Hornet

Don’t take offence Joho, I really was only joking.

I have had a couple of offers from some really helpful gunsmiths including one who had a load of used .223 barrels that the owners had taken in to have them re-barrelled to .17Rem. Many of them were hardly used and he said he could cut off the chamber, re-cut a .22 Hornet chamber in one, and then fit it.

Trouble was that the remaining portion of barrel would have only been 28mm diameter, which would be OK in a newer .22 Hornet rifle, but not in my older BSA which has a full-size Mauser action and needs to be at least 32mm diameter to screw into the action.

He was only going to charge me £280 including the barrel (£40).

It really is a lovely old girl and I would love to get it re-barrelled and shooting well again, but I can’t see the point in paying out £500-£600 for a new barrel on a gun that would still only be worth £100 after the work had been done.

Reminds me of an old friend who had his old “Bland” re-sleeved. Cost him £400 for the job, only to find that when he came to sell it he was only offered £150; and that was the best price he could get.

Don’t want to sell the rifle, but I also don’t want to pay a fortune for the job when I could buy a new CZ for @ the same price.

I will just wait and see what turns up.