22 Hornet brass - Pro's and Cons

[Billo]

Interested to get some feedback on 22 Hornet brass, I wont entertain using hornady crap because of previous leaky primer pocket experience and I've just been given 3 different lots of brass to use. Winchester, Remington and S&B, has anyone compared case capacity ??

[bigrich]

Interested to get some feedback on 22 Hornet brass, I wont entertain using hornady crap because of previous leaky primer pocket experience and I've just been given 3 different lots of brass to use. Winchester, Remington and S&B, has anyone compared case capacity ??

22 hornet brass is thin and doesn't have a long life at best . i've used rem brass in the past and it seemed to have better case life than winchester . tried s&b brass once , the primer holes were off centre which resulted in a broken de-capping pin in my die . the good thing about hornady hornet brass is the primer hole is smaller than other brass from memory, which helps with bullet jump . if you don't know already billo , small pistol primers and a light crimp help with this and improve accuracy . at least in my experience . hope this is useful, cheers

[Billo]

thanks bigrich and yes I've had to ream out primer pockets with some S&B brass previously, good to know RP brass is betterer than WW Super.

Ive had leaky primers with Hornady brass before so I'll pass on hornady. Will do some brass prep later today and check case capacity to see if there is much difference.

[bigrich]

thanks bigrich and yes I've had to ream out primer pockets with some S&B brass previously, good to know RP brass is betterer than WW Super.

Ive had leaky primers with Hornady brass before so I'll pass on hornady. Will do some brass prep later today and check case capacity to see if there is much difference.

i suppose brass capacity depends on the powder and how far you seat the bullet . 40 vmax are a great bullet , very accurate, but too long for most mags . i also had great accuracy with the 35gn hornady vmax , which may be too light for some uses. cheers

[Oldbloke]

Not looking to argue, but I'm wondering what the attraction is to the 22 Hornet?
I know it's a great little cartridge, but everyone seems to have "issues" with the brass! Sometimes hard to find to I think.

I wanted one years ago for foxes but couldnt really justify buying one.
But when i revisited buying a fox rifle years later in the end i got a 223. Just dismissed the Hornet due to all these case issues.

If you load a 222 or 223 using 2206H at abt 60% (~15 grains) you end up with someting near the 22 Hornet max. And if needed you can abviously load it to normal loads.

Sooo, why buy a 22 Hornet and not a 222 or 223? What's the big advantage?

[Billo]

Not looking to argue, but I'm wondering what the attraction is to the 22 Hornet?
I know it's a great little cartridge, but everyone seems to have "issues" with the brass! Sometimes hard to find to I think.

I wanted one years ago for foxes but couldnt really justify buying one.
But when i revisited buying a fox rifle years later in the end i got a 223. Just dismissed the Hornet due to all these case issues.

If you load a 222 or 223 using 2206H at abt 60% (~15 grains) you end up with someting near the 22 Hornet max. And if needed you can abviously load it to normal loads.

Sooo, why buy a 22 Hornet and not a 222 or 223? What's the big advantage?

The gun safe needed to lose weight if I'm being honest despite having a super accurate 223 it's easy to step down and use a Hornet in its place for the type of shooting I will use it for.

I've gotten rid of my 223, 22lr and the 22 magnum will get sold in the next week or so.

Life will be simpler with the Hornet and if I need more legs then the 6mm will come out.

Oldbloke I didn't need to buy a 22 hornet as I already have an action on hand and I'm using a 224 barrel I have on hand to build exactly what I want.

It will be a handy 19inchs varmint profile that should stick out the window well and be easy to carry in the bush.

