I just picked up some brass to load some .22 Hornet rounds for my uncle. I happen to be out of small rifle primers but have a good fresh supply of small pistol primers. Why not use these??? The load we're talking about is only 9 grains of H-110 or 11 gr of 2400. These are certainly "pistol like" loads. I'll be using 40 or 45 grain bullets. Thanks.

bowhuntr

The cup on a small rifle primer is thinner and will not hold up to higher pressures. I am not certain about what kind of pressure the 22 hornet is capable of but I would not substitute the small pistol for the small rifle.

A lot of guy's do, in fact Ross Seyfried (gun writer) wrote an article in either Rifle Or Handloader in fact I just checked it was Feb 2001 issue of Handloader #209 . This is article #2 the 1st part was in the issue prior of Rifle #193. In these article's on the Hornet ( very interesting reading by the way) he spend's a lot of time talking about the little detail's being very important in loading the Hornet,he states, " like the rest of Hornet loading primer's make a big difference " he goes on to say " one of the biggest surprises in my loading career came several years ago in a letter that came from an elderly gent who'd been loading Hornets almost as long as there had been Hornets. He suggested Try Small Pistol Primers! Low and behold at times they will cut groups in 1/2." He goes on to recomend small pistol with H-110,W-296,680 (try to find 680--HA!)and 1680 as almost always more accurate. With LilGun however he suggests at least a small rifle standard if not a magnum small rifle. As my initial load was worked up with LilGun and it shot so well in both my Hornet and K Hornet that I bought an 8lbs keg ( at 13gr per round and 56,000gr in an 8lbs keg I'm set up for awhile)so I haven't tried this info yet but in reading as many magazines as I do I do think Ross Seyfried is one of the more knowlegable gun writers out there. What the heck try it and see, By the way thats not the only time I've read about small pistol being recommended. Wish I had some personal experience to share with you, perhaps you'd be kind enough to try some out and share the info with the rest of us.Good luck---Shoot Safe---montdoug

I must partially disagree..... it is common practice among hornet users to substitute the small pistol primers for the rifle primers.... many times accuracy improves greatly.
orland is correct, however, about the strength of the cups... some of the more intense loads will show considerable primer flattening, even puncturing.
I use Remington #6 1/2 small rifle primers on my "moderate" loads in my K-Hornet, which use AA1680 powder and 40gr bullets at about 2850fps. The primers work wonderfully, and accuracy hovers at about an inch at 100yds. When I load my warmer loads, using Hodgdon Lil Gun and Hornady 40gr VMax bullets, I use the CCI 400 primers..
On my cast bullet loads, and my fireforming loads with 40gr jacketed hp bullets, I use Winchester small pistol primers with no problems at all.
bottom line is, if you aren't loading up to "redline", you could give the small pistol primers a try... just do a few, 10 or so, to see how they react.. if they don't show signs of excessive flattening, I'd use them.

Montdoug,

Thanks for the informative post!!! I thought that I had read somewhere that you could use small pistol in some cases to improve accuracy. Since I don't have the gun handy to develop the load, I think I might wait until I can get some small rifle primers. I don't want to take any chances with my favorite uncle. I've got some 2400 and some H-110, but I'm leaning towards the 110, actually about 9 grains. I think that should be safe load (about 2500-2600 fps)particularly since his gun is an older one.

bowhuntr

Thanks Hornetguy, good info. My info on small pistol is all out of the magazines, I defer to your hands on experience.As I mentioned I've only loaded LilGun I got some 1680 but have never used it I get approx 3,000 with my Hornet and 3,200 with my K. both using 40gr V Max's and WSR primers. Sure like those Hornets---Shoot Safe---montdoug

I've used small pistol primers in all sorts of different loads in the Hornet with out any problems. The biggest problem was the rifle, a Ruger 77/22 Hornet. It was an alluring POS.

Hey bowhuntrrl, I used Pistol Primers in Hornets for 35 years and experienced no problems at all.

If you take a Hodgdon Manual and look at the Pressures listed for the Hornet and then compare them to the Pressures listed for a 357Mag, you will see the Hornet hits SAAMI MAX before the 357Mag does.

One side benefit is you may find they shoot more accurately too.

However, if you want accuracy, by all means invest in some Hodgdon Lil'Gun and check their Manual or web site for starting and stopping loads. I never had a chance to try Lil'Gun, but everyone who does says it is "The Powder" for the Hornet. Had it been around when I had mine, I might still have one.

And you are right about using 45gr or below bullets. I used a lot of the 45gr Sierras. I could use 50gr bullets in some of mine, but 55gr just never shot well at all, which I suspect was a stability problem.