I thought I'd share my secrets for loading the .22 Hornet. CAUTION: What works in my rifle might be DANGEROUS in yours. Work loads up carefully.

These are the secrets:

1. Fire form your brass. The Hornet, with that tapered case and over-generous SAAMI spec chambers, is a poor fit for accuracy.

2. Disturb the brass as little as possible in reloading. I use a Lee Collet Die, which exerts pressure on the neck radially. Conventional dies force the case into the die, with pressure being applied to the head -- this can bulge case walls (ever have a neck-sized only case that wouldn't go back into the chamber? That's why.)

Conventional dies can also stretch the brass as the expander is pulled back through the neck. The Lee Collet Die avoids both these bad things. (Ever have a neck-sized only case that enters the chamber, but the bolt won't close? That's why.)

I put two washers on the shell holder -- the Collet Die, by virtue of its design, cannot be adjusted to size less of the neck (it has to bottom out on the shell holder before the collet closes.) The washers make it bottom out early, and size only about one caliber of the neck (.2 to .25 inches.)

3. Powder. Hodgdon's Li'l Gus is clearly the best. Some Hornet powders are very finicky and can produce wide pressure swings. Li'l Gun produces low pressures, but because of its prolonged pressure peak, still gives high velocity.

4. Charge. I use the case as a dipper, and fill it full. I tap the case, settling the powder, then top it off, and "strike" it -- draw a straight edge across the mouth, "cutting off" extra powder and leaving the case brim full.

YES, THIS IS A COMPRESSED CHARGE. APPROACH CAUTIOUSLY!

5. Bullet. Because of its taper and the "generous" dimensions of SAAMI Hornet chambers, you must seat the bullet close to the rifling. But when you do this, most Hornets will not feed the resulting round through the magazine -- it's too long.

The key is to get the SHOULDER of the bullet close to the origin of the rifling. A bullet with a short nose can be loaded closer to the lede and still feed through the magazine. The 35-grain Hornady V-Max is ideal -- it has the same shank length as a 40 or heavier bullet, but a shorter nose.

6. Assembly -- chamfer the mouth of the case to ease bullet seating. The compressed load makes this critical, or you can damage cases.

7. Primers -- some people report better accuracy with small pistol primers. I find they do not improve this load, and I use Winchester small rifle primers.