[yoshie]

I use PPU. Primer holes are under sized and grab onto the de-priming pin and pull it out of the die. It was pretty frustrating to deprime a 1000 cases. I drilled our the primer holes and now they are great. I usually loose a few cases when seating bullets due to how thin the cases are. A bullet with a boat-tail will seat easier and straighter

[Billo]

Thanks Yoshi, I have a handful of ppu on hand and actually made a few dummy cases. de priming rod went rhru OK, good to know

[Tinker]

The Remington brass is the thinnest. I use it for making 297-230 Morris Long cases by cutting off at the shoulder and sizing through the die. With the other thicker brands the internal neck diameter ends up too large. From memory PPU is the thickest.
Therefore the Rem brass should have a slightly larger case capacity if that's what you're after, but shorter case life if you're reloading.

[Billo]

The Remington brass is the thinnest. I use it for making 297-230 Morris Long cases by cutting off at the shoulder and sizing through the die. With the other thicker brands the internal neck diameter ends up too large. From memory PPU is the thickest.
Therefore the Rem brass should have a slightly larger case capacity if that's what you're after, but shorter case life if you're reloading.

Thanks Tinker, brass life isnt a really a consideration with this rifle, head shot accuracy is what Im after and I will be only using a 36gr copper projectile for head and neck shooting

[bigrich]

i always had good accuracy out of rem brass , as for being thinner , dunno . it just worked better for me than other brands

[OzzyRZ]

The best 22 hornet brass is Nosler.
If you have a K hornet they last for almost ever

[Billo]

The best 22 hornet brass is Nosler.
If you have a K hornet they last for almost ever

its funny you say that cause I bought a bag of 250 Noslers and sold 150 to mates, kept 100 and I have split necks on quite a few when I was running them as a 20 Hornet, I don't think there special. RWS brass isn't available but Ammo is, sadly Beretta wont sell less than 10 bx, which is more than I can afford

Ive put just on 250 rounds thru the Hornet in the last month or so and the Remington brass which has only been annealed once is holding up really good after 5 firings, 5 shot groups at 200m are coming in at 0.6moa

[OzzyRZ]

I do anneal the Nosler from new as they dont fireform into K Hornet well without it. After they are annealed they are awesome

[Billo]

I do anneal the Nosler from new as they dont fireform into K Hornet well without it. After they are annealed they are awesome

Glad u had a good experience, I suspect I worked the brass a little too much with Lil gun and Power pro

[OzzyRZ]

I do anneal the Nosler from new as they dont fireform into K Hornet well without it. After they are annealed they are awesome

Glad u had a good experience, I suspect I worked the brass a little too much with Lil gun and Power pro

We all tend to push our hornet loads to the max lol. I know a bloke that uses a Lilgun compressed load in his 22k hornet. He loves it. I must admit that i nearly always go to the "max load" for my 22k loads as i like to have as much speed as i can get.
Just for your information, Federal brass has very consistent case weight. This helps if you are really chasing that last bit of accuracy

[jambuster]

In Australia is the 22 Hornet a common round. I live in the central US in West Tennessee and I never see any at the range I shoot at. Components for reloading are readily available so there must be a good number out there. Use mine mostly for coyotes

[bigrich]

In Australia is the 22 Hornet a common round. I live in the central US in West Tennessee and I never see any at the range I shoot at. Components for reloading are readily available so there must be a good number out there. Use mine mostly for coyotes

it used to be common . early brno zkw 465 rifles in 22 hornet were VERY popular in australia , as was the later brno "fox" version that also came out in 222 . it's more a nostalgia round now i think , still useful for foxes and rabbits closer in to towns and dwellings cause of it's low report . most aussies upgraded to 222 , then 223 .

or 17 rem for those that shot foxes for the bounty and fur trade . it was a good living back in the day according to those that did it .

in some regions farmers/hunters/ professional roo cullers shoot many thousands of rounds and don't have time or inclination to reload . 223 is cost effective for pest control and has decent range over the hornet. i've owned a couple of hornets but found them too niche for where i live and what i shoot at . i use a 222 rem 700 for comps out to 200 meters, and a 223 tikka T3 stainless for a working rifle out bush.

my views aren't the be all and end all , hope this info helps . cheers