounded nothing at 75 yards.

 

[gunasauras]

get a Savage in 17hmr, no wounded nothing at 75 yards.

I second this! I have shot crows at 150M with the 17HMR. dead on impact, no problem. Stupidly accurate to boot too!

 

[hutten]

I also agree with 17HMR. With mine, I can shoot 5 shot 2" group at 200 yards, and that is with only 150 rounds put down the barrel. This gun can shoot much better than I can, I know that for sure. Starlings won't stand a chance.
Also - I set mine up (Savage with heavy barrel) with Bushnell 3200 10x40 for around $600. Lets you spend more on ammo.

 

[denydart]

Okay, the 17HMR sounds good but just to make sure, the maximum dangerous (not effective) range on the 17 with either bullet weight is still somewhere under 2km?

 

[Rembo]

you're starting at the wrong place and therefore,...ending at the wrong place..

instead of starting with a rimfire action and modifying it to a centerfire and ending up with a cartridge that shoots 35's at 1300-1500 with a rimmed 19th century case...start and end with a CZ-527 in 221 Fireball.........

The Fireball has a small capacity increase over the Hornet (I loaded my Hornet with 13.5 grs of Lil'Gun under a 40gr VMax, I load the FB with 15'5 grs of the same powder)......and it can be loaded down to the velocity you are after...all this with a modern rimless case and better feeding in most rifles than the Hornet.