Building the ultimate night critter and small game forest gun

[IvW]

218 Bee.

Best regards,

No ammo availible in SA....

 

[Dewald]

Where are all the people shooting Rook & Rabbit rifles? Put a .300 Sherwood in that bottom barrel

 

[IvW]

Where are all the people shooting Rook & Rabbit rifles? Put a .300 Sherwood in that bottom barrel

No ammo availible in SA.....

 

[Flewis]

I have a 12ga 3"/7×65R Belgium O/U of which it seems the 7x65R barrel chamber has given up. Shells have a downut when fired. This is a very good action with double Kerstin locks.

Now I am in need of the ultimate night critter and small game forest duiker etc. Rifle.

I am considering re barreling it to a 22 Hornet with a fast twist rate barrel.

Any other suggestions?
Has to be rimmed cartridge and modest velocity......

Could you have it rebored,, they’re a lot of bigger mild euro rounds. Even the 8mm kurtz is making a come back.

 

[Flewis]

I don’t know about sa , but here in the us you could have it bored and sleeved into a smaller round.

 

[Wheels]

I like your idea of the 22 Hornet best. If you load your own ammo you might experiment with lowering the speed to around 2200. Another possibility is the 22 Mag.

All the best.

 

[Longwalker]

I use my Krieghoff drilling for such work. It is a 16x16/7x57R. I have a .22 magnum rimfire insert barrel installed and use it for most of the shots I take with that gun. Grouse, rabbits, up to coyote and beaver. If something comes along that is bigger than is suitable for the .22 hornet, a cast bullet in the 7x57R or a solid would bridge the gap, or just use a regular expanding 7mm bullet. I like your idea of a .22 hornet. Wonderful cartridge.

 

[Sarg]

Cool set of rifles you have there & great idea on the Hornet or even K Hornet which is just that bit better & cases last a bit better .

I have used the Hornet a lot on Fallow size Deer & with today's bullets & the faster twist it will do wonders I'm sure, when I used factory loads (near all 45gr) the US ammo was only good for brain/neck shots where as European stuff would work well even on chest shots, I hypothesis it was used in Europe on small game & deer (Roe) as opposed to Varmints in the US hence better bullets for larger/heavy game?

The 218 Bee is also a great little caliber but as you said bit harder on factory loads same for the Great 222 Rimmed which I think would be slightly better than the Hornet (the 222Rem to) .

Is the 5.6X50R Magnum available in SA if so this would be a great choice if you wanted a bit more power & you could push up your game size ?

I know it is not common but I was going to try it myself in a project .

Could you saw a photo or two of you Combo Guns, we don't get many nice ones here ?

Just trying to fix up my Cape gun now in .577/450 X 16ga .

Whoops sorry, got away from your modest velocity there.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I have a 12ga 3"/7×65R Belgium O/U of which it seems the 7x65R barrel chamber has given up. Shells have a downut when fired. This is a very good action with double Kerstin locks.

Now I am in need of the ultimate night critter and small game forest duiker etc. Rifle.

I am considering re barreling it to a 22 Hornet with a fast twist rate barrel.

Any other suggestions?
Has to be rimmed cartridge and modest velocity......

.218 Bee? Slightly more powerful than the Hornet, but I would expect it would be harder to find ammo or brass.

 

[IvW]

Could you have it rebored,, they’re a lot of bigger mild euro rounds. Even the 8mm kurtz is making a come back.

Nope only re barrel

 

[Donnstar]

I believe my suggestion will be outside of most of this conversation but my .17 WSM within its wind constraints is a tack driver and proven killer.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

.22 Savage Hi Power. Sellier & Bellot makes factory loaded ammunition for it. Have used a BRNO combination gun with the rifle barrel in this caliber for hunting roe deer. It's a pretty solid (if uncommon) caliber.

 

[Sarg]

@Hunter-Habib , yes good old caliber bar the odd ball bore size but it has already been suggested & turned down for lack of ammo in SA I think he said 5.6X52R is the .22 Savage Hi Power ?

We are all trying lol !

 

[IvW]

@Hunter-Habib , yes good old caliber bar the odd ball bore size but it has already been suggested & turned down for lack of ammo in SA I think he said 5.6X52R is the .22 Savage Hi Power ?

We are all trying lol !

Great caliber but no ammo availibility in SA....not even bullets as it is a odd size.....

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

I have a 12ga 3"/7×65R Belgium O/U of which it seems the 7x65R barrel chamber has given up. Shells have a downut when fired. This is a very good action with double Kerstin locks.

Now I am in need of the ultimate night critter and small game forest duiker etc. Rifle.

I am considering re barreling it to a 22 Hornet with a fast twist rate barrel.

Any other suggestions?
Has to be rimmed cartridge and modest velocity......

22 hornet is a great caliber
varmint type bullets if u dont care about the skin/trophy and decent hunting mono type bullets for other game so not to damage skins too much
we use 22 hornet a lot for all types of game from birds and mammals up to impala size

 

[IvW]

22 hornet is a great caliber
varmint type bullets if u dont care about the skin/trophy and decent hunting mono type bullets for other game so not to damage skins too much
we use 22 hornet a lot for all types of game from birds and mammals up to impala size

This is the current direction I am in.....

When calling from the blind I can have the Bergstutzen with me in case....have called in bushpig, leopard and hyena while calling for duiker....

 

[andries 318 wr]

.22 Hornet with 50gr Rhino Solid Shank bullets

 

[Challer]

CEB makes some awesome projectiles for the Hornet. They completely open up the Hornet (and other .22).

 

[Flewis]

This is the current direction I am in.....

When calling from the blind I can have the Bergstutzen with me in case....have called in bushpig, leopard and hyena while calling for duiker....

Hornet has 2 bore sizes 223 is the original, it was changed to 224 later.

 

[AZDAVE]

I have a HR single shot in 22 hornet, shoots great For coyotes out to 200 it is a fantastic little rifle. For the use on Common diker and down to the little blues I would just reload it with the 55gr FMJ military surplus bullets and wouldn't have to worry about any cape damage, or the Vmax option the Marius mentioned. Either would fit the bill. I keep looking at getting a barrel for my TC encore but just haven't yet.