Cast bullets in a 22 Hornet?
- Thread starter nw mb
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Rod B
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I had marginal success reloading cast bullets in my .223Rem. I still like cast lead in .308 & 45/70 but the small .223 bullet was not worth my time when taking into account the price of jacketed .223 bullets.
I hope my experience doesn't dissuade you from trying them in the .22 Hornet, they may work well for you. Never know until you try.
I hope my experience doesn't dissuade you from trying them in the .22 Hornet, they may work well for you. Never know until you try.
I just bought a new mold for my .223. A LEE 6 CAV MOLD 22 CALIBER C225-55-RF (90459). I have cast and lube sized and put on gas check but haven't shot any yet. Cast pics and Cast boolits website is a good spot to research mold. Do a search there. Molds are funny thing though, what may work well in one gun wont work worth a crap in another of the same calibre. this will be a first for me in .223 casting but I wanted to try it.
I had a Handi Hornet that I bought specifically for cast only to find out the 1-9 twist H&R used made it no better than my Savage 223 for cast, which really ain't that bad anyway. I had high hopes for full power cast loads with it. I have an old Ideal 225438 that weighs around 40gr lubed and checked that I envisioned popping gophers with at about 2700fps but no dice. They cheaped out and used the same barrel blanks as the 223 Handi's to save money. I sold my handi and bought a Remington 788 in 222. Much better cast shooter with it's 1-14 twist. So far, I can get the velocity up that high without leading, just got to work on accuracy a bit.
You will certainly get more than just a couple bullets per pound of lead!
What gun? Or more to the point, what bore diameter and twist rate?
I have a pretty good selection of .22 cal molds, some I have cast with, others not yet. Hard to keep the heat up on a small mold with a ladle! I set up my bottom pour pot hot, and used a gloved hand to lift the pour lever, open the sprue plate, etc., and still had to get a good fast rhythm going, as well as drop a nickel sized puddle of lead onto the sprue plate on each pour, to keep the mold hot, with a single cavity 224107 and 224415 mold.
I flipped the sprue slug back into the pot each time, so the amount of lead went down a lot slower than it would have if I had not.
The 107 and 438 molds are pretty much the 'classic' Hornet bullets, the 415 is a little heavier, and should do OK in a 12 or less twist, and then there are a bunch of heavier molds that are pretty much more for a faster twist.
Lots of good info over on the Castboolits site.
I have a Lyman 225107 single, an NOE 225107 2cav, a Lyman 225438 2 cav, a Lyman 225415 single, and a 225462 2 cav, IIRC.
All gas check designs. Mostly gun show buys, but bought the NOE mold as a leftover from a group buy. I see they still stock those(NOE Molds) on their site.
I cast up about a thousand each of the 107 and 415 bullets a while back. Still in the bottom of my drawer, on the to-do list.
One of the suggestions from some archived articles off the castboolits site (dunno where to find them these days, since they reorganized the stuff) suggests that small pistol primers are well worth trying as they are not as violent on ignition, and do not unseat the bullet when they ignite. Accuracy supposed to be improved. Not a lot of case neck tension to be got from a thin walled Hornet case, even crimped, eh.
One of the guys was reporting some spectacular velocities with the 225107 in his 22 Fireball rifle using his Speed Green Lube. Do a search there.
Edit. Found it. Castpics.net, look under the "Bench" heading, for articles. Some good reading there!
Cheers
Trev
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Back in the seventies, I played around with a Brno Hornet with cast. I used it for assassinating a few dozen gophers. It would group into an inch at 50 yards, but at 100 you needed a tent to cover the group. Light bullets were required with its slow twist. YMMV, of course.
Rod B
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I was using the Lyman mould #225646. I tried various powders but could not get anything that would group under 1 1/2 at 100m.
My rifles with a decent jacketed bullet will generally shoot about 1/2" at this distance. I decided that the .22 caliber was not worth the time & frustration of cast bullets.
My rifles with a decent jacketed bullet will generally shoot about 1/2" at this distance. I decided that the .22 caliber was not worth the time & frustration of cast bullets.
I have a lyman 225415 mold and its hollow pointed; been shooting cast for about 20 years out of a .223, CZ 527 and accuracy is reasonable, around 1 1/4 " @ 100 yards. attention to detail is necessary and so are gas checks. I have kept velocity below 2000 feet per second and also use small pistol primers.
shooting distance is good under 150 yards; after that it goes south pretty quick..... devastating on adult gophers, badgers, yotes.
shooting distance is good under 150 yards; after that it goes south pretty quick..... devastating on adult gophers, badgers, yotes.
I have an NOE 37 grain plain base 10 cavity mold for my Hornet. The bullets get powder coated. 2.5 grains of Unique gives dime sized groups from my Savage M40 Single shot.
Velocity is between 22 long rifle and 22 magnum. Groups are 1/2" or less at 25 meters.
i also have the same mold (5 cavity) with gas check. Haven't cast any yet but the lyman book suggests I can get up to 2400 fps with this bullet.
