22 hornet & 65 grain bullets?

It should be safe with slower powders but you likely won't get enough velocity to stabilize the bullet. Especially if it's a boat tail
 
...thanks

...i picked up this handi-rifle a couple years ago off the ee...it's a nice enough rifle for what it is...i have had much better luck with the 55's (gameking @ 1950) than with 40's and 45's (varminter @ 2500 fps) and was just toying with the notion of a 65 boat tail gameking and wondering if it had been done...don't find much on forums on this one...

...penetration tests on wood show about the same penetration between the lighter, faster bullets and the heavier, slower ones, with the lighter varmint bullets losing much of their mass and the gameking being a nice rounded solid

...i'm not particularly interested in speed - 4227 does best for me rather than lilgun - and distance isn't a concern...100 yards max...but accuracy is
 
A 1-9 twist is uncommon in a hornet, best just to try and let us know. I would start with 4227, I am using 680 but down to last couple pounds I found at a local gun show. If you find 55s work well the next step up might as well.
 
...handi-rifle 22 hornets in the end were standard in 1-9...some are 1-12...this one is 1-9 (measured)

i was just out plinking this afternoon...fifty measured yards off my porch...two shot groups...55 grain Sierra GameKings...

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...penetrations about the same at close range for 40, 45, and 55 grain Sierra bullets...the first 2 are Varminters and the third is a GameKing (with the 4th being Cerrosafe)...

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...the three all penetrated 7" of 1" spruce boards at twenty feet, but I like the GameKing best...I have a preference for bullets with mass for their calibre with the exception of exclusively varmint loads like my .223...this Hornet is not only for gophers, coyotes, and such, which is why I'm looking at the 65 GameKing

...I'll get a box at the end of the month when X-Reload refreshes their stock and let you know...

...it's funny but putting a couple of holes in paper 1/3" apart at 50 yards just plinking is as thrilling for me now as it was when I was a kid...especially when they are my own loads...nice calibre/gun...wishin i discovered it sooner...

:)
 
...finally got around to ordering...and reloaded today...nice to be in a place where i can load and walk out the door to test

...a 65 grain GameKing SPBT with 6.6 grains of IMR4227 produces 1600 fps and groups at .55" at 50 yards out of this 1:9 H&R .22 Hornet

...that more than meets my expectations...midway between a .22 wmr and .22 long rifle in speed but with a 65 grain, controlled expansion bullet and quiet and accurate

left to right: 45 varminter, 55 gameking, 65 gameking sierra bullets

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