I was wondering what some of you thought about the 22 magnum verses the 22 hornet. I know the hornet can be reloaded, but 22 mag is still not to costly. Besides just wanting to reload the Hornet what is some of your opinions about the two. I have a real good Marlin 22 magnum and it shoots real well, but was wondering about a Hornet to reload.

Hornets can be a lot of fun or a pain in the ass. The Ruger 77 I had was a pain and I dumped it. I found an older Savage in Hornet and it has turned out to be a real sweet little rifle. I've used it effectively out to 200 yds, I don't think the 22 mag will do that. I could be wrong, not having much experience with one. As far as hanloading goes, I've settled on LilGun and 35gr VMax's. Good velocity and accuracy in my rifle.

I feel the hornet has the edge over the magnum in the ability to load up or down & change bullet weights .But I always tell people it depends how many rounds your firing a year .As for me I've used my Martini Hornet for years As a working Rifle & as such probarly fire more rounds off in a week than some shooters would in a year!But I know a lot of guys who own Magnums & swear by em!

Pick up a CZ American 527 in .22 Hornet. Use Lil Gun and 35 grain Hornadays or a 40 grain Sierra Blitz or Nosler BTs. I have owned a bunch of Hornets and have never failed to find a load that did not work great.
The Hornet is a great little cartridge that seems to produce better results than it should.

I like my .22 Hornet and it serves a purpose that the .22 magnum can't for me it's a cross between a cenetrfire and a rimfire.

My kit for varminting includes a .22 lr, a .22 Hornet and a 22/250. I like the hornet for whistling foxes as it's a little quiter and does not alarm other foxes that may be coming into the whistle. I had bad luck with a marlin .22 magnum but I love my cz 527 .22 Hornet. It's topped with a leupold 3-9x50 Vari X11. Here is a couple of foxes that fell to this rig.

I own the 22 Mag. in a Marlin 25. The rifle shoots sub MOA (.6s) at 100 yards and .1s at 50. Great little rifle and fun to shoot but, it really serves no purpose. Past 100 it drops like a rock, it's too big for squirrels, too little for most bigger game, and the shells cost over 7 bucks for 50.

I'd get the Hornet, You would have more range, be able to take bigger game more effectively, and it would be cheaper for the loads once you have the brass. Plus, Like you said, something else to load for.

Good Luck!

Reloader

Do you have a 223? The Hornet can be difficult to reload and some guns never shoot it well. It's a troublesome cartridge some of the time.

My "Hornet" load formula for any .224" is as follows: Use 1/2 the full charge weight of IMR's 4759 powder and a light bullet such as the 40 gr Nosler. This means that a 223 will hold about 28 grs of powder so use 14 grs of 4759. This 50% formula produces about 2600 to 2800 fps in most rifles and that's why I call it my "Hornet" load.

Best of all you are now carrying a 223 or bigger that will really reach out if you need to. One can only carry one gun with ease. We don't use golf bags! But one can carry two types of loads for the same gun.

Leave the "223" sighted in with it's full power load and use the lower plex on your variable for a post with the reduced load. Change elevation by changing the power.

Hey everyone thanks for the good info. I had a bull barrled Remington 700 in .233 and it shot well but had to move it. Might just go back to the .223.

The .22 Magnum and .22 Hornet are really in two different, but overlapping, categories.

I use my .22 Magnum for dispatching small pests like skunks and armadillos (where its extra power gives quicker, surer kills than a .22LR), and have used it for turkey hunting, where it works pretty well at shotgun+ ranges.

My .22 Hornet is quite a bit louder and is more powerful than necessary for the yard pests. It's a great turkey gun, especially for those that are well outside of "shotgun" range. But it really shines for varminting at ranges well beyond the effective range of a .22 Magnum, say 150 to 200 yards. The Hornet is much more effective on prairie dogs, and is deadly on larger varmints like coyotes, where a .22 Mag would be marginal.

Some people may claim tight groups at 100 yards+ with a .22 WMR, but a gun that shoots 3/8 inch at 50 yards is lucky to keep 5 shots in 2 inches at 100 due to wind effects. Even at 100 yards, trajectory gets to be a guessing game with a .22WMR, while a Hornet can drill 1/2 inch groups and shoot point blank out to 200 or so.

