I just bought a contender barrel in .22 hornet for target, ground squirrel, and coyote shooting. This will be my first experence with this caliber, so I need some opinions on this round and some favorite loads.
Richard.

What type of target shooting will you do with your Hornet?

My Hornet barrel is for the express purpose of knocking over steel targets. For this use I use a 55gr Sierra SBT and 7.5gr of WW296 with CCI small rifle primers. This is a reduced load so it really isn't that great for hunting, but it will shoot well inside of 1" @ 100yds. This load chronographs about 1750fps from my 10" barrel.

I haven't run across any full power loads that shoot well, but then again I haven't put a lot of time into that since I can do everything that I want with my current load.

Richard,
I have some nice loads worked up with the 50 gr. TNT's. I have not chronied them yet, but I suspect they are not on the swift range in speed. Groups are great out of my 14" T/C barrel. I plan to do a little tree rat hunting this fall with it. Try them with H110, seat out to 1.850", use WSR primers. Start grains are 8.5 to 9.5 (max.). This is out of the Speer manual. I use Rem. brass. I have shot a couple of five shot one holers @ 40 yards with this. All others groups are within 1". If I can get some Lil' Gun powder, I plan to work some loads up with that.
Good Luck,
Bulldog...

35gr/40gr V-Max and H110/W296 with CCI500 primers for varmints. For edible game I like Sierra 45gr Spitzers and 45gr Nolser SB's with the same powder and primers as above.

From a 10" barrel the 35's shoot 2800fps, from a 14" the 40's will go in the 2700fps range (with the only load tested, I'm just getting started with this barrel).

In the 5th edition of The ABC's of Reloading, Dean Grennell gives a max load of 11.8 gr of AA-9 behind an unnamed 40 gr bullet, ignited by a Fed.205m small rifle match primer.This yielded 2934 fps in a 14" bbl. This load used Winchester brass. Switching to Remington brass, he was able to increase the powder charge to a max of 12.4 grs, giving 2990 fps. Remember to start with a decreased charge and work up, watching for pressure signs. I went with the Rem. brass and 40 gr. Hornady moly-coated V-max bullets. I was able to go to 12.4 gr. of AA-9. Avg. velocity at 15' for 5 rounds was 3073 fps from a 14" bbl. Haven't really tested for accuracy, but preliminary 3 shot groups were @ 1" at 100 yds with 2 bullets touching each time. This is a fun load for blasting water filled cans at 200 yds.

I'm still working up loads for my 14" T/C but so far Lil'Gun with some 40 grain V-Maxes is showing the most promise. I shot 2 successive 5 shot 5/8" groups with 12.8 gr. (starting per Hornady tech) and 2 successive groups easily under 1/2" @ 100 yds. with 13.0 gr. That was all I had loaded for the first test. It showed no pressure signs at all with my barrel. I loaded some more at 13.0 plus some at 13.2 and hope to get out soon to try them. The tech said 13.7 was top but 13.2 is about all I think I can cram in the case readily using a drop tube. Mike

Thanks guys, looks like some good starting points. I'm going to try out this barrel for accuracy and see how it does, if I don't like it, it will be rechambered to something like .223,.225,.226JDJ etc. . Does the .22hornet have enough power to shoot groundhogs out to 200yds. or do you think I need to have it rechambered to one of the calibers above?

Groundhogs.....at 200yds.....hell yes! I have broken the 200yd mark with each of my three .22 Hornets. They do a wonderful job. My next Hornet experiment will be with 45gr Nosler SB's in the 14" barrel for turkey.

B_Koes, For now, the only target shooting I will be doing with this barrel is at paper targets to find what load it likes best, then off to the hills to shoot live targets.
Richard.