What's the best choice in a current production .22 Hornet?

I have had great luck with my thompson centerpro hunter, I have also had good luck with the ruger m77/22 chambered for the hornet.

I have had wonderful results with my Ruger 77/22Hornet, but having said that if I were in the market now I would have to take a good LONG look at the CZ. I still like the overall appearance of the Ruger much better than the CZ though!

I have the CZ 527. It is the most accurate rifle I own.
Pete

My #1 choice goes to the browning lowall, #2 would be the browning micro medallion or the anchutz, or finding an oregon kinber, or maybe the cooper or

I have an Anschutz which averages around a .5 or better with good reloads. From what I understand, the CZ 527 in the hornet will shoot right with it. My 527 in 221 Fireball does.

Joe A.

I've got a K-22 Cooper custom w/ octagon barrel, case colored fancy claro blah blah blah, a nice little rifle.

I had an old oregon Kimber turned into a K-Hornet, and it's a nice accurate little gun, not fancy, but accurate as hell.

Anschutz 1733 is my best bet for the top .22 Hornet. I know I love mine !!!!

LLS

I'd vote Anschutz/Cooper first and CZ right in there.
Kinda hard to do a straight comparison when you look at the price difference. Cooper/Anschutz a thousand and up and the CZ a bit over $500.00.
I bought a CZ American to turn into a .17 Ackley Hornet. I wanted to shoot it first to establish a baseline before the conversion. I grabbed an MTM box of 50 loaded for my Anschutz, they chambered well and are a safe sane load so off I went.
After a little sight in etc I shot this 5 shot group at a hundred yards with an arbitrary load developed for another rifle.



The Anschutz probably shoots a bit better but I sure don't shoot well enough to to find out how much. I should add that this load is an accuracy load and uses a 40 V-Max, it is too long to fit into the magazine of either rifle.
CZ's shoot very well especially for the money.

I have a Kimber of Oregon in 22 hornet that I absolutely love as a walk around woodchuck/varmint gun. Not extremely accurat but under an inch with factory and very pretty and a joy to carry and shoot. I also have a Ruger 77/22 that is about to be turned into a 17 Ackley Hornet. If I was going to buy a 22 Hornet today it would have to be a CZ American. For the money they just plain shoot. I have been very impressed with the couple I have seen.

Looks to me like the consensus is that to beat a CZ 527, you're going to have to spend a lot more money.

I have tried Rugers with very poor accuracy results. Had a Browinng micro medallion that shot well. Now have 1730 HB anchutz & it is exceptionally accurate. I will keep this one a long time.

One more vote for the CZ 527! Great little rifles, the only complaint I have with mine is the dang ol' magazine hanging underneath.

Anyone shot the new Savage Single shot hornet?

I looked at one the other day and just wondered if anyone had tried them.

Reloader

Merk01,
If you would be satisfied with a single shot you can get a 'follower' from Jim Calhoon.

I was unhappy with the feed on my CZ 527 and was shooting single shot anyway.

I am very pleased with his 'follower', You can get more info from his Web Site,

The follower feeds VERY smothly and you can snap out and snap back in the CZ mag whenever you want.

Beryl

Revision: I forgot to say the follower is flush with the bottom of the rifle.

Beryl

quote:

Originally posted by Reloader:
Anyone shot the new Savage Single shot hornet?

I looked at one the other day and just wondered if anyone had tried them.

Reloader

I bought one last year, and I so love it. It's just a tad heavy for offhand shots past 100 yds, but it ain't hard to kneel or sit. BTW, I haven't missed a groundhog with it yet!!

Hi I thyink I would go the easy way . Buy some 221 brass and Dies.
Bill

cz There is no gun better right out of the box CZ

quote:

Originally posted by df06:
I have tried Rugers with very poor accuracy results. Had a Browinng micro medallion that shot well. Now have 1730 HB anchutz & it is exceptionally accurate. I will keep this one a long time.

df:

I too tried a Ruger with poor results in the Hornet. Have had a CZ 527 for almost two years and it is quite an improvement, but ................................................................ Like yourself, I just received a brand new Anschutz 1730 DHB with the stainless heavy barrel. Just scoped the thing and waiting to take it to my cabin where I have a range.

Would love to hear what you like to feed your 1730 !!

THANKS, "Bo"

quote:

Originally posted by Beryl:
Merk01,
If you would be satisfied with a single shot you can get a 'follower' from Jim Calhoon.
I am very pleased with his 'follower', You can get more info from his Web Site,
Beryl

Beryl, if you don't mind, could you share the site of where I can get this "Jim Calhoun follower' for a CZ Hornet?

Many thanks, "Bo"

Bo,

You asked what I feed my Anchutz 1730 HB.

win cases
Fed sm pistol primer
13.2 Lil gun ( that's a full case)
40 berger varmint HP

I have found that the small pistol primers are important for accuracy, versus using small rifle primers.
I have also had good success with various 40 grain plastic bullets, but they are to long to feed through the clip in my gun. I like a repeater when the PDs are thick.

