The "modern" Hornet arrived with great fanfare in the form of detailed write-ups by most of its developers in the Rifleman (Wotkyns first in 1930), so its history has never been obscure.  Whelen is often given most credit, but he was only an enthusiastic promoter, not the developer; that distinction belongs to ordnance officer G. Wotkyns, who in 1929 chambered Hornet #1 in his own BSA Martini fitted with a M1922 Springfield brl.  #2, belonging to Al Woodworth, and later Hornets were rechambered 1922s.  Whelen did however name the cartridge after the original (& unsuccessful) BP cartridge based on the .25-20 case...which with smokeless was later reinvented as the .218 Bee.

Don't know offhand who cut the reamer, but if it wasn't Wotkyns I'd guess Woodworth, and I presume the work (except for the Martini, which was a G&H job) was done at Springfield Armory.

Redsetter has it right.    I was going to try to answer from memory, then decided no.  Looking through several books he’s spot on.

Boats

I wanted to read  about Reuben Harwood's baby, the Harwood Hornet from 1894.

Congratulations on finding that June, 1930 RIFLEMAN article by Capt. Wotkyns. 

Did you also find the January '31 article by Whelen?

FWIW, Capt. Wotkyn's obituary is in the July '45 AR.

More info on TW's  M1922M1 Springfield was published in PRECISION SHOOTING in 2000. 

Good shooting.

Deadeye Bly wrote on Mar 12^th, 2018 at 4:40pm:

Deadeye Bly,
There's a one page advertisement for Reuben Harwood on page 74 of the Ideal Hand Book No. 5
Among other things, it mentions that a .22-15 W.C.F. barrel can be rechambered for Harwood's .22-20 Hornet.
There's also an illustration of the cartridge case.    

Harwood's Hornet, also called the .22-20, was based on the .25-20 Single Shot case.  The groove diameter is .228".  Was it truly a wildcat?  I have a catalog that lists .22-20 as a Stevens factory chambering in 1895.  Obviously it soon disappeared.  

In restoring the chamber in a Model 108 Stevens I found that Harwood's Hornet is remarkably close to being a .22 Lovell R2 with a very long neck.  In fact I used my R2 Lovell reamer to repair the damage done by "Bubba" Parkenfarker, who had tried to convert the rifle to the modern Hornet.    

The cartridge that became the .218 Bee was the Niedner "Baby", which he made from .25-20 WCF brass.  As another interesting coincidence, the Baby-Bee has the same internal capacity as the much later R2 Lovell.  

Photo of my Harwood project brass.  Far left is .25-20 Single Shot.  Next is that case run into an original (slow taper) .22 Lovell die. Middle is a finished "Harwood" case, made in a handmade die using my Lovell R2 reamer.  Second from right is a Harwood case with a bullet ready to be seated.  Far right is a .22 Lovell R2 case.    

boats wrote on Mar 13^th, 2018 at 7:52am:


His 10 page "wanted" lists were famous--mostly stuff I'd never seen or expected to see...especially since I never traveled the way he did, to the biggest shows all over the country.

Benenson is the name.