Gordon
Member
I wanted a Model 43 Winchester .22 Hornet for a long time, like 40 years. They were also made in .218 Bee from 40's to late 50's I believe. I finally found one, out of state in 90+% (close to 95%) for a reasonable price. I got it back here and mounted,carefully, a 4x Weaver J-4 scope. This was THE scope for this kind of rifle in the 50's, if you wanted a balanced look without the external target mounts. All in all a beautiful little rig that I took to the local Swiss rifle club for sighting in. While I was there another gent, in his early 60s came by to see what was making such little noise and producing the 1.5" groups (at 100yards) . He fell in love at first sight,and like me wanted one since he was a boy. "They don't make them that way anymore" says he. Says I 'oh, I think CZ or Anshutz makes a nice little rifle'. "Ain't made by American CRAFTSMAN" says he. Well the upshot of it was he pulls out a Weatherby .224 Varmitmaster made in Germany,with a Weatherby Imperial scope in about 95% and says "want to trade?" Well I haven't really heard of the .224 round and wondered about ammo so I got his # and told him I'd think about it. I got out my Cartridges of the World and looked up .224 Weatherby, himm pretty impressive about like a 22-250 but a real odd ball case size. Got out the Blue book and Holy Mackeral the thing is worth about a grand with that scope. So I asked on this gunsmithing forum if it could be rechambered to .220 Swift as it looked feasable dimensionaly, but was told I was smoking rope to think about ruining a gun like that. Looked for .224Weatherby ammo locally and found 2 boxes at 37.95 Ea.! Bought the ammo and what the hay traded my Model 43 I waited for 40 years to own!!!Now I need dies, more brass. The past owner didn't shoot it much because "it was too loud" only 3 boxes says he and he thinks he has the brass. "it shoots about the same as this Hornet does- inch and a half" says he. Well to me this glossy German Weatherby looks like a HELL of a lot more gun than tha Win 43. I hope it has enough twist to stabilize heavy .22 bullets as that is what I have in mind to shoot out of it!
