Success Finally With My Hornet.

c-fbmi

c-fbmi

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After years of trying different bullets, seating depths, primers and a couple of powders (as that is all I could get suitable for the Hornet) I finally found success. However I did reinlet and bed it as well, as it never sat right in the stock and seemed to be rocking on the recoil lug. It is a 799 Remington (Zastava) mini Mauser that was a gift from my son for Christmas one year. I have worked with it on and off for the past 8 or so years and it would never do any better than about 4" groups at 100 mtrs until today. My first group using Horn 40 gn V-max bullets, CCI 400 primers and L'il Gun powder went right on 1" for 5 shots. I played with my 7.62X39 and let her cool down, adjusted the scope closer to point of aim and shot another 5 shot group right on 1", outstanding performance considering it's past. I played with my 22-250 and got it sighted right on the mark 2" high at 100 mtrs and shooting it's normal 1/2 to 3/4" groups and went back and shot another 4 shot 1" group pretty much 2" high at 100 mtrs and about 1/2" left of center, the fourth shot of the five shot string blew about 3" low but chambered very tight, so I'll have to take a look at that case.
I am ecstatic, as I was losing all hope for this rifle and didn't really think bedding it would help it much, given it's super light recoil and relatively low pressures. Apparently I was wrong and it would seem that all rifles can in fact benefit from a good bedding job.
Anyway, I didn't take any photos and I'm sure the donkeys have eaten the targets by now, besides they were all shot up as I shoot several calibers at the same target many times.
Just thought I would share this hard fought victory with you.
 
Hey, Doug, sending this to you here because your INBOX is full.

Bert got back from his hunt. The stock on his 600 Rem in 358 Win in serious difficulty. :(

Please give me a shout at home.
Ted
 
Have you ever tried any S&B Hornet ammo? Mine loves the stuff and I've stopped reloading for it until I burn up the bunch I bought.
 
In those great years of shooting following WW2, when every descent size town had organized shooting and shooting clubs, Calgary had one of the very top shooting clubs in Canada. I had the good fortune to shoot at their winter small bore range for a while, talked with some of the best shooters in Canada and took note of what they did.
In the sporting rifle class the Winchester Model 69 was popular and some of the top shooters had taken their little 69s to international shoots at Bisley England. And every one of their rifles had been hand bedded, including the barrel.
One night I watched one of their top shooters not happy with his results. He talked it over with another top shooter and they wondered if it was the shooter, or the rifle, a Win. 69, that was at fault. So this top shooter, with Bisley England patches on his jacket, asked the club coach, a lady, to come and watch him shoot, to see if she could detect anything he was doing wrong!I managed to get close enough to them to hear what she was telling him, while they tried to decide if the targets a bit off the usual, was caused by him, or as was suggested, his rifle may need the barrel bedding touched up.
In short, the whole thing was very interesting and informative.
As an aside, that lady coach and her husband spent on the average about four nights a week at that 22 range!
 
The best I have ever been able to get anything on a hornet case to shoot was just under 1/2 inch...and that was a 17 Ackley Hornet with a custom barrel. The rimmed case is the biggest problem as far as accuracy goes. It really limits the potential.
 
Hey Dennis, inch groups are within my expectations for this cartridge. I have had 3 different hornets and I've never had one that would consistently do better than 7/8" which is all it takes to make me happy with a light barreled cheap sporter. The consistent 1" groups I am getting now are absolutely wonderful in my opinion, from this rifle and I would be happy with consistent 1 1/4" or even maybe 1 1/2", so three groups in a row the same shape and measuring right on 1" makes me ecstatic with this little rifle. Load development is done............

Mig.....never fired a factory round of hornet, I have nearly 500 W-W cases for it, so I doubt I'll be buying any factory soon........if I run across any in my travels I may just grab a box and see how they perform.
 
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Just curious if you intend to go the K Hornet route, not from a performance angle, as I think the Hornet fill a specific niche being bit more than a .22 WMR, and a bit less than a .222, but to enhance accuracy. I've owned 2 Hornets, neither one being the one I should have bought, a Brno 680 Fox, but I've tried all sorts of powder combinations, trying to prove there was something better than 4227, but if there is, I never found it.
 
