Striker Curious...HORNET?

[plinkin]

Hey guys,

Did Savage ever make a 22 Hornet Striker?

[J.Baker]

Nope!

[plinkin]

Nope!

Well that sucks

[Appleseed]

Switched a striker to .221fb, it is a fun round no recoil.

[DaveC]

Also easier to load and the brass lasts longer.

[Appleseed]

++, "modern" brass, when you can find it priced reasonably. Pricey may be the way all supplies stay?
The fireball is a mild round in a 14-16 inch barrel.

[tinkerer]

But they did make a 22-250, and rifle barrels cut down work as well. Put some weight in their plastic stock or get a wood one. Great varmint round.

Larry
Tinkerer

[plinkin]

Well if not a 22 Hornet, then could a .204 be done? What calibers share the same bolt face with the .204? I know the .222 does.

[tyler.woodard04]

Or buy a ptg hornet bolt head

[Appleseed]

I chose .221fb instead of hornet for "modern" design brass. Brass was on the shelf then. Have two, one in Striker one CZ525. With one bolt face you can switch from .17's/.20's/.22's/.300blk or 6mm & 7mm chambers. You can use reduced loads with the right powder. Maybe the hornet family does all this as well?

Then brass got scarce...cured that problem two ways. Got a brass holding tool to cut .223 cases from a vendor on 300blktalk. You can cut .223 cases to any length. norcalmike is making a .20vt mini this way. Also from a vendor on the same site last month, got once fired FLC sized cleaned and deprimed for the .221fb, way cheaper than on the shelf Remington brass, and better to boot.

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Some of the Guys are making 20 VT as well as 17s out of Factory Remington .221 Fireball brass. There's a LOT of it going up for sale now that the Guys have had stashed away.
Or, make it from LC 5.56 or .223. More work intensive but a fun project if you don't mind the extra work.
As far as the .204 in a Striker? WILD recoil from a shorter barrel that may turn you off. Had one and wasn't too pleased because of that.
Lots of options out there. My first choice would be the .221 Fireball. (one of my favorite calibers) Next would be the 20 VT. Will take a 20 caliber barrel to get there.
And remember, it's a "Savage" and you can make it into just about any caliber you can think of. What's not to love about that??

[plinkin]

Or buy a ptg hornet bolt head

So what would it take to realistically chamber a Striker in 22H or 17H? I am thinking it would ultimately end up being a single shot. Also if you were to do this which one would you choose to use?

[Appleseed]

Many bullet choices with a .22 cal. If you like the hornet, you will love the .221fb. Need a sack of good Lake City brass, pm me. I expect this brass will load many times in the fb, I was warned off hornet brass for that reason. The fb shoots anything from the .30grs to 55gr. Hope to add a .300blkout in the same case, 110gr to 220gr deer loads.

The bolt head change on mine required some machining and drilling to fit the firing pin and lug locking. Ask ptg if that comes pre-fit for the striker.

Mike, didn't you have a recoil vid on youtube shooting the .204 striker with and without the brake turned on?

[Nor Cal Mikie]

No videos or pictures from me shooting the .204. The problem I ran into was the recoil out of the 16" barrel. REAL wild and not fun to shoot.
My main goal was to be able to see my hits through the scope. With the short barreled .204, no way. I finally was able to down load the charge to get it on paper. Added a brake to the 16" straight pipe but never fired it after the change. Was too turned off with the recoil to follow through. Set that chamber back to 20 VT and was quite pleased with the results. Sold that barrel to someone that wanted it more than I did.
With my low to no recoil goal in mind (short of going to a rimfire) I built the 20 VT "Short". Pretty happy with the results so far. Making brass can be a pain at times but that's parts of building a wildcat. Even the 20 VT is pretty good as far as seeing hits at distance. At 100 yards, you get enough recoil with either the .221 Fireball or the 20 VT that seeing hits can be a chore. Still deadly accurate.
The .221 Fireball or even the 20 VT is a dream in a longer heavy barrel. 5 shot groups that can be seen through the scope at 100 yards makes it all come together. And 5 shot groups that can be covered with a dome are quite common.

