My .22 Hornet's barrel slugs out at a tight .223. Will shooting .224 bullets in it damage anything?

I have tried .223/.224 HORNET bullets from both Sierra and Hornady without much luck in accuracy. I'm still playing around with case retention with the .223 Hornets trying to improve accuracy/consistancy as well as powder charges, primers, etc.

The Nosler 40 grain BT does real good and the Sierra 40 grain Blitz King does great. But they are .224 diameter.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe A.

Joe,
.224 diameter bullets in .223 bore are not necessarily a bad thing, but pressures will be boosted. That may explain it.
What firearm are you using?

STP,

I using an Anschutz 54 with the heavy SS barrel.

As I said, it groups the Blitz Kings great, rarely over 3/4 inches and usually around a 1/2 inch or better at 95 yards. I'm using 10.4 grains of LiL Gun with that bullet. Pressure seems fine. Just concerned.

I would like to get better groups with a standard Hornet bullet. I've tried all of the Sierra's and Hornady's Hornet bullets, but I can't get consistant accuracy with them. At 50 yards, the Sierra's would shoot mostly small 1 hole groups, but at 100 yards they would open up over an inch and occasionally close to 2 inches.

Thanks,

Joe A.

Thats a hornet. We beat ourselves to death trying to make a few hornets shoot right. The cases are so hard to load for. Everything has to be perfect. Boost the pressures and then the case heads start ripping off. Thats not a fun one to deal with. The necks are so thin its hard to get consitent loads. i think in the small case primers will vary the pressures enough to change everything from shot to shot. we ended up using a set of copetition type dies and a concentricity case guage. You literally could pick the flyers out of a batch of loads. We never had any problems with switching 223s and 224s. Start low and work it up. Look out for case head separation. It will happen before you know it. I had good luck with h110 and the v max bullets.

Try Nosler's little 45 grain Hornet bullet. One of the fine solid base designs which was never discontinued. It is the most accurate Hornet bullet in my experience.

I don't agree - the Hornet can easily be made to shoot, BUT there are a few requirements though:
Sizing: Use a Lee collet sizer, nothing else - this is the only necksizer that will not stretch your (very thin) brass
Seating: Only a Competition micrometric die will do - something like a Forster.
For the rest, be abslutely uniform - turning case necks is a good idea, and seat the bullet into the rifling.
It takes quite a bit of attention to detail, but in the end, the results are worth the effort...

5-shot group, 8.1 VV N110, Sierra 45gr SP

This is a nice cartridge to shoot, and you can shoot it all day long - quite accurate too.

I`d have to agree with STW...
The only thing I could add would be to try different primers. And possibly to be very attentive to case length, clean primer pockets, lightly chamfered case necks, and uniform concentric bullet seating.
I`ve tried to dance with the Hornet...a mostly frustrating experience.
Good luck with your efforts.

Thanks for all the replies. Lots of usefull information.

My main concern about .224 bullets in a .223 is pressure. But I have no intentions of "Hot-rodding" the Hornet. Just want to keep the pressures down due to the rear locking bolt of the Anschutz.

I talked to Nosler about their 45 grain Hornet bullet and once the guy knew I had a .223 bore, he quickly replied he "could not help me" and that was the end of the conversation.

Lots of modern firearms chambered for calibers such as the 7.62x39 and the 32-20 have .308 bore diameters. That's 3 or more thousanths smaller than the original bullet size. I'm sure bullets of .311 diameter or larger are fired down those bores. Any comment?

I'm lucky having one very accurate load with the Blitz King, just like to have an reasonably accurate load with one of the Hornet bullets due to the thinner jackets and less chance of ricochets.

Thanks,

Joe A.

I have a BSA Martini rf modified to 22 Hornet. It has the rimfire barrel with the 22rf bore. I don't worry about shooting Sierra 224 bullets or any other 224 bullets. I modify the amount of powder I put in the case to keep the pressure down. It is my understanding that Cadet BSA Martinis were commonly rebarreled in Australia with 22rim fire barrels to 222Rem (Super) and 224 bullets were fired. I expect to be having that modification done at some time to a spare small Martini action.

I am in the same situation as trepur--BSA Martini in 22 Hornet with a 22 rimfire barrel.
Works just fine with VMAX 35 grain .224 bullets over 11 grains of Lil'Gun. I use the same bullet over 13 grains of Lil'Gun in my CZ 527 Hornet.
Pete

Try using small pistol primers, they work very well for my Hornet (Ruger). I also use Lee Collet dies to assemble things, and I only use Lilgun powder anymore.

My k hornet is a M70 with a .223 bore and a 1:16 twist with the original 1947 factory barrel. It loves the .224 45gr Sierras and 40gr Noslers with AA1680 powder at around 3000 FPS. It never develops any pressure signs and accuracy is great.

.224 projectiles can be used in a .223 bore without causing excess pressure .As with any other load you need to watch for pressure signs and adjust your powder charge accordingly .If you have an accurate load and can't see any pressure signs then you don't have a problem .
Run high pressure in the thin hornet case and you will certainly have to FL size after every load to chamber rounds easily . If you don't have to FL size regularly then your pressure is OK .
So much for Nosler's "technical staff" if they can't work that out .