22 Hornet?

I have an old Aussie-made Martini action in .22 Hornet. Less noise than any of the larger rounds, cheaper to reload and more range than rimfires. Good bridge calibre between .22 LR and .223.
 
Just bought a Walther in .22 Hornet. Nice rifle but quite rough around the edges ( love the trigger though) I bought a couple boxes of factory ammo for it ,Winchester 45gr. shoot fine no case stretch etc. Hornady 36? gr. WOW totally the opposite, second round the brass failed near the web brass junction nice :( little smoke show .. 4 out of 5 rounds fired, brass failed or stretch so they are un- re loadable. Not sure why the difference ? So please be careful out there.

As for accuracy this was just a test to make sure the rifle was safe etc. I will be trying CFE BLK seems to be the new go to powder at the moment? We will see.
 
6.5 shooter,
Brass failing near the web.... I reload and shoot 25-20. I used to have a problem with brass failing near the web until I read that this was not uncommon for this calibre because: some chambers were too long? or some firearms had too much headspace? for a cartridge that was designed to be supported on the rim. The solution was to back out the sizing die slightly so that the brass chambered on the shoulder rather than the rim. No further problem. 22 Hornet has a less distinct shoulder and brass walls are quite thin but this may be worth a try.

Just a thought - perhaps the 45 gr. bullet was close enough to the start of the rifling (lead?) so that there was enough backward resistance on the case upon firing, that the case didn't stretch whereas the 36 gr. bullet being further off the lead allowed the stretching. Perhaps Hornady brass is sized (factory loads) so that the shoulder is placed further back than in the Winchester alloowing more stretch. This kind of thinking may also be a bit of a stretch.
40-82
 
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I have an interesting 22 hornet.

started life as a long Lee in 303 - 1895 if I recall it was later converted to a 1912 22RF trainer - Royal Navy, then somewhere later in time it was converted to 22 Hornet.

I also have a second 1912 trainer that is still in 22RF

fine little cartridge, very light recoil and not a lot louder really then the 22RF
 
The 22 hornet is much more suitable than the 223rem for ground squirrels, because the barrel heats up much less with high volume shooting. That being said, I prefer the 17 hornet even more.
 
I have an Anschutz 1533 fullstock carbine. Love it! The cartridge has been effective on many hunts for coyotes and on some high volume "gopher" shoots. You haven't really lived as a varmint hunter until you've sat in one spot and fired off 100 or more rounds at rodents ranging from 20 to 200M away. the tiny case and light powder charge does not heat up barrels much. I use other rifles for farther distances, but within 200M, the Hornet does everything a .223 does with less noise, less expense (with handloads) , and even though the .223 doesn't really "recoil" the Hornet makes it easier to see your hits through the scope when you shoot. The Hornet doesn't damage coyote or beaver furs much at all. I have been told it is better for hunting turkey as well, but sadly have no experience with that.
 
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I like the hornet and enjoy the "K" hornet even more. My tastes are mostly military style firearms but those cartridges are fun to shoot and the noise level is quite low especially if you are running a 22"+ barrel.
 
I am interested in these discussions because I have a round that is similar but not matching...218 Bee.

Both rounds headspace on the rim, SAAMI spec is .060 I believe. My rifle was used when I bought it and the brass it came with is Winchester. The rim thickness is .050. I have played around with COAL dimensions and saw some interesting groups. I have finally got it to shoot reasonably well.

Starline brass in 32/20 had a rim thickness of .055. This last weekend I bought a box of Hornady brass and it had a rim thickness of .062 to .063.. Jackpot.

My advice is to shop around for brass with the proper rim thickness to headspace properly or to consider getting the chamber opened up to one of the improved cartridges like the K Hornet.
 
I have the Hornet using 680 WW. I still have 1#left but cannot get it anymore, so what does it compare to in other powders. It is a lot better than 22-250 or 223 on gophers as its not as loud in the mountains .
 
I own two. Browning A bolt II and an M6 scout by CZ.
The Browning is a superb shooting rifle will be used as calling rifle this winter. The CZ scout combo gun, the Hornet chamber is held in reserve, possible coyote harvest, while rabbit hunting.
Very useful cartridge indeed!
 
I have online friends in the USA routinly loading 40gr vmax bullets and talk about shooting 300 yards with their hornets, have not tried mine out that far. I have a CZ 527 that will take any bullet I feed it and shoot with incredible accuracy.....FS
 
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