Talk me into, or out-of, a 22 Hornet

hoytcanon, I was just curious Hoytcanon as what COAL you set the 45 SP bullets at with the Trail Boss loadings at 3grs?

That is the first I had read of anyone downloading the Hornet with trailboss. But that sounds like a really useful round to have as a light very close range quiet round.
 
hoytcanon said:
Ahhh... that makes more sense... with all of the recent talk about the 17 WSM being compared to Hornets, as soon as I saw the "17" in your post, you went right and the old brain took a left turn! :D

OK, so lets do a comparison of the two Hornets, cause we been there done that. We rechambered two H&R Sportster 17 HMR's to 17 Hornet, shot them for about three months, sold them at the range and then happily went back to .22 K-Hornet... here's why;


I gotta say, I prefer our K-Hornets with 35 grain V-Max and Lil' Gun. If someone has a Hornet barrel, they would be further ahead to ream to K-Hornet and shoot the 35 VM's rather than messing with the 17H...

Actual numbers;
.22 K-Hornet with 35 V-Max and 13.5 grains Lil' Gun (max) = 3122 fps & 758 ft/lb
.17 Hornet with 25 V-Max and 8.9 grains Lil' Gun (max) = 3195 fps & 567 ft/lb

There is an incredible assortment of .224 bullets and a very limited assortment of .172 bullets, while the K-Hornet gives up little in trajectory, it gains huge in energy and even more (IMO) in versatility... it is a pleasure reloading .224 compare to .172... from champfering to seating 17H is a PITA.

Of course new stuff is fun... and if you just gotta, you just gotta (I did)... but sometimes the "tried and true" is justa better way to go... gonna stick with the K-Hornets for a long, long time.
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All good points. I reload 223 already so it has them both trumped. The 17H is just something to play with
 
I have to agree, a .22 K-Hornet and CZ527 is the ticket. I'd like to get a Lux version of that so I could use iron sights.
Make a great little grouse and rabbit gun. I love the ability of using cast bullets in the Hornet and load them to .22 LR velocity.
 
hometownhero said:
All good points. I reload 223 already so it has them both trumped. The 17H is just something to play with
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Yeah... I posted that earlier... we reload .223 also... and so no, we don't actually need K-Hornet either... BUT, it is a nice case capacity... and we can load the case full to the lower speed... the proof of its worth is in how many times the K's see the field, and that is alot... they are so versatile and fun to shoot.
 
I used to use it for ground hogs on farms where I was close to the house. It is much quieter than a 223 or 243. never had a bullet exit a hog. They just popped over dead.

Good gun if you want something accurate and quiet.

My rifle was not accurate when loaded hot.
 
Love my hornet.I neck size only with Lee collet die and have no troubles.
Bullet selection is important as some don't work well because their shape is wrong.
Start out with Sierra # 1200 and 1210 as these are specific hornet bullets.
Mutt
 
Just buy one already!!! :)

The .22H really is a fun cartridge to play around with -- and personally, I rather enjoy having a bit of trajectory to contend with on longer shots in the gopher patch. The truth is, though, that this really is one of the best gopher cartridges imaginable. It reaches out way, way beyond .22 LR ranges, is quite enough that you can shoot it without drawing much notice from nearby farmhouses, and with a well chose bullet results in far fewer richochets than a .22 LR. And yet, for all that, it shoots more than flat enough for the vast majority of the shots I'll typically see on gophers. Another plus on the high volume days is that it's pretty tough to overheat a .22 Hornet barrel (though it can be done if you really apply yourself!).

With respect to rifle recommendations, there's a lot to be said for the CZ 527 -- have one, and love it. Of course, I've also got a Ruger #3, and love it even more.

Be prepared to work a bit more on your load development -- both of mine took more effort to work up loads for than my .223's ever seem to. But once you find something that works, it's all fun and games after that.
 
Ganderite said:
I used to use it for ground hogs on farms where I was close to the house. It is much quieter than a 223 or 243. never had a bullet exit a hog. They just popped over dead.

Good gun if you want something accurate and quiet.

My rifle was not accurate when loaded hot.
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That Brno is still being put to good use! Its now a .22K and my gunsmith actually said that the barrel that was on it was a .223 and he just so happened to have a Brno hornet barrel in the shop that he gave me for nothing because it was sitting on his shelf for 25 years! He converted the .224 barrel to the K and its shooting 3/4"groups on a bad day at 100 yards!

Love the riffle and I would highly recomend an old Brno with the double set triggers to anyone that is wanting to get into a hornet...so much run and very accurate!

Ryan
 
So happy to see so much love for the Hornet. Mine to is a K-Hornet. IMHO It's the best ground hog caliber i ever had. Totally satisfied my my sweet Sako M-78.

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