bad experience with pistol primers in 22 hornet

jeff270

jeff270

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After decades of waiting I finally recieved a left handed .22hornet and after no small amount of research decided that 13gr of lilgun a 40gr vmax and a small pistol primer would be an unbeatable load.
Well that did'nt work as I seem to have a problem with leaky primers.
Now I must pull 47 bullets and start over .
Suggestions welcome.
 
The difference between a handgun cartridge and the .22 Hornet is of little consequence as pressures and powder charges are similar. .22 Hornet data is usually available in both handgun and rifle sections of various manuals. If anything priming with a pistol primer will reduce pressure. Hodgdon says 13.0 grs of Lil-Gun is a maximum load. If you had primer leakage with a pistol primer, you would certainly have primer leakage with a rifle primer that generated more pressure.

The key here is to work up the load carefully regardless of which primer you use. Just because a million other people can use the 13.0 gr load with a 40 gr bullet doesn't mean its good in your rifle. Perhaps you have a tighter bore or a minimal chamber. Perhaps your brass is a bit heavier than the test brass, resulting in less volume and higher pressure. I've used small rifle primer and magnum small pistol primers interchangeably for years without any issue, and I don't see why a Hornet couldn't make use of a small pistol primer when the loads are made up with quick easy to ignite propellant.
 
Suputin said:
Don't use pistol primers in a RIFLE cartridge! Sounds kind of obvious to me. Why on earth would you use pistol primers in a RIFLE cartridge?
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Hey, come on now. Don't make out like a fellow reloader is stupid, or can't read, or some such thing.
The argument for not using pistol primers in rifle cartridges is because the pistol primers are not designed for rifle pressures.
However, small pistol primers are used in 357 magnum cartridges, which have pressures that run to 38,000 cpu. The load he quoted for the Hornet, with the LilGun powder, is considerably less pressure than is generated in a 357 pistol.
Jeff, I have done exactly the same as you have, only without checking my notes, I think I had a heavier charge of LilGun than your state. The exact thing happened, some of the primers leaked!
I do not have a clue why this happens. I used small rifle primers, the same load, and no leaking primers. I can't understand it, because I can never remember them leaking with the 357.
I load my 45-70 Marlin to pressures that would never be over 30,000 cpu, most likely more like 26,000 to 28,000. I use large pistol primers in it and they work great. Maybe just luck, but have had the best groups with pistol primers!
Otherwise, I can see no difference whether I use pistol, or rifle primers.
 
Checked my notes. It was also 13 grains of LilGun with a 40 grain bullet that I was using. While Hodgdon list this as maximum, they also show it as generating only 28,400 in pressure.
 
My thought process for this load was something like this
The rifle; a Browning A bolt has got 3 front mounted locking lugs so it should be as strong as a Ruger #1 or mod70 .
The magazine and throat allow for the bullet to be seated way out ,so it's not a compressed load.
I had read that small pistol primers could have a posative effect on accuracy .
Small pistol primers are routinely subjected to more pressure than the 22 Hornet produces

That said I maid this post as a warning not so much for the whining
Thanks for jumping in ,it's why were here.
I guess I'll have a redoo with both rifle primers and a lighter powder charge.
I'll let you know how it works
 
i think like h4891. pistol primers have given me the best acuracy in lever guns. as long as the pressure is in line with pistol loads they work fine in rifles. the only one inch groups in 30 30 and 444 have been with with pistol primers. loads with rifle primers have never beenas acurate. same load in a buddys 30 30 was just as acurate. reloading is all about trying new loads and componants. once you gain experiance you relalize the manuals arn't written in stone, they are guides.
 
I use small rifle primers in my Marlin 94 .357 mag for hot 180gr loads as the pistol primers burst. The copper in the SR primer is thicker than in the SP, they work just great and no other "Hot-load" symptoms. BTW this carbine is most accurate for me when loaded hot.
 
Late update,I pulled all the pistol primers and replaced with cci br and can now report that my Abolt hornet is a shooter.
@ 100m 2 shots touching ,adjusted the scope and 3 shots in 5/8''.
 
jeff270 said:
Late update,I pulled all the pistol primers and replaced with cci br and can now report that my Abolt hornet is a shooter.
@ 100m 2 shots touching ,adjusted the scope and 3 shots in 5/8''.
Click to expand...

This is exactly the same as my experiences, as stated in a prior post. Why a pressure of about 28,500 would make any primer leak, is a complete mystery.
Or why the small rifle primers don't leak.
I guess that's what is interesting and keeps us going.
 
The .22 Hornet can be a frustrating cartridge to reload.One day all in the same hole the next spraying like a shotgun.I had a Sako 74 or 72 I don't remember old bore .223 and it drove me nuts.Lots of old timers pet loads used small pistol primers..............................Harold
 
My abolt with 35 grain vmaxes and 12 grains of lil gun leaks with small rifle primers, im going to try the small pistol primers now, and if that doesnt work I guess ill try the br primers
 
I am assuming that when you describe a "leaky" primer, you are not referring to a pierced primer from over pressure but a primer where soot is coming from around the primer pocket/flash hole and getting on top of the primer and on the bolt face. If this is the case, your load is under pressure, likely what is occurring is that the lil gun charge is not hot enough with the pistol primer to seal the primer pocket and soot is burning around it. You can try increasing the charge with a drop tube pretty tricky as the hornet case it pretty full at 13.0 grains or switch to a rifle primer/magnum pistol primer which it sounds like you already have done. Lil gun produces such low pressures that it can do strange things in a hornet case.

If you have pierced primers, well switch to a rifle primer and dropping the charge should do the trick...
 
Glock4ever said:
I am assuming that when you describe a "leaky" primer, you are not referring to a pierced primer from over pressure but a primer where soot is coming from around the primer pocket/flash hole and getting on top of the primer and on the bolt face. If this is the case, your load is under pressure, likely what is occurring is that the lil gun charge is not hot enough with the pistol primer to seal the primer pocket and soot is burning around it. You can try increasing the charge with a drop tube pretty tricky as the hornet case it pretty full at 13.0 grains or switch to a rifle primer/magnum pistol primer which it sounds like you already have done. Lil gun produces such low pressures that it can do strange things in a hornet case.

If you have pierced primers, well switch to a rifle primer and dropping the charge should do the trick...
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, you sure could be right.
 
Glock4ever:
I thought maybe the pistol primers had cups too soft for the hit they were getting in a rifle and deforming ,but you're theory is as good as any.
 
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