I'm going to begin loading for the 22 hornet and am curious to know if the cartridge has some loading quirks. The case shape is different to me and I am curious to know if there are some issues with it, when loading.

Any advise?

Cliff,

For me the Hornet, especially when shooting cast bullets, has been extremely sensitive to any change in the brand of primer once a load was established. It also is sensitive to very small changes in powder charge weight. I attribute this to the very small case and the faster powders it uses. It isn't quite as bad with slower powders, for the Hornet, i.e. 2400, 4227 or Win 680 and jacketed bullets, but still seems to want a more delicate touch.

If they were still available I'd recommend 11.5 grains of Win. 680 powder and the Nosler 45 grain Hornet bullet. Both of my rifles shoot this load when capped with a Federal SR primer, very well. Fortunately I have enough of both for my needs and haven't tried any other combinations for years.

Cliff,

The hornet can be an easy cartridge or a difficult one to load for, it depends on a lot of stuff including your particular rifle.

Anyway, here is a link to a search of the forum here with about 4 pages of posts, you will find some good information in:

http://forums.accuratereloadin...Type=1&search=Search

Thank you both!

Cliff, I, too, live in Oklahoma (SE part of the state) and I load for the 22 Hornet (Ruger M77). The only thing I find quircky about loading for it is that it takes very little diviation in powder to make a noticable change and I'm having more trouble working with the small components with my arthritic hands.

I have found Lil Gun powder to work very well.

Thanks Red C. Where in SE OK are you? I'm in the North Central part of the state-near Stillwater.

One quirk I have read about is to use pistol primers and not rifle primers. Good luck.

For my Ruger Model 77 this is my best load:

Sierra 40 grain Hornet #1200 Moly coated
13.6 grains 1680
WSR Primer WW Case
2665 FPS

On a good day it will group under 1/2 inch at 100 yards.

Neck size; Lee collet die works well but I use a Redding Bushing die. Only size enough to have .002" neck tension on the bullet.

I use a Lyman M die to bell the case mouth; easy to seat bullet that way and i don't crunch the thin case necks.

Barrel twist; Know the twist of your barrel. They range from 11" to 16" and that definately effects bullet choice. The 40 gr Hornet bullets are a good all around choice unles LilGun powder is used. The a 45 gr bullet gives more constent ignition and better accuracy.

Powder; I've pretty much gone to LilGun 100% using 12.5 gr under 45 gr bullets. H4227 is my second choice using 11.5 gr.

Bullets. I prefer the 45 gr Hornady Hornet bullet in all 4 of my Hornets. Accuracy is sub moa in all of them. I won't turn down a good deal on Sierra 40 or 45 gr Hornet bullets though.

Primers; I use small pistol primers and like WSPs or CCI 500s.

Larry Gibson

mine does real well with vmax 35s and 1680. One thing ive notice is primer selection is critical in it and mine has given its best accuracy accross the board with most loads using cci small rifle match primers.

I have a Ruger M77 in Hornet, not the 'K' Hornet. Best accuracy has been with Lilgun, a small pistol primer and a 45gr bullet. With 13.0grs Lilgun, a WW case, WSP and a 45gr Barnes XLC, (my coyote load), I get around 2,900fps and moa. With a standard 45gr softpoint, the same load gets about 2,850fps and just under moa.

If you shoot a Hornet, you really need to try Lilgun and a small pistol primer

Sometimes you have to try different case lubes when resizing, and you need to be careful and go light with it. If you get too much lube on the case, they are very thin and you will start seeing wrinkles in your brass.

Keep it light in the bullet department. When I first started loading i thought I could get away shooting 50gr ballistic tips- wrong! the bullets tumbled and were key-holeing on the target. I thought I really messed something up.

I load for three of them (anschutz and Kimber) and have very good success with this load-

Win brass
Fed small pistol primer
13.0-13.2 grains Lil gun
40 grain Berger HPs

the plastic tip bullets shoot great as well but are too long to fit through most magazines

quote:

Thanks Red C. Where in SE OK are you? I'm in the North Central part of the state-near Stillwater.

I live in Wilburton, but purchase most of my reloading stuff in McAlester.

If you're ever down this way, send me a PM and we'll try to get together for coffee and compare reloading ideas.

I'm rarely ever up in the Stillwater area--but occasionally come to OKC.

Mine loves Lil-Gun and Hornady 40 gr vmax's. I use Rem 6 1/2 primers in mine. Noticeable jump in accuracy when I switched primers.

Apparently, Lil Gun has quite a following. I'm not real interested in milking the last bit of speed from my Hornet, just a good accurate load. I want to shoot 40-45 grain bullets so this advise has been great. Thanks to all.

Cliff,

The beauty of Lilgun is very high speeds and much lower pressures, as well as an accuracy improvement for most Hornets.

There is much about propellants I have to learn. This is one of the reasons I frequent this board. I'll always measure what I hear with what I think I know but there is much good information in the heads of the members of this board.

quote:

Originally posted by k-22hornet:
Cliff,

The beauty of Lilgun is very high speeds and much lower pressures, as well as an accuracy improvement for most Hornets.

FYI:

I've a 21" Contender .22H barrel with gauge attached to measure psi with using a M43 Oehler. Winchester factory 46 gr HPs run 24,900 psi(M43). Hornady 45 gr .224 Hornet bullets over 12.5 gr LilGun in WW cases with WSP primers at 1.85 OAL give 20,000 psi(M43).

The 10 test shots went into .585" at 2704 fps. Same load out of the 24" M40 barrel gives 2940 fps with .5 moa accuracy.
Larry Gibson

Thanks Larry. That's good information.