.22 Hornet made by John Dubiel, Ardmore, OK

Pictures please!!! Is this a made from scratch rifle or is it made from a pre-existing rifle?

jski said:

View attachment 839693 View attachment 839694 View attachment 839695

Click to expand...

MOAR!!!

jski said:

My brother just inherited a .22 Hornet rifle made by John Dubiel of Ardmore, OK.

Click to expand...

Didn't know what rifle you were talking about until I saw the pictures. (Living a sheltered life.)
Very nice, but out of my league..........

Edit added.......... sorry, no help from me your question. Googled it but no luck other than seeing your post looking for information and other dribble...........

The rifle is, or was, Springfield M-22 .22RF converted to .22 Hornet. Which was a rather common conversion back during 1920's on until 1950's, by rechambering the original .22RF barrel and altering extraction, firing pin, etc. Magazines were usually, but not always, modified to feed the Hornet. Dubiel was a well known and respected custom gunsmith of his era so expect the rifle shown has a functioning magazine. Will be nice to see full length photo showing more of the stock.

YES!! more pictures, PLEASE!!

Yes..... More pictures if possible, please. I have heard of John Dubiel but can't recall all the details. Like Offhand mentioned the early Hornets, ( back when it was a wildcat ) were usually rechambered 22RF barrels which were designed for .223 dia. bullets. I love early Hornets and That's a real piece of firearms history put together by one of the top 'smiths of that era. First thing I would do with it would be to have it appraised by someone familiar with older custom stuff like that. Something like that would be on my grail list for sure if I ever ever made up such a list.

Wow that's a beautiful thing. Do you know the groove diameter and twist rate?

Neat.
We had a young lady engineer from Redstone shooting Trap here several years ago. She was introduced as Missy Dubiel from Oklahoma.
I said "The only Dubiel I know of from out there makes custom rifles."
She brightened and replied "That's Granddaddy!"

I'd like to see the magazine on this one. It is a non-trivial detail. The Winchester Model 70 Hornet is just weird.

joneb said:

Wow that's a beautiful thing. Do you know the groove diameter and twist rate?

Click to expand...

That's a good question, and the answer reveals some of the confusion and mystery that has clouded the origins of the Hornet and later production of Hornet rifles and ammunition. As mentioned in earlier post in this thread, earliest development of the Hornet (Which is/was a refinement of the earlier .22 WCF cartridge.) was carried out by wildcatters and other experimenters, most notably by principal officers at Springfield Arsenal (Whelen, Wotkyns, etc) using converted .22 RF rifles made there. The barrels of which were of the .223" (Or .2225") bore dia. and 15" or 16" rate of twist suitable for .22 RF ammo. Which of course applies to other Hornet conversions built on Springfield M-22s, such as the custom Dubiel. When Winchester introduced the first commercial Hornet ammo they followed up the Springfield dimensions and loaded smaller bullets,and then Hornet rifles with smaller bores and slower twists that became the "Hornet Standard." Latter .22 Caliber rifles and ammo such as .220 Swift and .222 Rem, as we all know, are of .224" bore and a somewhat faster twist.

On the general subject of Springfield 03 Hornets, there was an excellent article in the 1998 edition of Gun Digest titled "The Armory Hornets" by Mark Benenson, pp 82-91. I'd post a PDF of it, but I'm not sure the site rules will allow -- your local public library should be able to get a copy for you.

Besides being a great American gunsmith, he invented quite a few "wildcat" cartridges. I remember the .276 Dubiel from the 50s . Your piece is magnificent.

Thanks for the photos, the magazine is especially interesting.

Neat, express sights on a Hornet for the vicious charging groundhog.

The magazine looks like he may have started with a Model 43 box and added top rails.

Yeah and the magnificent embellishments.

That rifle is a work of art! I would love to have just one custom that nice. I bet it's a pleasure to shoot too, especially with those express sights. That front sight is amazing too, is it stipled or a rolled pattern?

I am new to this forum, although I have been reading posts from The High Road for many years. Last weekend I purchased a Dubiel Rifle that I believe is actually a prototype rifle. It has three lugs and what I believe is a Sako action. It is stamped Dubiel Firearms, Ardmore, Oklahoma on the barrel and Dubiel Firearms on the receiver. The stamps looked to be hand stamped as some looked to be double stamped. The stock has a number to match the bolt but not the receiver, this would make sense for a prototype.

I am open to any and all information you would be willing to share. Living in Oklahoma, about a hundred miles from Ardmore, I have been tracking down all of the local historians I can to get information.

Unfortunate about the hammer-bounce on the Oklahoma stamp of JIMS COUNTRY's rifle but a hell of a find in any case.

As to the OP's rifle...... HOLY GUACAMOLE!

Todd.

Nice to see this very interesting thread revived..... Or instead of "very interesting" I should have just said "fascinating". I'm a big fan of early Hornets and other early custom guns and the gunsmiths who created them.