I am a sucker for classic varmint rifles. I grew up reading of people like Lindahl, C.C. Johnson, Donaldson, Smith, and of course, Griffin & Howe, and Niedner. In particular, I am a sucker for those built on converted 1922 Springfields. The magazine G&H made for them is just amazing in how well it feeds the little hornet case. And yes, I believe that the bulk of these repeater conversions to Hornet were done by G&H with the exception of the very first few that were done at Springfield Armory. Many were converted by various gunsmiths as single shots. Sedgley also made a repeater conversion, but it is very different from the G&H and does not seam to be nearly as plentiful.

Anyway, the following rifle showed up at my door step the other day. SA 1922 ser# 412. Barrel date 12/28, so likely not the original barrel.

First the good, bore is in decent shape, looks to have been a little rusty at one time, but is cleaned up pretty good. Finish on the stock and metal is original and is very good condition for a 80+ year old gun. The stock is the armory stock that has been restyled likely by G&H. Some of the G&H stocks have a very distinct point formed where the stock meets the grip and this point fits neatly between the forward points of the grip checkering. This stock has that feature which is not particularly common on the reworked armory stocks in my experience. The magazine feeds the hornet case as it should.

The bad. The rifle has been through at least 2 different scope set-ups. The side of the action has 5 plugged holes from a G&H side mount. Whoever plugged them did a good job, but whatever steel they plugged them with does not take cold blue. The receiver ring and bridge have both been drilled and tapped. The receiver ring would not bother but they drilled it at 5/8" centers rather than the correct 7/8". The bolt handle has also been altered and the stock cut accordingly. And, it has been converted to K Hornet. Not a big deal for a shooter, but it does hurt the value. And the front sigth has been removed. I put a Lyman on it for now, but it really needs either the original Armory sight, which G&H did leave on a lot of these rifles, or a G&H banded front.

And the ugly. The bolt handle, ugly as sin. Have to do something about that. The stock has a chip in the heel, and the buttplate has gotten rusty at one time and stained the wood where it meets the buttplate black.

Not sure where I'll start with this one. I'd be interested in everyone's thoughts.

John

GAS:
Here's my 1922 M1 Hornet Single Shot, remember it? Started out as photo 1, ended up after a little elbow grease and a Lyman Steel Tube All American 4x, with Photo 2. Trigger job with a stone and it shot a .463 last week with cheap ammo from Privi Partisan. GOOD LUCK with the rifle. Jerry

I think the bolt handle with corresponding stock mod bothers me the most.

Jerry, what is that scope mount on the single shot?

Eightbore: They are WARNE MAXIMA ALL STEEL WEAVER STYLE, solid as a rock. $33 AND CHANGE at Optics Planet or Sportsmans Guide. About $50 everywhere else. HTH Jerry

Here is my 1922 M1 one of the first to be converted to Hornet at Springfield and had the stock built out of an issue stock, by someone at Springfield Armory. The high comb and cheek piece are glued together so well you need a magnifying glass to see the joint. The rifle was originally built for 1st Sgt. L.C. Gentner winner at Camp Perry in 1930. It is in good shape, it has a front sight blank in the dovetail and an integral custom made Quarter Rib scope mount 3/4 in in diameter. I have an early Weaver 4x C series with exposed adjustments mounted on it now. It shoots a regular .390 @ 100 yds. This rifle weighs 9.2 lbs. and that lends to its' accuracy. Both 1922's are a joy to shoot.Thought you might like to see the difference.

John, You can get oxalic acid wood bleach at a paint store that will remove the rust stain from the buttplate.

Elegant

you asked ...

plug extra screw holes and blue to make invisible
then enjoy

bolt takes too much work and your eyes might get "adjusted"
I'm ignorant but I assume it is not typical G&H bolt work?

I'd be happy to give it a new home.
Yeah, the more I think about it you would be wise to get rid of it before the bolt haunts you.

I don't know what you can do with the holes in the top of the receiver ring, that would look very good. For the G&H holes in the side have you considered just re-installing a G&H mount? Certainly would take care of that issue. If the bolt handle is unacceptable then you will need to replace it. I don't think its that bad, IMO. (Understanding I am looking at one pic that isn't a close up)

It is always a sort of crossroad on rifles like this and I really like these armory stocked rifles. That said I will just play "if it were mine." The K Hornet chamber is the biggest issue of all for me, so without that sleeved or rebarelled I would do a plan B overhaul. I would tap and plug front ring, re-install G&H mount (7/8") and I would want to reconfigure bolt and stock cut. I would clean up butplate do my best on wood at butt and have fun with it. Oh..... And nothing wrong with K hornet I just don't want one. I think mine is about a $500.00 project. Nice rifle and I like it!

Pardon my ignorance, but why the horrors with the bolt? Admittedly, all bolt guns look pretty much the same to me, but what makes a proper bolt handle vs not?

It is all aethetics or does form still follow function in priorities?

I like your plan B Gary. Mount an Alaskan or Zielklien low enough that it would require the bolt to be modified. Then just reshape the handle and checker the knob. The bolt handle cut in the stock goes lower than the Lyman 48 cut so it would be hard to hide. See how it shoots, and if it does not shoot then we can sleeve the barrel and take it back to straight Hornet.

John

Just aesthetics and originality. When the rifle left G&H, it most likely had a G&H side mount with likely a Zielklien mounted hi enough that the original bolt was not modified. At least that is the way most of these are found. Many will also have target blocks on the receiver ring and barrel for an external adjustment scope. Unfortunately the ring on this one was drilled for the incorrect spacing.

John

You could have Steve Earl make a set of blocks to fit those holes and return to the external adjust scope.

It is a nice rifle from what I can see.

Thought it was about time to give an update on this project. After sitting on it for a couple years, I decided that the only thing of real value on the rifle was the converted action and magazine. So I decided to take the action and pretty much start over. I really like these old 1922 Hornets, but they usually still have the original armory barrel which makes them quite heavy for a walking varmint rifle which to me is what the Hornet is best suited. With that in mind I turned a light sporter contour barrel and threaded it for the 1922 action. I then took the action, barrel, a stock blank, and sent it all to Duane Weibe and told him to make a rifle out of it. I wanted something in the style of the pre-war rifles, but did not want him to deviate to far from his typical style. Duane stocks in the classic style so he just closed up the grip slightly and made the forend just slightly longer than what he typically would on his big game rifles. I am still waiting on the rifle, but we do have some progress pictures so I thought I'd share those here.

Due to all the various bore diameters and twists used on Hornets over the years, I decided to have the Engraver put the groove diameter and twist rate above the wood line opposite the caliber markings.

The scope I will be using is a short receiver mounted external adjustment Fecker small game scope in case anyone was wondering about the scope base on the bridge. The trap buttplate has a cavity to hold the lens caps while you are shooting so they do not get lost.

















John

Now that is my concept of class. Very nice!

I always wanted to do something similar w/ @ MI or MII Springfield but in .22 LR. Unfortunately someone always offered me more than I could resist for the donor action(s) before I got the project started.

Thanks for the update, I look forward to more in the future.

My M1 updated to M2, serial number 251, is a classic stocked in English Walnut beauty built probably in the forties by "Gibson, Fairfax, VA.", probably a stockmaker employed by Parker-Whelen in Washington, D.C. The gun has a Townsend Whelen flavor to it and shoots into one hole at 50 yards with Wolf Match ammunition.

I’m looking forward to hearing how this rifle shoots. What a great project John.

Was this ever finished?

Sorry, never got this updated. Yes, the rifle is finished and shoots very well. I'll see what I can do about some pictures. Life has been getting in the way of playing with guns here recently.

John