Don't throw your .22 WMR away, its a useful gun; but if you want to buy a Hornet, you'll find it has its uses, too.

Caveat: Nothing written above applies to factory Hornet ammunition with its rounded nose, crimped-in bullets and marginal accuracy. If you're going to shoot factory loads, stick with rimfires.

The Hornet is more versatile and has more reach than a 22 Mag, but you have to handload for best results. To me, an inexpensive M-700 in 223 makes more sense. If you don't want to load, get a Ruger or CZ in 7.62x39. It's legal for deer in more places, milsurp ammo costs the same as 22 WMR, and you can handload it if you want.


Okie John

I have a 22mag savage and it will shoot nice,,,best group so far at 100 is 4 in the same 4 leaf clover hole and the 5th .35 to the right,,,and they are on target to. Heavy barrel stainless. I use it for Coyote hunting around here when big game season is closed,,,see most of my hunting areas are public and unless big game season is open here in NC there is a no centerfire rule. When big game season is open I use my 7mm-08 and deer loads.

I have shot tons of tree rats with the 22mag, 20 or so yotes, several stray cats, one bear, a couple of pigs and a couple of deer. It is a real capible round inside of 100. I did not recover one Yote and If I had wanted to crawl through a laural thicket on the pretty good blood trail I would have found it dead I am sure.

about all I shoot in mine is the winchester HP. The Remington Premiums actually shoot better,,,,about scary,,,but they are too light for anything larger than small game, I shot one yote twice with them and I found it but it ran 100 yards or so with 2 supper nasty entrance wounds and no exits.

Never had a probem with the WinHP. The 22 mag is my truck gun all year,,,it and my 10mm glock.
All the before mentioned big game,,,,deer,pigs,and bear were moment of oportunity shots while I was tree rat hunting during big game season,,,,22mag is nice for that.

If it were not for the center fire legal issue here I would probably use a savage bolt 223 for small game hunting with reduced loads,,,,or my 7mm-08 with a 20 grain bluedot and a 100 grain varmit bullet....very accerate load.

It hurts to say this from across the ditch.
Nice Shooting PC.

If you want small capacity I would suggest you get the .221 Fireball in a CZ. Otherwise I would step up to a .223 Remington. Keep the .22 magnum. You can reload centerfire cheaper than you can shoot the better grade of 22 magnum ammo. I wouldn't recommend the hornet unless you just had to have something small like the Savage Model 40. Do not get a Hornet in the Ruger 10/77. You have a high probability of having to make a lot of mods to get it to shoot right according to the posters on this forum. Why buy a headache? If you just have to have a stinking Hornet, get the CZ527 in Hornet. I have one and it is great, but I still don't like Hornet brass. Just my $.02.
I wish the Hornet had died and the .218 Bee had lived.

Old Elk Hunter,
The Bee is alive and living well in my Ruger #1. Damn, I like that rifle!

quote:

Originally posted by oldun:
It hurts to say this from across the ditch.
Nice Shooting PC.

Thanks Olden

The most I know about New Zealaand is that yo can hunt Orcs, Goblins and also have hobbits there

I don't shoot either one of these so this is just a heads-up:
If you decide on the Hornet and happen onto a sweet deal for an older model know this...the correct bullet diameter is .223 for Hornet not the 22 centerfire norm of .224. Some bullet manufacturers still offer .223 diameter bullets for those who load for these old timers. However I don't know when or which manufacturers switched from .223 to .224, just that most .223 bore rifles are inaccurate using the bigger bullets.

Bullet/ bore size on the Hornet was changed sometime after WWII. FWIW, I have an early (pre war) Savage Sporter that shoots an inch or better with .224" bullets. I have never tried the .223" variety, so I can't say one works better than the other.

For years I have advocated "anything you can size and reprime". The .22 Hornet is cheap to reload. True it is hard to find a load that will shoot consistantly accurate. I have!!!
In any conseration of .22 Magnum veres the Hornet, I go with the .22 Hornet

Without a doubt the Hornet is a step up in power, just as the .22 Mag is a step up from the .22 LR. That said both are wonderful cartridges and each has it's place. Shoot both twice as much as you shoot anything else and make your own decisions.