Thanks for the comments folks, just to be clear according to the seller statement from the auction the conversion was done by a professional gunsmith. That said given the preponderance of comments I will definitely be working with my own reloads from now on. I have been researching online since my earlier post and seeing a lot of good comments around Trail Boss 2.0 to 3.8g under a 40g bullet using small pistol primers (rather than small rifle primers). I also reload black powder 45-70 so bp is an option for me. I've already ordered a set of dies.

See attached pics for info on the commercial bullets fired through the gun today.

Retreever

PS the price tag is in CAD, it would be about $45USD

Beat me to it.  Yes, absolutely a "K" Hornet.  Must use "K" Hornet dies.

My Hornet Contender with the stretched frame (bought it that way, unknowingly) I had to ream out to the "K" case so it could headspace on the shoulder.  Headspacing on the rim was about .010" over the spec.  Did this "professional gunsmith" know something about what he'd created?  Leading to it being sold? 

The original Hornet case has a very shallow taper, really no shoulder at all.  It was designed to headspace on the rim.  If the headspace grows even a little, the case has a disappointing tendency to stretch in the body and separate, often in a few as 2 or 3 firings.  Lyle Kilbourne designed a modification to the chamber that let the case be fatter in the body and have a sharp shoulder.  His intention was to get a little more powder into the case, but a secondary benefit is that the case can now headspace on that shoulder, just as rimless cases do.  No more case separations due to excess headspace at the rim!   The beauty of the thing from the user standpoint was/is that tocreate the new case you just fire an original case in the modified chamber.  Which is why the cases you extracted don't look like the cases you loaded in.  

When you order dies, order "K" Hornet dies, and when you use them be sure not to push that shoulder back when sizing.  The cases as they came out of your rifle are a perfect fit to the chamber, and you don't want to upset that.  Neck size only.

As to the value of your scope, with only pictures to go by, here's my opinion.  It looks to be in fine exterior condition and complete.  Since you put 50 rounds through the rifle - and got away with it, you very lucky man - I presume the optics are clear and the crosshairs are intact and not loose or deformed  If all that's true, I'd say the scope is worth at least $300 and could easily be worth up to twice that.  It does look good on the rifle.

Bill Lawrence

Hey retreever, I said they would know on here and be able to tell you all you need to know
Gumpy

uscra112 wrote on Nov 7^th, 2020 at 6:56pm:


Thanks for the explanation, I was getting a bit confused. I thought the ammo had been labeled incorrectly by the manufacturer because the box clearly says .22 Hornet. Will definitely order k-Hornet reloading dies.

Retreever

Yet Stevens did use the Marksman action for the 101 featherweight .44 shot shotgun. There seems to be quite a few of these little guns around for only being made a few years,I've seen quite a few for sale,I guess most people don't know what to do with them. What scares me more than a .22 hornet Marksman,would be one of the .44 shot guns being rechambered to .410,which I've heard of,I can envision the barrel being launched down range,since the barrels on these only being held in place by the take down screw. I've seen a few of the 101 .44 shots with a .32 rimfire barrel on it making it a .32 colt,or rechambered to .32 S&W.