The biggest problem with the .204 was burning that much powder in a short barrel. Long barrels make the .204 Ruger shoot like a dream.
Recoil doesn't bother me "that much" but on a Striker or XP 100 pistol platform, it wasn't what I was after. For hunting, if you know where your hits are, they're a fun rig.
Hitting steel (or game) out to 400+ yards from a Striker or XP pistol will put a grin on anybodys face.
I've done it and seen the results and reactions from onlookers. Priceless!

[plinkin]

Many bullet choices with a .22 cal. If you like the hornet, you will love the .221fb.

I am sure that I would like the 221FB but I won't own one. It may seem strange but I try as much as possible to own calibers that I can shoot from a rifle and a pistol. The 22 Hornet caliber I have wanted since the days of me being a yout and my 1st Hornet gun was a Raging Hornet and then a Savage 40. After accidently selling the Raging Hornet I miss my Hornet handgun. Not much luck yet in the TC area for getting a decent one which lead me to Strikers and the eventual purchase of 2 rim fire strikers. I am awaiting the HMR 503 this week.

I know there are far better choices than the 22 Hornet but it is a fun and sometimes frustrating round.

[plinkin]

Hitting steel (or game) out to 400+ yards from a Striker or XP pistol will put a grin on anybody's face.
I've done it and seen the results and reactions from onlookers. Priceless!

it is funny at times to watch the looks on people's face at the shooting range. A couple years ago I was zeroing a new scope on what I now affectionately refer to as the Raging HMR which is my HMR Tracker. That rim fire in itself is fairly loud and if you never heard one or fired one it is interesting to say the least. As I was getting it close on paper at 25yd I saw these 2 guys who were younger but of age to own a handgun looking over at me. As I turned to look the one asks me, "Is that a 44?"

I replied, :No, why do you ask that?" He said, "Well, it is pretty loud."

"Yes," I said, "a bit loud. If you think that is loud wait until I break out my .22!"

They looked puzzled.

A few minutes later I opened up the large pistol case and took out the Raging Hornet and as I released the double locks on the cylinder and fed 3 rounds into it I glanced in their direction to see if they noticed. They were BUG EYED to say the least. They never saw a 22 handgun that size. I took my time and they had stopped shooting and I imagined that they had been reading some cheesy novel and got to the part that stated... and Mack Bolan unleathered Big Thunder... when I touched off the 1st round. Just when I thought their eyes could not have gotten bigger as they stared at each other in astonishment. 2nd round and they had materialized right behind me. I turned around and one said, "That is not a 22!" to which I replied "oh yes it is 22 caliber." and then showed them a Hornet round. I miss those days. If nothing else that thing was a conversation starter.

I can imagine you center fire Striker guys get that now and again when you are at the range basically alone and some noobs show up. I haven't had the 501 out to the public range yet but I plant to take it and the 503 out this week. I want to get the 503 swapped out with a different scope and get some late season 'chucks before I get distracted with squirrels. Oh the 501 is already an excellent squirrel getter too :-)

[Nor Cal Mikie]

I was at the range with my XP 100 in .221 Fireball when a Grampa and his Grandson about 12 years old started watching me fire off a couple or rounds. I set it up and asked the kid if he wanted to give it a try. (Stupid question!!) Had him get use to sighting through the scope at the 400+ target gong. He hit it 3 times in a row and for the life of me, I couldn't have wiped the grin off his face if my life depended on it.
It's always fun to see the reactions from folks when they see exactly what a bench pistol can do.
As far as a Hornet, never tried one myself but I've been thinking about a rimmed 20 VT or even the "short" in something like a Martini or a Contender. Should be another "fun project".

[Appleseed]

Added a CZ 527 rifle in fb to go with the striker fb. Sinarms chambered both barrels so the reamer was the same. And he made the CZ a switch barrel to boot. I have yet to figure why savage doesn't offer one in their model 25 rifles.