The old Model 70 likes the 40-grain Sierra bullet, but this one wants a big dose of W-680 powder instead of the faster W-296. I fell for the siren song of the K-Hornet some 44 years ago when I had my Ruger No. Joseph Von Benedikt shows his custom 500 and how well it shoots. All groups are 5 shots at 100 yards. Custom Mossberg 500 at the Range and Live Turkey!. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Grosvenor Wotkyns, and later Col. Townsend Whelen, tweaked the cartridge for a while, and by 1930, the .22 Hornet debuted. Opt gr: Opt FPS: Max gr 11.0: Max FPS 2700: Disclaimer: Reloading can be dangerous as equipment differs and our published data can not take into consideration all the possible variants. You can also buy the Winchester bullet as a component. We have K-Hornet dies for sale, from great brands like Forster, Hornady, Lee, Lyman, RCBS, and Redding Reloading Products. Sierra offers two 40-grain .224-caliber bullets, a softnose for the .22 Hornet and a hollowpoint for faster cartridges like the .22-250 and .220 Swift. First, you should use cases that have been fired in the rifle where the loads will be used. Older rifles, such as the Winchester Model 54 and Model 70, have a rifling twist rate of 1:16 inch while those of more recent production, such as the Ruger Model 77/22H and Savage Model 40, have a quicker 1:14 rifling pitch. While 2400 can still be used, and works well in some guns, we have a more varied and capable selection of propellants today. Best choices in bullets for the .22 Hornet are the Speer 33-grain TNT and 40-grain Spirepoint, Sierra 40- and 45-grain softnose, Nosler 40-grain Ballistic Tip and 45-grain softnose, and Hornady 35- and 40-grain V-MAX and 45-grain Spirepoint. We have Hornet dies for sale, from great brands like Forster, Hornady, Lee, Lyman, RCBS, and Redding Reloading Products. Thats not to say some of the older designs dont provide stellar accuracy and on-game performance, because they can and they often do. If there is one cartridge that is defined by a split personality it is the unassuming .22 Hornet. Among Whelen's circle of friends was Winchester executive Edwin Pugsley who gave orders to build a special test rifle on the Model 54 action for the "22 Hornet," as Whelen decided it should be called. This is a key safety and accuracy detail that is important to not overlook. Outrider27. It remains a favorite, but modern tipped bullets have an edge in some departments. As fate would have it, the new cartridge produced the best accuracy of any centerfire cartridge tested by Winchester technicians up until that time. Who knew wild turkey's were so stupid!? All Shooting Times subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. Other excellent choices abound, however. Happy to just be able find 22 Hornet brass, and very happy that Graf and Son's had it for a reasonable price. The .22 Hornet is extremely versatile and is favored among many. The six-round rotary magazine has an interior length of 1.80 inches. If you have time and want to have the most consistent internal case volume that you can, weigh them and segregate them into batches of similar weights. 2400 because of its ability to push a 45-grain bullet along at 2400 fps when it was loaded in the experimental cartridge Whelen was so excited about. Right beside bullet seating are bullets themselves, in terms of accuracy and performance. Sure, there are more modern rifles than my Winchester Model 54, and there are faster cartridges than the .22 Hornet. With this combination, the old, huge rifle often gives us a 34-inch group and sometimes much less. When you consider that most loads use only 10 grains of powder, even a slight variation in case capacity can make a big difference. Some rifles of foreign make still have the older twist rate, and those built by Anschutz are good examples. Often, the mild small pistol primers are much more accurate than rifle primers. The period from 1873 through about 1960 is, for me, the most fascinating period of cartridge and firearm development. All powder charges for my handloads were thrown with a Redding Competition Pistol/Small Rifle measure. Velocities are usually in the 2,700 f.p.s. The T/C Encore custom shop Hornet is scoped with a Bausch & Lomb (discontinued). The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. Ok guy, hopefully some of you out there have loaded for a .22 Hornet and can answer this for me. This is Hodgdon LilGun. Those who need higher velocities should consider choosing a bigger cartridge. All of them will make very good ammunitionits just a matter of tailoring the other components in your load to the case. Flash hole