.22 Hornet loads

[Wado270]

Anyone got some good loads for the hornet?

I'm running 11.5 gn of ar2207 with the 45 gn hollow point, I hand loaded some 36gn barnes hollow points but no matter what I did I couldn't get them to stabilize.

They shot everywhere in my Bruno 22 hornet, even dropped the powder right down, has anyone used them?

[Apollo]

The 36gr Barnes VG Bullets are too long for a normal twist Hornet barrel. They will not stabalise and are designed for a faster twist barrel like a .222R or .223R.

The only Barnes VG that works in a Hornet is the 30gr and even has Hornet written on the box.

They are extremely accurate as like another the 30gr Berger Match Varmint.

The only powders that work in a .22 Hornet are AR2205, AR2207 and Winchester 296. The later is the powder I use in three formulas for those rifles and has proven to be the most accurate. With the 30gr about 11.7gr of powder.

The 40gr & 45gr bullets I found are a tad too heavy for best accuracy. The light bullets work very well with the range the Hornet is best at.

Use Small Pistol Primers not Rifle Primers as they are too hot for the Hornet size case. Try crimping the thin Hornet brass neck...Lee Factory Crimp.

The end result involves seating depth too, play shortening it.

Then as I have done you will see a 5 shot group less than 0.5" and it makes then a very accurate, deadly varmint calibre.

[Wado270]

Sounds good I will have to try them out at what range are you hitting with this load obviously wind would come in to it as well as we only get a few good night a month over here where it's not blowing its ass off I'm in the mid west central wheat belt area I already use the pistol primers in my hornet

[Apollo]

The minimum range I test at with a centrefire is 100 metres as is the above groups. After I finish load testing I then zero my Hornet at 150 metres.

I have had good results with 35gr Hornady V-Max but found them too explosive on pelts and meat. Rabbits here are shot for meat and Fox for pelts.

Initially when I tried the 36gr Barnes VG's I did get them to work at 100m but the next time I tried they didn't even put a mark on an A4 Page Target at 100m so tried at 50m and found them keyholing all over the place. I know that lack of velocity can cause keyholing so I tried increasing the powder charge even past maximum which didn't help at all. Have no idea why at some stage they did fluke the 100m target, might just have been the temperature difference but it wasn't worth mucking around with. Barnes suggest the minimum twist rate required is 1:14 so the Hornet's 1:16 Twist Rate is too slow. They work well in a .222R or .223R.

BTW. So far I found that the Lee Collet Die provides the best accuracy over a standard die with it's expander button. As with all Lee Collet Dies, make sure you have the die set correctly and apply enough force to size the neck against the mandrel correctly. If you don't get it right you will find you are getting loose bullets that may even easily slide down the neck.

[Hilux2003]

Some times you may need to "reduce the mandrel diameter" to acheive a consistent neck tension, particularly with different batchs of brass, so a second (or third mandrel, labelled, would be approproate, each a thou or so different).
I do modify the factory dies & mandrels in the Lee Collet Die range.
6.5x55, .303British & .223Rem - so far & all required "some mod or other" to function the way I wanted/settings/ease of use/reason.

The Lee Dies are so cheap and are reliable once set up properly, a second set is no great expense for a different batch of brass.

[Varmtr]

I have found the 36gr Barnes VG shoot excellent in my K-Hornet with a 1:14 barrel. It shoots under a 5c coin at 100y. The load is Hornady brass and prep'd, 13grs Hodgdons Lil-Gun, CCI-BR4 primers. I have also tryed Remington 71/2 BR primers and accuracy dropped ever so slightly.
I did try AR2205 and 2207 but couldn't get it to shoot as good as Lil-Gun.

I will have to try the 30gr Barnes hornet pills.

[pawnee]

I have heard conflicting reports about lil-guns powder guys washing out barrels at 500 to 600 rounds
saw this on a few yanky web sites maybe someone can enlighten me on this subject in the mean time I will
stick with adi 2205 and winchester 296

[Varmtr]

Pawnee post up the link about this I would be interested in reading this.
I tried W296 in my k-hornet but sounded like a tuning fork. But with a hornet to burn a barrel out you would need to shoot a s**t load of rounds with no maintenance before it would burn out. Its not what you would call a barrel burning round by any means. But who knows anything will wear out if you don't do maintenance.
I used to run 2205 and accuracy was ok but with the same powder charge in lil-gun 13grns and yes I was running 13grns of 2205 in my k-hornet. I have seen less pressure signs and slightly better velocity but most of all better accuracy with lil-gun.

[pawnee]

Pawnee post up the link about this I would be interested in reading this.
I tried W296 in my k-hornet but sounded like a tuning fork. But with a hornet to burn a barrel out you would need to shoot a s**t load of rounds with no maintenance before it would burn out. Its not what you would call a barrel burning round by any means. But who knows anything will wear out if you don't do maintenance.
I used to run 2205 and accuracy was ok but with the same powder charge in lil-gun 13grns and yes I was running 13grns of 2205 in my k-hornet. I have seen less pressure signs and slightly better velocity but most of all better accuracy with lil-gun.

I will look it up and see if I can find it again and post it

[pawnee]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=482283
http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.php

these are two that you can have a look at
the one I wanted I can't find just at the moment but you might be able to get something out of this lot

[Varmtr]

Thanks Pawnee I'll have a read.

[bigrich]

i know this is a old post, but have just got back into shooting and have recently aquired a gunsmithed krico in 22 hornet. has had a new varmit barrel fitted.any advice on good factory loads ?

[Vati]

Is the new barrel standard 1:14 twist or something faster?