OP - sure glad you got that Hornet shooting. Its a Son-Gun and likely the most important rifle in the litter.
On a side note, I have two K Hornets that are very happy running 12.5gn of 296 under 35gn V-Max. Both are single shots, one H&R and one a TC Encore, so the bullets are seated out a bit further than most mags will allow. Both shoot under 1" consistently and are my main gopher rifles. Currently have 1800 rounds in circulation which usually get burned up every spring.
 
That's the same powder and bullet I've had good results with in my old martini khornet. Really need to shoot that gun more. Its a hoot.

Just what I stumbled on first seeing as I had the Lilgun for loading 44mag.
 
As a couple of you have mentioned, the fact this rifle was a gift from my son means I am very happy that it now shoots well. Of course I can't sell it and I really didn't want to rebarrel it, thought I was going to have to buy another hornet and relegate this girl to the dust gathering corner of my vault.
Boomer, I have never tried 4227 in my hornet, but I have some so maybe I'll give it a whirl. I bought L'il Gun for it because it adds 200 fps to the more conventional powders previously applicable to the hornet. My last hornet which was a Brno Fox was exceptionally fussy and would only use Win 680, which of course is now defunct. I have tried H110/Win 296 but to no avail, nor did my Brno like them.
All things considered yesterday was an outstanding day, if for no other reason than my hornet shot three 1" groups in a row. I have been thinking about bedding it for several years now, just finally got around to it, and I'm glad I did..........Now it is really special to me and I have confidence in it. The feeling I had yesterday as I fired the first five shots and watched them all fall in close proximity to each other was euphoria, but it has done this randomly before. The second group sent my euphoria exponentially up and the third group made my whole week............except the magazine falls out every other shot, but I looked at it and it's a simple fix.
 
The hornet is by far one of the most finicky cartridges I have ever reloaded. It is also the most satisfying calibers to get shooting well because you know that your skill as a reloader is being put to the test if you can get her to shoot well. I am using 13 grains of Lil gun, Win Case and 35 grn Vmax and she shoots very well for a sporter weight barrel. One tip I can offer is that if you are having problems with consistency in velocity (which usually translates into larger groups) it is highly recommended that you switch to a small pistol primer. Currently, I am using Fed Match Sm Pistol Primers and it changed the groups from >3" to <1.5" (these are 25 shot groups BTW). From what I have gleaned the rifle primers can cause the bullet to jump further into the lands which combined with varying neck tension can lead to varying pressures - this is highly magnified because of the small charge weight and light projectile.
 
Have you tried a light crimp or the Remington 6 1/2 primer?

IIRC Barsness in one of the shooting mags reported his best hornet results ever were with the Lee Loader.
 
I have never tried Lil gun powder in the two hornets I have. A Ruger #3 and a Browning micro , 680 is my go to and I lust picked up 2 pounds at a gun show. Accurate Arms 1680 seems to work as well. My ruger is much more finikey and needs very close attention. I am glad you have yours shooting, it will be nice if/when you and your son can get out together to shoot it!
 
My Anschutz 1730HB has produced many sub 1/2moa five shot groups at 100 yards using the 40gr v-max ahead of Lil Gun. I used Remington brass, Redding FL dies(partial sizing) and Remington 6-1/2 primers. I had to load them .010" off of the lands to achieve the best accuracy.

hornetgroups.jpg
 
My 799 shoots consistent 5 shot 1/2 - 3/4 groups with 9.5 grns 2400 and a 40 gr Ballistic Tip, tried several Brno's and CZ's and Ruger 77 and a #3 and never had one shoot as good as the 799, it was 1st load I tried, never tried another. Never bedded it but adjusted the trigger which is actually very good on these rifles. As accurate as I have found Brno/CZ products in other calibres I was never able to find a load that shot satisfactory (under 1") for me in the Hornet offerings. The Rugers were decent performers but rarely under 1.25" for 5 shots.
 
stubblejumper said:
My Anschutz 1730HB has produced many sub 1/2moa five shot groups at 100 yards using the 40gr v-max ahead of Lil Gun. I used Remington brass, Redding FL dies(partial sizing) and Remington 6-1/2 primers. I had to load them .010" off of the lands to achieve the best accuracy.

hornetgroups.jpg
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Noted.

I have a 1730 on the block right now, but if I wind up keeping it I'll check to see if a similar load works.
 
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