deburring. Winchester introduced the .22 Hornet in late 1930/early 1931 in two loadings: one with a softnose bullet, the other with a hollowpoint, both at 2500 fps. Winchester, the company that started it all back in the 1930s, now offers the most options: a 34-grain hollowpoint at 3050 fps and a 45-grain softnose and a 46-grain hollowpoint, both at 2690 fps. One of the rifles I used to shoot data for this report is a Ruger 77/22H customized in 1995 by the late Jim Clark Jr. of Clark Custom. In general, I would offer the same advice with the .22 Hornet as I would with any small cartridge. But this is only the beginning. Case preparation is essential. It drops in with no modification to the rifle required. The difference is easily felt when closing the bolt on a chambered round. $41.00. Lee 22 Hornet 86 Reloading Die Set Rifle Reload . | Through the decades I have shot more Speer 40-grain Spirepoints in the .22 Hornet than all other bullets combined. It was originally chambered in the companys then-new Model 1885 single-shot rifle. Sign In / Register. #13. It seems he had been loading Hornets almost as long as there had been Hornets. Speer has 40 and 45 grainers, as well as a flatpoint for the .218 Bee; Nosler offers 40-grain Ballistic Tips, and Hornady has the 40-grain V-MAX as well as the delightful little 35-grain V-MAX that is in its factory ammunition. Although it is called "once fired," the actual number of times fired is unknown. Ive heard and read many people lament the difficulty of loading the .22 Hornet over the years. Using a slightly lighter load with slightly heavier PPU cases, it consistently shoots .5-inch five-shot groups at 50 yards using Nosler Ballistic Tips and H-110. It was designed for .410 shotshells and has quickly adapted itself to big revolvers and the little rifle. . Since Shooting Times has no control over your choice of components, guns, or actual loadings, neither Shooting Times nor the various firearms and components manufacturers assume any responsibility for the use of this data. We have 2, an 1885 Winchester Low Wall reproduction by Browning and a Ruger 77/22 Hornet rechambered to K Hornet. When I load shells for Hornets, I have two criteria: accuracy and lots of them. Restricting speeds in the neighborhood of 2900 fps for 33- and 35-grain bullets, 2800 fps for 40-grain bullets, and 2700 fps for 45-grain bullets will usually result in acceptable case life. was no longer loaded, despite the fact that until 1932 no factory rifle had been chambered for the .22 Hornet. The Shell holders are cut to .125" depth for proper headspacing. Actual weight of the rifle is 6.75 pounds, and suggested retail price is $1,069. On the other hand, my Winchester Model 54 also has a 1:16 twist, yet it shoots the Hornady bullet like a house afire. We have Hornet dies for sale, from great brands like Forster, Hornady, Lee, Lyman, RCBS, and Redding Reloading Products. When LilGun powder is used, I have found that at least a standard rifle primer and often a Magnum Small Rifle primer give best accuracy. and more with the same bullets using powders like the then Hercules, now Alliant 2400, along with IMR 4227. I use a Hollands uniformer or a Sinclair uniformer and have never found it to be overly bothersome. He made a suggestion that had not occurred to me or anyone else that I knew of: Try Small Pistol primers. Low and behold, at times they will cut groups in half! Bingo, little groups. The first powder that was really used for the cartridge was Hercules 2400. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets. For example, some 35-grain bullets are actually longer than their 40-grain cousins. Winchester Ammunition also loads a 20-grain, polymer tipped bullet to 3,650 fps with similar trajectory, as does Federal. Slugging the bore of a rifle will reveal which of the two bullet diameters should be used in it. However, I am sure there would be some benefit. A little case with a small bore in front of it, burning relatively fast powder, really does not need a huge violent flame to get it going. Ive had very good luck with both bullets from an accuracy perspective, and expect you will too. A quick stab with a K reamer, with no other changes, turned it into a super-accurate rifle. Whereas the barrel used to slip into the receiver and was retained by the same V-block design as on the Ruger 10/22 semiautomatic .22 rimfire rifle, it is now threaded and screwed into the receiver. All Rights Reserved. Depending on the load used, the bullet will strike a 200-yard target anywhere from dead-on point of aim to an inch or two low. of muzzle velocity. 