I've had a Savage 40 in .22 Hornet for more than a year and a half. I posted a report on my initial range trip. I have now actually reloaded for it and shot the reloads.

The bullet was 35 grain Hornady VMax. I loaded Hodgdon Lil Gun in Winchester brass over Federal Small Pistol primers to the specified cartridge overall length.

The Hornady manual doesn't list loads for this bullet with Lil Gun but Hodgdon lists a minimum of 12 grains and a maximum of 13 grains for all cup and core bullets up to 55 grains. So I started at 12 grains and moved up in .2 increments. Unlike the Remington factory ammo I shot in the initial report, the point of impact was consistent.

12.0: 1.75"
12.2: 1.38"
12.4: 1.22"
12.6: .9"
12.8: 1.27"

These were 5 shot groups. I was shooting well that day.

So 12.6 grains seems to be the sweet spot, and I ought to be plenty happy with a .9" group, but I'm a reloader........

So what do I try from here? Some more groups with the 35 gr VMax and 12.6 grains to confirm it? Should I try some other bullets at 12.6 grains? Or other bullets and work up from 12.0 grains? Does anyone have a favorite Hornet bullet other than the 35 grain VMax?

LWD

Reshoot all the data and see if you get the same results.

I've found the lighter weight bullets too short to allow proper seating depth. the 40 gr. VMax or Nosler BT is perfect and Win #296 my favorite powder. Mine is a K-Hornet. r in s.

I've had good results with Sierra 50gr Blitz and Hornady 55gr SP's as well as 60gr SP's. I was using around 13gr Lil'Gun behind the 60 grainers. I settled on the 55 grainers as a compromise between flat shooting and hard hitting. Remington brass has a lot lower volume than the R-P cases I used, resulting in considerably higher pressure. (In fact, an accidental loading of a Reminton case, expanded the primer pocket!)

quote:

So what do I try from here?

The 35 grain varmint nightmare bullet. It's a shooter.

You might improve at higher levels of Lil Gun powder.
I shoot 13.0 and 13.3 grains of Lil Gun in two different hornets. Both 40 grain bullets. Both are sub 1", the 13.2 is an Anschutz and shoots sub 1/2 inch.

There are two different loads that seem to shoot well in several Hornet's I've loaded for in the last few years. 13.0 grains of Lil-Gun, either Sierra's 45 grain Hornet bullet, or Clint Starke's 40 grain Varmint bullet, and Federal small postol primers shoot close to 1/2" at 100 yards for 3 shots. Bullets are crimped.
The other load that seems to shoot well is 10.2 grains of H-110, everything else the same as above. I used this load for one Hornet I did have that would not shoot the Lil-Gun load, for me anyway. Sold that rifle to a guy who figured out how to make Lil-Gun work in it. He is happy, and so am I that he's got the rifle under control. It was/is a Ruger #1B. The #1B was a beautiful rifle, and I loved it, but, I had tried for years to get the vertical stringing problem corrected, and finding a suitable load, I just got tried of fooling with it, so I sold it. A fresh pair of eyes got the remaining issues with the rifle cleaned up, and it's shooting now.

I'd consider three shot groups instead. What velocities are you getting? jorge

Lil Gun tends to generate high velocity variations, particularly with ultra-light bullets. I don't use it at all due to this issue, but those who do usually recommend bullets of 45 grains or more with it.

For the excellent little 35 grain V-max, I would recommend trying either AA-1680 or WW-296. AA-1680 with as much powder as you can reasonbly get into the case will give you modest velocities and very low pressures. It also yields good groups in my gun. WW-296 will provide higher velocities and has good accuracy potential.

Remember, however, when accuracy testing with the little 35 V-max, even the slightest zephyr of a wind can blow these little pills around significantly. The groups you list above are essentially "all the same size" if your wind conditions varied as much as 5 mph.

According to a ballistics Tech 22 Hornet may benefit greatly with the use of small pistol primers !.

Interesting article in shooting Times September edition on Primers Titled ; Mysteries and

Misconceptions of the all Important Primer !. A VERY GOOD READ .

I appreciate all the insight and comments. I won't have a chance to get to the range again until next week, but I will try some heavier bullets. As far as powders go, I only have the Lil Gun that's suitable for the Hornet. If I can't find something that works with it, I will break down and buy some of the 296 or 1680---assuming I can find some somewhere.

Regards,

LWD

LWD

I for one have never been fond of bullets lighter than 40 gr in the .22 Hornet. Inconsistancy being the problem, sometimes they shoot really well and other times they don't. I've been shooting the .22 Hornet for many, many years in old Savage 23s, Ruger M 3s, Contender 10 and 21" barrels and an occasional M70. Over the years I've come to find either the Sierra 45 gr Hornet .224 bullet or the Hornady 45 gr Hornet SP to give very consistent accuracy and terminal ballistics.

For about a year now I've been shooting a Savage M40 and a new Contender 21" carbine using the Hornady 45 gr SP Hornet bullet and LilGun powder. Cases are WW (new - they have less capacity than the older ones) for the M40 and R-P for the TC. Primers are WSPs. I neck size the cases with a Redding Bushing die.

I have found that 12.5 gr of LilGun to be the load for both rifles. Pressure of this 12.5 gr load in the R-P cases as measured by a M43 Oehler PBL is 20,000 psi in the Contender 21" barrel. Factory WW is 24,900 psi. The TC Contender will put 10 shots into less than 1" at 100 yards all day long with most shots clustering around .6". Velocity is 2704 fps.

The same load from the M40 Savage in WW cases runs 2850 fps with accuracy of 10 shot groups running .4 to .6" at 100 yards.

The M40 has a 6x18 Simmons AirPro scope on it.

Larry Gibson

Thank you all for your comments. To answer a couple of questions, I don't know what velocities I'm getting but assume they are close to what the book would be for the powder charges and bullet weights. I am using Federal small pistol primers.

Yesterday, I went back to the range to try some more bullets. Given my results with the 35 gr VMAX I decided to use 12.6 grains of Lil Gun for all these. Normally I would work up but the pressures with Lil Gun are low to begin with and Hodgdon recommends 12-13 grains, so I decided to use it for all bullets. With 5 shot groups, here are the results:

35 gr Hornady VMax: .96" with 4 shots in 2 holes measuring less than .5"

36 gr Barnes Varmint Grenade: 1.44" but minus the one I pulled 4 shots measured .81"

40 gr Sierra Blitzking: 1.02" with the shots strung horizontally.

45 gr Hornady Hornet: 1.08"

50 gr Hornady SPSX: 1.72"

55 gr Sierra Blitz: 1.83"

This gun clearly seems to prefer the lighter bullets. Given the range that a Hornet would usually be used at I'm not sure that's a huge handicap. But whoever said it didn't take much wind to push a 35 gr VMax around is certainly correct.

From here I'm thinking that I'm going to try shooting some more with the lighter bullets. The groups seems to be markedly better with the lighter bullets.

My Ruger M77 Hornet really likes 11.7gr Lilgun under a Sierra 52gr HPBTM, with a small pistol primer. Most accurate load I have. It gets about 2,675fps. Moving up the powder charge reduced the accuracy.

With 45gr bullets, I use 13.0gr Lilgun at about 2,850fps.

With the Hornet, very small powder charge changes can lead to large cahnges at the bench.