Any .22 Hornet shooters out there?

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Dobe

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I'm thinking about acquiring one, and loading for it. I am looking at a Ruger stainless with a laminated stock at a local dealer. I have a few questions for those of you who have experience with this gun and for those with experience with this cartridge. I'll be using the Hornet for a range gun (100-200 yards), and possibly a crow killer.

What do you think about the Ruger, especially accuracy potential? I assume a trigger (Timney) replacement will be in order. With the lower velocities of the Hornet, I can only assume the barrel and brass life will be longer than the higher velocity cousins.
 
I have an Anschutz and it shoots pretty well. However, when I buy another one it will be a CZ. They are probably the most economical hornet available as well as the most accurate! I really like the idea of the full stock CZ in .22 hornet!
 
Interesting caliber that has been around for a while. The only problem you might have is finding readily available brass, but I'm sure there are many mail order business you can get it from. Personally I would be looking at a .204 Ruger for the uses you describe, but to each his own.
 
The Hornet is Sweet !

Take a serious look at the Savage model 40. It's definitely a "sleeper". They can be had on Gunbroker for $375-$425, with or without a thumbhole stock.

My current Hornet is a Contender with a 10" bull barrel with a Nikon 2x EER scope and it has crowded MOA with the Hornady V-max factory ammo at 100yds. Midway has a current sale on the Hornady ammo for about $15/25. That's how I accumulate brass.

"L'il Gun" is THE powder to use for the Hornet, as about a zillion silhouette shooters will tell you.

Odd story about the Hornet...Quite a while ago a friend (who happened to be the best reloader I've ever met) had two Anschutz Hornet rifles and had fits with them. They would put three shots into one hole - but when he attempted 5 shot groups they invariably put three shots in one hole and the other two shots into another hole a half-inch or so away from the first three. We were at the range scratching our heads about that one day and another fellow there said his Anschutz did the same thing most of the time.

HTH. Sorry - I don't have any experience with the Rugers.


:cool:
 
I have one of the Ruger versions and it does shoot well. I have drilled beetles crawling on my targets at 100yds with it before. Now brass life is another story as the cases are so thin you can mess the things up just loading the mags if not carefull. But brass is easy to find too just look at a Midway catalog or do as I do and get the 100 case bags at the local Sport'smans Warehouse.
 
Thanks fellows. How many reloads do you get from the brass, if you keep pressures respectable?
 
Some cases I have been lucky to get 3 loadings out of. They also tend to swell up primer pockets pretty easy so the primers just fall out.
 
since you reload just get you a 22-250. Make light loads equivalent to .22 hornet. Good case life. And a bad a__ rifle when you load it up to normal loads. Or if you want something a little closer a .222.
 
My father had a .22 Hornet Savage 340.

I did quite a bit of shooting with the rifle and found it quite deadly! The Savage 340 was also extremely accurate.

Only pitfall with the Savage 340/.22 Hornet combination was that the rifle was prone to extraction problems? I personaly think it was the chamber in that particular rifle.
 
I have two, a Ruger #1 standard rifle which is big and heavy esp with a 6-20 Leupold target scope. It has a Kepplinger set trigger and is very nice. It's neat to be shooting targets at a hundred yards and see the bullet hole when you pull the trigger.

The second is a little CZ , a mineature Mauser action with a factory set trigger, Like the Ruger it is very accurate, but I have to watch cartridge length when reloading due to the magazine.
 
My Hornet is a 1929 BSA with a Stevens target barrel chambered for the .22 Hornet. It is kind of interesting, it has a Kangaroo stamped on the top of the receiver and on the right side of the receiver is stamped "Property of the Commonwealth of Australia". It has taken many gophers over the years. I do not reload yet so shooting it is quite expensive. I have been keeping all the brass for the day I decided to finally buck up and start RELOADING!.
 
I've a CZ-527 and a Browning 1885 Low Wall. Both have been converted to K-Hornet. You can still shoot standard hornet in the 'K', get better performance with handloads, and brass seems to last longer with less stretching of the neck.

