I looking for a powder that will give me lower extreme spreads in velocity for my year old Ruger K77 Hornet.

Yes LiL'Gun is the faster powder just don't look at the extreme spreads it produces or you'll go nuts.

Comparing my Speer manual #13 to #14.
Speer mentioned that 1680 was the only powder that gave good velocity in this cartridge consistently (#13).
In #14 they changed to a small pistol primer so more powders could be shown.
Which I take to mean the SP primers lowered the pressure spikes and improved ES.

Has anyone given 1680 a try, if so how did it perform for you in the accuracy dept and in the velocity spreads?

1680 and lilgun are my go to powders for the hornet. Both work great. As to primers ive standardized on one and usually dont do that with any caliber but its just worked out through the years that about any load i use in the hornet does its best with cci match standard rifle primers.

The Hornet is such a short range proposition that I don't worry about extreme spreads as long as the accuracy at 100 yds is there. I guess if you're using it at ranges in excess of 200 yds, the spread might begin to matter.

In my Contender rifle it it has the lowest ES of the powders that I have tried. With Rem 6 1/2 primers it is 10to25fps---2400 30to60fps---296 20to185fps. My best load is Speer 40gr SP w/ 12.6 1680 Rem 6 1/2 primers 2640fps 19.5fps ES and 1/2"@ 50yds. I uses a Lee collet neck sizer with a thick washer on top of the shell holder so it only sizes the upper half of neck. The barrel has a long throat so I only seat the bullets about 0.10" in case 0.020" off rifleing.

When this subject came up here about a year or so ago, I posted that I use 15.0 grains of AA-1680 under 40 grain FB Sierras (the cheaper standard Sierra version...they have a couple of different ones) in my Ackley Improved Hornet, and 14.0 grains in the standard Hornet.

.Some folks here then said it was impossible to get that much powder in either version of a Hornet case, but it isn't. It will not go into my Remington or Norma cases, but it certainly does fit into my Winchester cases.

Both versions of Hornet use a once-fired case almost completely full to the top of the neck, but it doesn't bother the rifle, the brass, or the accuracy to compress the powder enough to seat the bullet.

The really neat thing about AA-1680 in my AI Hornet is it is the ONLY load of ANY powder I have found that will shoot under 1.5 MOA in that Hornet, but with the 15 grains of 1680 that little Martini will consistently shoot right at half-inch 5-shot groups at 100 yards. A high percentage of groups are slightly under .5 MOA. It will do that with either Federal 205-M primers or WSRs.

I was about to give up on that rifle which was left to me by a good friend who is now deceased, but with AA-1680 I cherish it both for its origins and its performance.

Not only that, but it exceeds 3,300 average f.p.s. over my Oehler chrono screens at 12 feet from the muzzle, which doesn't make for a shabby Hornet trajectory either.

As far as I am concerned, AA-1680 is the ONLY powder for my AI Hornet AND my two standard Hornets.


Edited to add: I tried lighter charges of 1680 with the same bullets, but found that the more I reduced the powder weight, the larger the groups became. With a grain less powder in either the AI or the standard Hornet chamberings, groups opened up to over 1.5" quite consistently.

I have found that using a heavier bullet with Lilgun powder will lower the SD.

quote:

The Hornet is such a short range proposition that I don't worry about extreme spreads as long as the accuracy at 100 yds is there. I guess if you're using it at ranges in excess of 200 yds, the spread might begin to matter.

LWD

I've found that if you cram about all of the AA-1680 you can get into a Hornet or a K-Hornet with 40 grain bullets then you've probably got a good load. I doubt that it will be as satisfactory with lighter bullets. It will do fine with heavier bullets and a similarly full case so long as you drop the powder charge a bit to allow the longer, heavier bullet that has to seat deeper.

I can't get quite as mcch powder into the case as Alberta Canuck, but I'm using Hornady V-Max bullets which are some bit longer than the conventional lead-tipped Sierras, therefore they take up more powder room when loaded to the limited length of most Hornet magazines.

Lil Gun takes the prize for the highest velocities in the Hornet. Unfortunately, it also takes the prize for the lowest velocities with the same load, depending on which shot you happen to chronograph .

I finally got out to the range last month to see how much variation I had with my load:
13.0 gr Lilgun, Hornady 40 gr VMax moly bullet, Rem 6 1/2 primer. Browning Hunter rifle.
29 deg F.

2989-3100 fps for ten shots.
3058 ave
42 standard dev.