Lawdog,

It's a 23D, as I mentioned, they were made from '33 to '47.

Hot Core,

Sierra still makes .223's, 40 & 45gr. Hornaday makes .222, 40gr, & .223 45gr.

I would bet lots of bullets +0.001" from bore size have gone down various barrels, without adverse effects. I believe Ken Waters, in his Pet Loads articles, tried .223 and .224 in both size barrels, with minimal change in performance. The chamber neck should handle the extra .001 with no problem. No likely downside, just work up to max loads.

I know it's not the same as swaging a copper jacket, but cast bullet shooters often go 0.003-0.004" over bore size.

I'm about to aquire an older Savage Sporter in 22 Hornet. These rifles were made between 1933 & 1947. Early Hornets were 223 whereas later and current are 224. I know about slugging the bore, that's not the question. What's the downside of using 224's in a 223? All I can think of is excessive pressure, tight chambering, poor accuracy. How much difference does .001" make in the Hornet? Thanks for the input.

Which model old Savage? Some of the older ones won't take the pressure that can develop using the larger .224 bullets in them. Lawdog

Hey Craigster, Good for you. Looks like you have a bunch of fine Bullets to try.

I wrestled with those 22Hornets for about 35 years and they were always an aggravation to me. One day they would be shooting slightly under 1" and the next day you might be pushing 2" with the same exact Loads.

But, as I mentioned before I never got to try Lil'Gun and "I hear" it is The Powder for the 22Hornet.

Some of my better Loads were developed using Pistol Primers. The SAAMI MAX Pressure for the 22Hornet is low enough that using Pistol Primers is not a problem. Also had good luck (on occasion) with the Rem 6 1/2 Primers.

Best of luck to you!

I have both the .223 and a Ruger 77/22-Hornet. Both are good rifles. I wish I had a standard barrel in the.223 Ultra-Lite.
223 is a 300 yard gun....22 Hornet 150 to 200 yard gun.
I love the Hornet the best of the two. My uncle had a 30's ventage Winchester in .22 Hornet. We got to loading 224 bullets in it. It shot fine, with no problems.

I would stick with the .223 dia. Hornet bullets just to be safe. Lawdog

craigster:

A couple of years ago, I acquired a Savage Sporter in 22 Hornet, same as you. I went through the same BS as you are now, and this is what I came up with after a lot of testing.

I found that in my rifle, the 224's worked better. By the way my rifle was made in 1941. 40 grain Ballistic tips shot real well, but they are too long to fit the magazine, so at the suggestion of another Hornet shooter I tried 35 grain V-Max's. In my opinion the V-Max , and Lil Gun Powder is the way to go, although I had good luck with IMR4227 and 1680 as well. I also shot 296, and 2400, but the groups left a lot to be desired. You will find the Hornet to be finicky, but once you find the right combination, it shoots as well as most other sporters.

Jerry