[bigrich]

actually vati, i don't know yet. still waiting on pta. the gun is a old krico that was refurbished by a local smith called alan swan. he makes his own barrels. when i've got it i should ring him to find out. the twist rate. i had a shoot of a mates cz hornet and quite liked it. more zap than a 22 mag, not as loud as a 222. suppose they were known as THE fox and bunny gun. i am curious to find out range limits and size of game it's good for. on some american forums there's guys with "k" hornets saying their knocking bunnies at 300.. you got any thoughts advice on this ? cause it's got a heavy varmit barrel on it i was going to set it up with a 4-12 x 42 scope. thoughts on this ?

[bigrich]

any one got any advice on loads for 22 hornet ? loading 12.7 gr of lil gun, 40 gr v-max (seating 20 thou off the rifle lands, too long for magazine but, single loading ) WAS trying fed br4 small rifle primers, but my firing pin isn't setting them off. no problem with any factory ammo. reloaded to same specs but trying cci standard small rifle primers. fired off three shots at 100 with rem 45gr hp's at 100 as a benchmark, grouped almost three shots touching. so the guns got it in it

[Oldbloke]

fired off three shots at 100 with rem 45gr hp's at 100 as a benchmark, grouped almost three shots touching

Doesn’t sound like you need much advice to me.

[bigrich]

don't like paying $78 for a box of rems OB. i got that really good group, then my next group was 1 1/2" thanks to a flyer. reckon if i can do that with factory ammo , what's the potential with hand loads.besides that it's fun

[bigrich]

here's some pic's , 22 hornet at 100. any advice would be appreciated on hand loading

[bigrich]

dunno why the christ my iphone is turning the pics sideways !

[Apollo]

The potential with a .22 Hornet is about 1/2 MOA or better. Using a CZ 527 here but much lighter bullets.

The biggest trick I found to consistent accuracy is go with the very old tradition of using Small Pistol Primers to save on the double ignition syndrome. Best dies I have used are Lee Collet and I add a Lee Factory Crimp to increase initial pressure release.

[bigrich]

i have a hornady "lock'n'load" press .haven't been crimping. is crimping recommended ? guy at my local gun shop recommended cci standard primers ( 400 on the box ) , or go magnum pistol primers. opinions apollo ?. hearing good things about 35 gr v-max, but the BC of the 40 gr v-max is better than any other hornet projectile i could find

[Apollo]

I use 30gr Barnes Varmint Grenades and 11.7gr of Winchester 296. Sorry, also use 30gr Bergers.

The Lee Factory Crimp Die is not like normal crimping bullets, it just adds a slight tight grip to the case neck.

Don't believe the Guy at the Local Gun Shop unless he has experience reloading for the Hornet. Do an Internet Search and you will see why in the past most Hornet reloaders used Small Pistol Primers. To cut a long story short, a standard primer has too much power when it goes off and starts to push the bullet forward before the powder charge ignites giving you a double ignition which is not great for accuracy.

The crimping was an experiment I did some time ago, as was testing different seating depths and also tested was using Benchrest Grade Bushing Dies, Standard Dies but the Lee Collet was a winner every time.

The .22 Hornet is fussy.

Only other powders I tried that I could get were AR2206 & AR2207. Very limited choice around here in the past.

[Apollo]

Oh, I have never been able to get any Lil Gun Powder from anywhere in my area.

[bigrich]

talking to a guy at ripley range shooting a krico full wood 22 hornet ( beautifull rare gun. my own hornet is a 400 series match rifle with a heavy "swan" varmit barrel ) he was getting ragged one hole groups at 100 using 35gr v-max with 10.7 gr of 2205. seats out just of the lands. uses the same cci primers the gun shop guy recommended. i will try some small pistol primers as you recommend (their only $7-$10 a box ) just checked, i can get barnes 36gr grenade hp. the most accurate factory rounds i've tried have been 46gr win hp. quite amazing as most factory chinwester ammo i've tried shoots like crap. have you tried the 36gr barnes ?

[Apollo]

From memory the 36gr Barnes VG were too long a bullet for my standard slow twist factory barrel, work like magic in my .223R. The bullets were not stable and started hitting the target sideways if at all. The 30gr Barnes are marked "Hornet" and are short stubby bullets in comparison.
I have only load tested for my CZ 527 and my mate's very old Brno Fox 2.
We tried 40gr odd and 50gr bullets but we wanted accuracy and minor pelt damage so the light, fast bullets were our pick for a zero range setting of 150m mostly night time spotlighting.
Any factory 50gr or so ammo I tested was rubbish in my view. Too scattered to be useful a bit further out.

[bigrich]

the only light bullet i can get are the 35gr v-max. i'll give the 40 gr v-max a try tomorrow and see how i go. the BC of these is much higher than anything else. spoke to a guy with a martini hornet who swore by them.will try those pistol primers as well . different loads for different guns i guess. thanks for your advice apollo. much appreciated. bed time now, bit of work in the morning, the range in the afternoon

[Apollo]

The Barnes do not have a Lead Core so probably longer to get the extra weight. The V-Max might be okay. Try different seating depths, made a big difference to ours when we started seating shorter,

Sleep tight.

[Stix]

Hey bugrich...
Im no expert but i wouldnt be worrying too much about better bc for hornet projectiles...

Your only shooting short range with a hornet so for wind drift just learn to feel the wind on your cheek/watch the grass through the scope/see the trees & hold off... (just from a rabbit shooters perspetive).

[Apollo]

Yep, BC means near nothing in short range. Even using my Benchrest Rifles for 100/200 competition my bullet selection has nothing to do with BC, it's best consistent accuracy.

[Stix]

Deleted double post.