I have a ruger 22 hornet that I can't get to shoot a decent group. I had a guy tell me to try neck turning the brass, He said it helped his rifle alot. I don't have any neck turning equipment but I may get some to try. Do you think it's worth a try, and if so what brand do you reccomend. By the way I've been shooting lil gun with 35 and 45 grain bullets, also winchester and federal small pistol primers.
JT

Hello jt from Bedford. This is R-WEST from Windber (Ogletown, actually). Do you think they'll ever get Rt. 30 finished? It's a pain trying to get to Juniata Trading with all that mess

My experience with the Hornet was limited to fooling around with a buddy's Savage 340 a few years ago. If memory serves, I got the best results with 0.223" bullets and Accurate 1680, W296/H110, and R-P 6-1/2 primers. None of the groups were outstanding, maybe 1.25" for 5 shots at 100 yards. Hornets do not, typically, have a reputation for producing gilt-edged accuracy like, say, the 222 Rem., for instance. If you have one that shoots, you're okay, but, trying to get a non-shooter to shoot has caused many Hornet owners to have sleepless nights.

Did you try a different brand of brass? I've seen other Hornet owners on the forums mention a change in accuracy (not always for the better) by changing brass.

Outside neck turning MIGHT work, but, unless your brass is really non-concentric, you might just be wasting your time. You could always bum your buddy's neck turner and turn 10 cases, then try a couple groups with the most accurate previous load in them, and see if anything good happens.

Most factory chambers are so loose that turning the necks just allows the neck to expand more than it would otherwise, and it splits. I just came up from my loading room grumbling all the way since I had to throw away 6 of the last 18 260 Rem. cases (outside turned) that split on the second firing

R-WEST

As thin as the 22 hornet brass is I wouldn't turn the necks. Read a article about putting a.0001 shim between the two pieces of the bolt on the Ruger and the accuracy improved. Haven't try that yet, but will. Have free floated the barrel and am getting my best groups with AA1680 and a 52 grain match bullet. Good Luck

I have had some luck neck turning winchester brass in my Ruger MKII VT in .243 but I found remington brass to be more uniform in the neck area and accuracy is as good or better than the neck turned winchester brass With out all of the time consuming work.Also found the the flash hole depth to be more uniform with the remington cases.

JT: Your problem is likely the gun and not the brass. Besides, as others state, Hornet brass is so thin in the neck to begin with that turning would possibly ruin it.

The Ruger 77-22 is notoriously difficult to make shoot well. It can be done, and there are shops that specialize in reworking it. The process, however, is expensive.

As a relatively inexpensive potential improvement, I would recommend shimming the two halves of the bolt (you can find instructions on how to do this through a web search), and possibly dismounting and remounting the barrel to assure that it is firmly seated in the receiver. The trigger, unless replaced, will always be a problem. Although some say that the factory trigger can be improved, this is a task best left to an experienced gunsmith. Finally, you can check the bedding and relieve any binding you might find.

I have a 77/22H which shoots like a house-afire, but that is the result of a new Kreiger barrel chambered in K-Hornet with a minimum dimension chamber and minimum headspace, a replacement trigger, rebedding the barrel channel, and no telling what other work that was done by the previous owner at greater expense than I paid for the gun.