22 hornet

upnadam

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Just got a 22 hornet. Im pplanning on reloading for it. Do you guys have any tips on reloading this round. Mabey some of your pet loads. Thanks adam.
 
My Brno was a sweet little rifle with a double set trigger. Groups were terrible, and i tried every trick in the book.

One day I accidently made an error with the balance beam powder scale and loaded the ammo 5 gr too light. Eureka! Tiny groups!

I got best results with Win 680.

Each rifle is different. Buy some 45 gr bullets, start low and work up. A nice quiet ground hog gun. Farmers don't get worried about the noise.
 
Get your self a small dish full of graphite to dip your cases into as sizing lube.
These little cases are thin and finicky. Too much liquid lube dents them up badly and too little will cause them to crush rather than re size.
The graphite alows you to get just the right lube inside and out on the neck and won't cause a mess inside the case.
 
4227 works really well with the 45 grainers. And remember.... 0.10 can make a huge difference in that little case.
 
Depending on whose dies you are using, it can be an advantage to polish the inside of a full length sizing die. Flitz on a bore mop, chucked in a cordless drill for a minute or so , is usually enough.


I got best results with Win 680.

Unfortunately Win 680 is long gone..... (I still have some left ;) )
 
My Brno was a sweet little rifle with a double set trigger. Groups were terrible, and i tried every trick in the book.

One day I accidently made an error with the balance beam powder scale and loaded the ammo 5 gr too light. Eureka! Tiny groups!

I got best results with Win 680.

Each rifle is different. Buy some 45 gr bullets, start low and work up. A nice quiet ground hog gun. Farmers don't get worried about the noise.

Maybe you were flinching with the heavy loads? (LOL) Sorry I couldn't resist.
Small cases demand attention to detail when it comes to powder charge, one grain can mean a big difference in pressure.
 
12.5 gr Lil'Gun under the 40 VM's. My last two Hornet's got chambered to K-Hornet tonight... all six are K's now... I shoot the K's with the 50 VM's.
 
...Fortunately Accurate 1680 is still around, and is the same powder. Not the easiest one to find, but it is around.

They are not quite the same, very similar, yes. Both are spherical, double base powders.

AA1680 is the same as WC680 which is/was a surplus powder, and possibly different than WW680 which was the commercial version.
 
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So what exactly is a K-Hornet? Do you use the same case as Hornet?

It's an improved Hornet (sharper shoulder,less taper).It's faster and the cases should last longer and strech less.
You can fire factory ammo in a K Hornet chamber but you will need K Hornet dies to reload them.
 
So what exactly is a K-Hornet? Do you use the same case as Hornet?

A wildcat from the mind of Lisle Killbourn (ergo the "K" in K-Hornet).

I've had great success with the Rem or Winchester 45 gr RN in either SP or HP flavour ahead of 12 gr of L'il Gun. Use small pistol primers as the tiny case doesn't need a rifle primer to fire the charge, and you'll notice a lot of difference in your groups. Neck size only...
 
The following info serves as my guidelines only. You will need to carefully check into all of the criteria for your particular components and firearm(s).

I have been reloading my CZ 527 American and am getting great results with using Remington factory brass, Remington 6 1/2 Small Rifle primers, Hornady 35 gr V-max bullets and 12.8 of Hodgon LilGun powder. I use a Lee Neck sizer to size only a small portion of the case neck, that equates to the amount of depth the bullet needs to be seated in order to NOT exceed the COL of the finished round.
I find there is no need to fully neck size. I also do not crimp nor do I need to lube any of my cases. Some of my Rem brass has been re-loaded 4 times with no evidence of any case damage (crack / split, blown primer pockets etc) . I have also used Privi Partisan (factory ammo) brass which I think is very good quality of brass and these work well also

The use of the 6 1/2 Remington primers is an important factor as problems can occur if too strong a primer is used.

I obtained most of my information on .22 Hornet reloading from another site: rimfirecentral.com.
This site is dedicated mostly to all things rimfire, however it does have a Centerfire (Rifle) Section discussion board. There is a fellow by the username of Vincent who is highly regarded as the guru of reloading the .22 Hornet caliber. Vincent does have a lot of knowledge and experience with this caliber and he has contributed much of his knowledge on this site.

I would highly recommend you and others take the time to read the info that is available by Vincent and others on this site. I'm one of many that have and can assure you will really come to appreciate the enjoyment that comes with the accuracy, performance in shooting/reloading this great caliber.

The .22 Hornet has been around for many years, it's never gone away and never will. There are more bullet options available now more than ever.

Good luck,
fortuna
 
Ditto on the small pistol primers. Had several Hornets and a K Hornet over the years and after reading an article in a shooting magazine I tried the suggested small pistol primers and got much better accuracy. I've had good success with 2400, 4227, Win 680 (sadly gone now), AA1680 (still available, but can be tough to get?), and although I haven't tried Lil' Gun yet I hear great things about it for both the Hornet and K Hornet!
Enjoy shooting your Hornet!
 
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