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

.22LRGUY

.22LRGUY

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Hey guys~started reloading a few weeks back (.223) and while it'll be another week before I can take the cross section of what I've loaded-up to the range, I've really enjoyed the process. So much so, that it has me looking hard at the collection of guns and wondering if I should be turning my .22WMR into a 22 Hornet. I like .22WMR, and whichever gun I end-up with...it'll mostly take a back seat to the .223 as a varmint gun...but still, I'm intrigued by it. I guess my concerns are this;

1. I've read that it's a little difficult to reload. Why is that?
2. Bullet availability / variety
3. I know it lacks the power of a .223, but an option like .204 (as an alternative) DOES seem too close to the .223 to make it tempting. Looking to bridge the gap between .22WMR and .223
4. Reloading / brass availability~is this round so obscure that getting brass a year or two from now likely to be difficult?

I guess I'm looking for some ideas on the above, maybe some love stories about 22 Hornet :) ...hunting tales, whatever. I know it's antiquated compared to some of the newer super-rounds, but I'm curious anyway.

Thanks for taking a moment to reply!
 
The Hornet is great because its so tiny,rifles not much heavier than a 22 with a trajectory good for 250m or as far as you can hit.
And a pound of Lil'gun will last a long time.
 
Years and years ago I used to load for the Hornet, but I don't recall any loading problems with it, and all went smooth enough. It's a neat little calibre, but if you are hunting game such as jack rabbits for the dinner table, you better make head shots, because the Hornet will make a mess out of a body shot.
 
Why talk you out of it, my most used rifle is a hornet for pests on the property 40 gr ballistic tips with 9.6 grns of 2400 is the only load I have used and easily puts 5 in a 1/2" all day long. No tricks for reloading.
 
The Hornet is one sweet little round.
However, the thin necks give some reloaders fits.
Also careful sizing is needed to avoid case separations.
Personally, I like the K-Hornet best, since it eliminates some of the
"minor" issues with the standard case.
The Hornet does it's best work at 200 meters and under.
Regards, Eagleye.
 
The 22Hornet is cheap to load, and is superior ballistically to the rimfire varmint rounds, including the new 17caliber Winchester. I haven't had any issues getting mine to shoot sub 1/2moa.
 
Get one! Fun and cheap to shoot. The best handloading tip that I have adopted is the use of Lee collet size dies. They eliminate most of the concerns some Hornet shooters have about the long sloping shoulder, thin neck brass and case life. The Hornet is becoming more popular in North America, not less, and is a long established standard round in Europe. It's not going to be difficult to find brass for, ever in my opinion.
 
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I'll do both... first I'll talk you into it... then I'll talk you out of it.

Into it;

The Hornet is a very cool little round... bullets are cheap and a pound of powder will last until the next millenium... Hornets IME are inherently accurate, very low recoil (tap, tap, huh?)... they are easy to rechamber to K-Hornet which I have done with all four of my Hornets... they are far ballisitcally superior to the NEW and incredibly wonderful 17 WSM and since you reload they are also CHEAPER than the NEW and incredibly wonderful 17 WSM... get one!!!

Out of it;

As Gatehouse stated... you reload and you have a .223... which takes the same .224" bullets as the Hornet... with powders like Unique and Trail Boss (etc...) you can download your .223 to Hornet velocities and every where in between... which will all be ballistically superior AND cheaper to the NEW and incredibly wonderful 17 WSM!

But it sure is a cool little round! :D
 
I used to own a nice Zastava mini-Mauser chambered in 22 Hornet. For a hunting rifle, with a sporter contour barrel, it was very accurate with mild recoil. Two consecutive 5 shot groups at 100 metres, 35 grain V-Max:
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I hope to buy another one day.
 
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Just read your full post... Hunting stories...

We load the K-Hornets to max with Lil' Gun and 35 gr V-Max... and we download them with 3 gr of Trail Boss and 45 grain SP Hornet bullets... we hunt for fox and coyotes with the 35's and grouse and hares with the 45's... with the 35's zeroed at 100 yards, the 45's are bang on at 20 yards... perfect for grouse and perfect for brush yote's... last week of October 2012 we had a perfect yote stand and son and I bagged two yotes charging the call, the 35's did their job perfectly... one to the lungs on both... hauled them to the trail and stashed them, we walked around the corner of the trail, right into a family group of ruffies... switched to the 45 softies and bagged six without moving our feet... it was a pretty nice afternoon.
 
hometownhero said:
Ive been thinking about the 22H for a while now but with the new 17H out that will be what I pick up instead.
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HTH... if you reload, you need to rethink that purchase... the Hornet will beat the 17WSM in every respect... another thing that you can do with a Hornet is shoot primer charged pellets with pretty good accuracy out to 30 yards or so... you seat a .22 caliber pellet into the Hornet neck and propel it solely with the small rifle primer... talk about cheap plinking... can't do that with a 17WSM... plus my max loaded 35 V-Max cost arounf 28 cents per round and my reduced 45 SP loads run around 24 cents... your 17 WSM is going to be double that with half the performance... the math and conclussion should be simple... if you don't reload, then disregard.

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I would never buy the wsm. It costs to much, winchester ammo, and only savage rifles. I was talking about the 17Hornet. I do reload btw. Have everything needed to load the new hornet just need cz to send some guns up here.
 
hometownhero said:
I would never buy the wsm. It costs to much, winchester ammo, and only savage rifles. I was talking about the 17Hornet. I do reload btw. Have everything needed to load the new hornet just need cz to send some guns up here.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, greatly appreciated. Whenever a gun purchase falls into the "want" more than the "need" category, I try my very best to be very objective about. All the discussion, comments in this thread have been very helpful to that end, thanks so much. Since I think I know what scope I want any centerfire of mine to own going forward, I guess I'd need to settle on a rifle. I really like Savages, and I know their 25 is supposed to be a good gun, but my safe is starting to look like a Savage catalog and I'm wondering if this is the time to consider an older BRNO, or a CZ 527.
 
.22LRGUY said:
Thanks for the replies guys, greatly appreciated. Whenever a gun purchase falls into the "want" more than the "need" category, I try my very best to be very objective about. All the discussion, comments in this thread have been very helpful to that end, thanks so much. Since I think I know what scope I want any centerfire of mine to own going forward, I guess I'd need to settle on a rifle. I really like Savages, and I know their 25 is supposed to be a good gun, but my safe is starting to look like a Savage catalog and I'm wondering if this is the time to consider an older BRNO, or a CZ 527.
Click to expand...

If you don't own a CZ... treat yourself to pure enjoyment and get one... and the Hornet is the perfect way to do it... It will be a gun that you can pass down to kids and grandkids...IMO.
 
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