Here's Hornet, K-Hornet and 223 for comparison

hornet.jpg
 
For those of you who reload, why would you opt for the Hornet, if the brass is so short lived?

I've always wanted a Hornet, but now I may just pass.
 
Id skip the ruger, and look for a old x model remmy, for new I would go CZ, they are pretty much known for making new era rifles, starting with chambering perfect rifles for 22 hornet. next would be savage.
The best thing about the hornet is; there is a ton of brass, there is a ton of bullets, there is a ton of powder and it will last you a long time, it is very economical to shoot. there is also maybe more load information for this than any other cart out there. So You can do fat downloads to 2500 fps, all the way up to 3300fps, or so. Too much fun.
 
To illustrate "rangerruck's" comments... a Hornet cartridge will use nominally Half the powder of a .223 and a Third of the powder of a .22/250.:what:

That may, or may not matter to you but it's still cool to get nearly 700 loads out of one can of powder. You can afford to buy some brass. And anyway, Hornady brass will last more than three firings. Only problem is they no longer sell it as just brass. You have to buy their ammo and save the brass.
Another nicety of the Hornet is that, if you do have to, or decide to,use some factory ammo - $15 for 25 is way cheaper than $25-$30 for 20.

:cool:
 
Dobe,

If you keep the powder charges in the moderate range, the brass life is no more a problem in the Hornet, than it is in any other cartridge.

Shawnees' previous post on LiL Gun is a really good tip.Most loading data on this powder starts at 12 gr, with that charge you can shoot the 35 gr V-Max @ 2500.

My rifle likes the 40gr Vmax and 12.5gr LIL Gun I clocked them at 2700 from my Savage MDL 40 Varmint Hunters 24" bbl.

I have found that using the milder small rifle primers from CCI or Remington give the best standard deviation numbers.

With the milder charges I have reloaded my Hornet brass 4-5 times with no culls and very little stretching.

Ruger makes some fine Hornets I'm sure you will find one to your liking and accuracy expectations.
 
Thanks fellows. The reason I want a Hornet is because I was looking for a very accurate but economical range rifle. I was a little put off by the brass issue, because it can't be too cheap to shoot, if the brass is almost a one-timer.

The information here has been valuable. Most of my loading has been for handguns, although I have done a little for hunting rifles. I think this will be a fun venture.

Your help was appreciated,
Dobe
 
By the way, do any of you cast bullets for your Hornet?
and
What is your favorite load for 100 yard accuracy?
 
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I'm getting 20 loading from my Winchester brass. If you can anneal, you gan get a lot of mileage from you brass. Pressure is very low.
 
Hornet brass is thin, like .44-40 or .32-20 brass. (Remember, the Hornet started out as the black powder .22 WCF and was re-invented in the 1920s as a smokless powder varmiter.)

Take care of your brass and it will last as well as any.

Here is my formula for sub-MOA Hornet rounds:

1. Fireform your brass. The Hornet cases and chambers are based on 19th century drawings, and the brass is a sloppy fit in the chamber.

2. Disturb the brass as little as possible in reloading. I use Lee Collet dies, and place a washer on the shell holder, causing the collet to activate early. This sizes only about the first 1/4" of the neck -- leaving the rest of the neck as a "pilot" to center the round in the throat.

3. Use Hodgdon's Li'l Gun powder. My load is a case full -- I literally use the case as a dipper. Li'l gun has a low but prolonged pressure peak and will give max velocity with 10-12,000 PSI below the SAAMI allowable max.

4. Use the 35-grain Hornady V-Max bullet. This bullet, besides being very accurate, has a short nose. This allows you to load it to almost touch the rifling and still keep OAL short enought to feed through the magazine.
 
Dobe, a machinist friend built me a rotary annealer that uses a couple of propane torches after I showed him the article on annealing on 6mmbr.com.

It's similar to the Ken Light set up, although far cruder. Mine just heats the necks and drops them into a tub of water. I've never been able to master the other methods.

Like Vern, I neck size only, and also use Lil'Gun.

http://www.kenlightmfg.com/products.html
 
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