How to "K" a Hornet?

[SmokinJoe]

I have the reamer & gages plus some fired brass with headspace I'd like to match as close as possible. Can anyone who has done this please give me pointers on best lube and anything else that might keep me out of trouble. Any help would be appreciated.

[SmokinJoe]

Can't believe that nobody here has done this, but FYI I K’d my latest Hornet last night by hand with the reamer on a T-handle. Used "TrueTap" cutting fluid. Came out great with the bolt dropping freely on the Go gage and not closing at all on the No-Go. I was very lucky to hit that spot but would have been OK with a few thousandths more because one of my other K-Hornets has a chamber a few thousandths longer and I planned to use the brass from it for this one. I have been very apprehensive about trying this (again) as my last attempt ended with the rifle, reamer and gages headed to the gunsmith. Just thought I would let y'all know that it can be done.

[hemi]

Ata boy Joe...living on the edge and given her a go with the T-handle....
hemi

[LowerRiver]

So you just reamed it and that’s it? No resetting of the barrel or any other work?

[SmokinJoe]

That is correct, just take it slow as you approach full depth and keep checking frequently. It is a bit time consuming, but I did the whole thing from setup to cleanup in about 1 1/2 hours.

[ray h]

Joe did you bush the T-Handle in the rec'r?

[Bill K]

Originally Posted by SmokinJoe

That is correct, just take it slow as you approach full depth and keep checking frequently. It is a bit time consuming, but I did the whole thing from setup to cleanup in about 1 1/2 hours.

Had a friend that had a gunsmith do this to his on chamber. Basically all the smith was doing with the K-reamer and t-handle was slowly reaming and fitting the improved case into the standard chamber, by opening the shoulder angle up to a improved one. As he said it took his smith about 1 hr to do it. No removal of the action from the stock or anything. Bill K

[SmokinJoe]

After I got all my stuff together to do this, I tried a couple reamer bushings in the bore to find one that fit pretty close thinking that would help guide the reamer better and reduce the possibility of chatter. Next I removed the barreled action from the stock and clamped the barrel in my barrel vise with barrel vertical, put a 5 gal bucket underneath to catch the crud and went at it. Every several turns I carefully backed the reamer out and cleaned it and the chamber. After I got part way, I installed the Go gage and took a measurement with a steel rule of how far the bolt handle had to go before being able to close, then marked that much on the T-handle shaft above the rear tang. The action has the squared off BR type tang so it is a good reference. I would ream for 6 or 8 half turns then check it again. I really did luck out on hitting the headspace so well, but if you just take your time, especially toward the end, and keep checking with the Go gage, you have a good chance of hitting it real close.

Last time I tried this I don't think I had the right type of fluid for the job. I did it on a SS barreled Anschutz 1730 and the metal was really gummy so to speak, which ended up creating chatter no matter what pressure I tried. And once the chatter starts, I don't know how you would be able to deal with it by hand. But look at it this way; you want to K your Hornet, right? So you try it by hand and you aren't happy with it, just package everything up and send it to your gunsmith like you might have done in the first place. So by trying to do it yourself you haven't really lost anything, but you might learn something. One of the greatest pleasures I get out of life is learning new things, so that is what drives me to try stuff like this.

[LowerRiver]

Very interesting. So what supplies do you have and where would a guy get this stuff to try it? I have a 77/22 that I’d love to “K”.

[SmokinJoe]

The first thing you will need is a reamer with live pilot (you may need a few extra pilot bushings to get a good close fit) & gages, plus a cutting fluid as mentioned above. I used brake cleaner and compressed air to clean the reamer & chamber as I went. I also have a borescope to check what the chamber looks like inside. That's about it other than the bucket and a way to hold the barrel, basic measuring tools and some patience.