Powder coat is the way to go with Hornet bullets. Groups dropped from 2" at 50 yards to less than 1/2" at 50 yards with Powder coated PB bullets.
Velocity is between 22 long rifle and 22 magnum. Groups are 1/2" or less at 25 meters.
i also have the same mold (5 cavity) with gas check. Haven't cast any yet but the lyman book suggests I can get up to 2400 fps with this bullet.
Powder coat is the way to go with Hornet bullets. Groups dropped from 2" at 50 yards to less than 1/2" at 50 yards with Powder coated PB bullets.
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...thanks! You've given me a lot to work through, which is what I'm looking for...
I picked up a Handi Rifle for a really reasonable price. Less than 100 rounds put through it. It has a 1:9 twist (measured) and slugs at .225". Owner's hand loads with 50 grain Berger bullet SP's ran around 2550 fps using 110 powder. I reloaded some 50 grain TNT's with 12.8 gr. of Lil' Gun and got less than 1/2" groups at 50 yards and 2,948 average fps.
This was just for giggles trying to get the scope sighted in...
...that's all well and fine. And I will work up a better load using a SP jacketed bullet...either 50 or 45 grain.
But what I really want is a slower moving load that is accurate to 100 yards (around 1 MOA) and is not prone to fragmenting on impact. Some Sierra SP 50's (a harder bullet) should arrive today or tomorrow. Poured lead is really my final goal.
So I have a Lee mould on its way...55 grain. I will try it out and like the suggestion that I powder coat it. (I exclusively paper patch with great results for large bore cast loads.) If I don't get decent results with it coated I may mill down the mould making it a flat base bullet, which will also lighten up the weight, and see what happens. I like the NOE 6-cavity suggestion, and the Lyman 225415.
I will check out small pistol primer differences, too.
I just want a cast bullet load that is fairly accurate, +/- 2,000 fps, and non-fragmenting for quiet shooting within 100 yards. I already have accurate varmint rifles in .223 and .243 and don't need to try to get the Hornet to compete. I bought it to fill the gap between .22 lr and .223.
Does Lyman/NOE ship to Canada or is there a Canadian supplier?
I really have become mentally unstable with this calibre...it's SO much fun...easy to load...and cheap-like-borsht!!! Great way to start a new year...
I picked up a Handi Rifle for a really reasonable price. Less than 100 rounds put through it. It has a 1:9 twist (measured) and slugs at .225". Owner's hand loads with 50 grain Berger bullet SP's ran around 2550 fps using 110 powder. I reloaded some 50 grain TNT's with 12.8 gr. of Lil' Gun and got less than 1/2" groups at 50 yards and 2,948 average fps.
This was just for giggles trying to get the scope sighted in...
...that's all well and fine. And I will work up a better load using a SP jacketed bullet...either 50 or 45 grain.
But what I really want is a slower moving load that is accurate to 100 yards (around 1 MOA) and is not prone to fragmenting on impact. Some Sierra SP 50's (a harder bullet) should arrive today or tomorrow. Poured lead is really my final goal.
So I have a Lee mould on its way...55 grain. I will try it out and like the suggestion that I powder coat it. (I exclusively paper patch with great results for large bore cast loads.) If I don't get decent results with it coated I may mill down the mould making it a flat base bullet, which will also lighten up the weight, and see what happens. I like the NOE 6-cavity suggestion, and the Lyman 225415.
I will check out small pistol primer differences, too.
I just want a cast bullet load that is fairly accurate, +/- 2,000 fps, and non-fragmenting for quiet shooting within 100 yards. I already have accurate varmint rifles in .223 and .243 and don't need to try to get the Hornet to compete. I bought it to fill the gap between .22 lr and .223.
Does Lyman/NOE ship to Canada or is there a Canadian supplier?
I really have become mentally unstable with this calibre...it's SO much fun...easy to load...and cheap-like-borsht!!! Great way to start a new year...
This ^^^^^^^^
NOE molds are extremely high quality, there is an incredible warranty on them, and they work extremely well if you follow the directions to use them.
The price is very reasonable for the quality you get. If you are unhappy with the mold NOE will make it right.
SO far I have been very pleased with every NOE mold i have used.
I cast for a hornet back in the 70's - gave it up and sold the rifle because it didn't shoot any better than several others I already had. It would shoot 1 1/2 - 2" or so pushing 2000fps. With the better bullet sizing equipment available and H110 or Li'l Gun powder I often wish I'd kept it. Easy on powder and lead for sure.
Grouch
Grouch
I have the Lyman 225438 and struggle a little with my old BRNO FoxII, the light plinkers were fun but lost it beyond 50 yds, the twist is slow and dosen't come to life till its driven farely hard. With better weather on the way I will be switching to the M40 and starting from scratch with a faster twist.