I really like my Rugar M-77/22, but it's had some work done to it. It started life as a 20" lite barrel version with a sloppy chamber, which caused egg shaped brass, and case head seppartions with factory ammo. It now wears a Rugar VHZ 24" SS heavy barrel punched out to a K version, 2.5# trigger, bolt tightened up, work done by CPC Chambering in Ct. I have wondered if alot of this " good hornet/bad hornet " experiance of some people may be due to using the wrong bullets for the barrels twist rate. The reason I mention this is I once found a site that had a bullet " bearing surface/twist rate " calculater on it, but was lost due to a computer crash. I got to playing with it, measuring various bullets, from 40 grn thru 50 grn, to see what results it would come up with. I'll be darned, as one of the bullets that shoots the best in my K ( Sierra # 1440 ) had the right requirments according to there formula. I wish I could find that site agin, as it was interesting to play with. Hey lets keep this Hornet thing goin, its a fun round. Al

df06:

Personal Message sent.

BoCash3,
Jim Calhoon web page is

www.jamescalhoon.com

when you get there go to'price list' then scroll down to 'single shot follower''


The follower is flush however the "channel" for the factory mag remains on the front of the trigger guard. Mine is very smooth feed.

Beryl

Gentlemen,

Very interesting thread. I've been somewhat considering a .22 Hornet as it looks like pure fun.

In addition to that, however, may I ask what it's good for? (That's a question, not a challenge.) It seems to me it would be good for varmints out to, what? 200 yards, perhaps?

What about squirrels and rabbits? Is it too much gun for them?

Thanks in advance.

In your part of the country Wismon the Hornet is a superb woodchuck gun, crow, fox, coyote and anything smaller type of gun. If you were eating the rabbits and squirrels the Hornet could be a little wastful on the meat. Would be a little bit of overkill on the squirrel. You are right on with the 200 yard and under guess. They are a blast to shoot and addictive in my opinion.

I have not had my hands on the CZ 527 in .22 Hornet but, it looks like a remake of the old Winchester 54? My uncle had one from the 30's. It was .223 diameter.
My currant Hornet is the Ruger 77/22-Hornet.
I have it shooting dime size groups at 100 yards.

Over the years, I've own several Hornet Rifles from Ruger's #3 single-shot, M-77/22 Hornet, Winchester M-70 Hornets (2), Sako M-78, Savage M-340, CZ's 527 Hornet, and a Kimber Of Oregon M-82 "Series "S" Hornet. Of the one I've listed the Kimber, was by far, the most accurate. I believe the 1-in-14" twist had something to do with the accuracy with bullet weights over 45 grains at Hornet velocities. The other Hornet rifles had the traditional 1-in-16" twist.

Wismon, Hornet is a bit much for small game you are planning to eat. Download it to the point that it does not ruin the meat and you have an expensive .22 WMR.

A better choice for a small game/suburban varmit round is .25-20 WCF in a bolt or singleshot. With handloads, you might give up 25 yards in the varminter role, but with cast bullets at about 1400fps you have a superb small game cartridge. Problem is that the only way I know of into such a current rifle is a T/C and a custom barrel. The Marlin with its tube magazine does not really count.

If the 25-20 WCF is the choise I would look for a Sako L46 in that caliber. I have one my self and it's a sweet shooting rifle, it will put three rounds in under one inch at 50 meters every day I try it (open sights). Sadly, like Leftoverdj have said, there are VERY few new rifles in that caliber on the market today.

On the 22 Hornet what is a decent accuracy load for it ?. I have a friend that has had absolutely the worst luck with anything he's tried !.
This guy is a shooter , a bench rester !. He just got back from the range spent 2 weeks there . Couldn't get it to digest anything under 1" at 100 yd. New barrel TC I'm not sure but think it's over 20 ". As I don't own TC stuff I'm not sure of what they offered it in .

I've seen this guy ( Bill ) take an old Garand CMP purchased Swede or Greek loaner ?. It shot 2.5 - 4 " groups !. He Built a load for it and now it shoots .410 - .575 " like clock work.
So he pretty much knows what he's doing , it's just that his Hornet isn't doing it period !.

Try 13 grains of Lil'Gun under a 35 grain V Max with a Rem 1 1/2 Small Pistol Primer. My CZ 527 is never over 1 inch, with the best(5 shot) group being .132.
Pete

the best Hornet this year is my Ruger 77-22H that has killed fourteen coyotes since the first of the year at ranges from 40-150yds. The range maggots are dropping lambs and the coyote buffet is open.

Rich
DRSS

quote:

Originally posted by Wismon:
Gentlemen,

Very interesting thread. I've been somewhat considering a .22 Hornet as it looks like pure fun.

In addition to that, however, may I ask what it's good for? (That's a question, not a challenge.) It seems to me it would be good for varmints out to, what? 200 yards, perhaps?

What about squirrels and rabbits? Is it too much gun for them?

Thanks in advance.

Normal Hornet loads are a bit too powerful for small game like Squirrels. For Squirrels, I use the following load in my 1-in-14" twist Kimber rifle: 7.0 grs/ SR-4759/ 50 grain (High Velocity type) I use Remington 50 grainers. All this loaded into a Remington Hornet case fired by their 7 1/2 SR primer. Velocity is around 1,500 FPS and is non-distructive. If your rifle has a 1-in-16" rifling twist, then I suggest using 6.0 grs/SR-4759 & a 45 grain High Velocity bullet.

My shooting partner just puts holes in paper . I'm after a load that says OK I can live with that . He's tried little gun .I saw the targets I've had tighter groups with a shot gun !. Seriously it didn't like it at all no matter what amount . His barrel is a TC 22 " I believe that's what he told me . Now he did use 4198 which I think gave his best group , Around 10 grains .I know he was shooting 45 ,46 grain . He says it's the pits on 35 grain projectiles his best were 45 & 60 grain with 10 grains 4198 .
They averaged .875 - 1.250 " .