doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Take down sporting Martini rifles

Gary D, CJF,
5.6x35R is just the metric designation for 22 WCF, and when "hot loaded" with nitro powder( although less so than the 22 Hornet)the Germans called it 5.6x35R Vierling. Yes, the rim of 22 Hornet was thickened to prevent chambering in 22 WCF rifles, when the Hornet was introduced commercially. The metric designation of the Hornet is 5.6x36R Hornet. There is an article in one of the "WAIDMANNSHEILs", published by the German Gun Collectors Assn., about the relationship between 22 WCF/5.6x35 Vierling/and 22Hornet. A copy would be obtainable from them.
Mike

I believe my local shop actually has a few boxes of 22 WCF in their obsolete ammo area. I will post more after casting the chamber and bore. (And thank you for the additional info re 5.6x35r vs 22WCF)

You might want to slug the barrel also. I don't know what the Europeans did but here the WCF was .228.

They were all over the place, vary from .222-.228". Available .228" bullets are too heavy(long) for the twist rate. It is always good to slug the barrel, if it is .297-230, you need the info anyway.
Mike

My 5.6x35R has a .226 throat and .225 bore, 1-9" twist, handles heavy-ish lead bullets with aplomb.

Cerrosafe is easy to use and has the advantage you can mail the casting to Dave at CH4D. He can supply the right dies off the cast dims. Probably have to do some case forming Dave has supplied dies for me off the shelf that are close to correct, fire form then load using neck sizing dies. No need for custom cut set. All from the chamber cast and his long experience.

Slug the barrel to find correct bullet size. Much less expensive to start knowing what you have. Less aggravation too.

Boats

A good measurement of the depth of the rim recess will be a little hard to obtain, without pulling the barrel. You might just cut the head off a Hornet case and use it as a gauge .

Gary- 1in9" is pretty quick for a 5.6x35R, I suspect they used a 5.6x52R barrel blank to build it. I think the ones with smaller diameter barrels were made with 22RF barrels, like the earliest Hornets. Of course, I have no proof of this, it just makes sense.
Mike

So much for my memory. The shop had many boxes of 22 WRF, but no WCF. Long shot that didn't pan out.

CJF,
It seems that I had missed that you had fired the rifle with 22 Hornet ammo. I have a few samples of .297-230 ammo, and in my opinion you would not be able to chamber a Hornet cartridge in a "Morris" chamber. It might be possible to force a Hornet cartridge into a 22WCF/ 5.6x35R chamber. It would then be very difficult to extract the fired case( just as you described). A Martini can exert a fair amount of force to chamber a round; but hardly any to extract it. Based on this, I now believe your rifle is chambered for 22 WCF/5.6x35R. If you still have the fired Hornet case, if I'm right, it wouldn't show much difference from fireforming.
Mike

Just for fun

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ideal-No-1-22-WCF-Pre-1902-version-Reloading-/382112959533?hash=item58f7b50c2d:g:V2oAAOSww3tY4sJi

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/658406586

Mike