22 Hornet 45 gr SP Item #83028 | 50/Box . It left me wanting more, so I only used it for one or two seasons then sold it. Many rifles have a detatchable magazine to aid in the quick reloading of a rifle, such as an M16. Who knew wild turkey's were so stupid!? Several propellants work quite well here, and one of them is Hodgdon's Lil'Gun. If the ghosts of prairie dogs taken by the little rifle through the years could somehow rise up from their graves and bark in concert, the earth would surely tremble. The Forster Benchrest seater reduces bullet runout. Equally important, the other tipped bullets in my handloads are constructed to withstand higher velocities from the .22-250 and other faster cartridges, and when encountering the slowed-down .22 Hornet speed, they dont expand as explosively as the Nosler 35-grain bullet and other thin-jacketed bullets constructed specifically for the Hornet. I also have a very exotic and wonderful K. This one began as a Kimber Model 84 action that was welded and reworked into a Hornet. Thanks guys. The most consistently accurate rifle in this caliber I have ever shot is a Winchester Model 54. My reasoning is that it will help the primer flash enter the case in a very repeatable manner from shot to shot. Length of pull is 13.5 inches, and overall length is 37.75 inches. It is sometimes said that classic designs never go out of fashion. There are some .223 inch diameter that are designed for old rifles with small barrels. The barrels used were originally in .22 Long Rifle with a 1:16 twist and groove diameter of 0.223 inch, so bullets were sized accordingly. Sizing about .200 inch of the case neck is usually plenty. This powder is still available as Alliant 2400 and derived its name from the ability to drive a .22 Hornet bullet of the day at 2400 fps. Joseph Von Benedikt shows his custom 500 and how well it shoots. Lighter and tougher and more precise than ever, it's the perfect back country hunting rifle. It started when Winchester spawned a small-game, black-powder cartridge in 1885 called the .22 Winchester Center Fire. Wolfe Publishing Company | 2180 Gulfstream Suite A | Prescott, AZ 86301. With these three batches the rifle is almost sure to tell you what it likes. To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine. gas checks became too much of a hassle. After which I did some reasearch online and found a website where they were listing velocity and accuracy for different load combinations and the nosler was the most accurate of the loads tested. By using Dillon or Midway spray case lube, it is possible to turn out ammunition almost as fast as the average Hornet shooter will use it. And there is the 35-grain V-Max from Hornady and now the 35-grain Varmageddon from Nosler. To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent to set the cookies. This was the smallest available cartridge until the introduction of the FN 5.7 x 28mm. NOTE: All load data should be used with caution. Case Sorting Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. The stringing was more defined; that is, it almost cut slices in the paper. bullets were launched at 2,400 f.p.s., albeit they were jacketed bullets. 3. This is important for several reasonssafety being one of them as overlong cases can cause high pressure by failing to release the bullet easilybut uniform case length also allows for more consistent grip on the bullet. One glitch is that most of the detachable-clip magazines severely limit overall cartridge length. These .22 Hornet Brass Cases by Winchester can be loaded without alteration using a collet neck turning machine that uses a tool steel forming process. The Mossberg 500 Pump Action Shotgun is one of the most popular home defense shotguns on the market. In my experience, Remington cases have been the lightest and most capacious, and therefore allow the highest charge weights. A quicker 1:14 twist eventually became more or less standard for the .22 Hornet. Today most factory loads and handloads utilize bullets from 35 to 46 grains and have very frangible construction. It was originally chambered in the company . The case was a diminutive proportioned bottleneck design with a long, sloping body and a scant 5-degree shoulder to facilitate extraction in the dirty-burning, black-powder rifles of the day. Works in my clip-fed Ruger 77/22 Hornet Bolt gun and shoots 3 shots at 2/3 of an inch or less at 100 yards Note: keep the bullets in your hand so they "sweat" a little before putting them into seatin position - do this with any reload and see how they stick in place. Free shipping. Accuracy is repeatable; results to 200 yards are deadly on Pennsylvania woodchucks and crows. Available in different sizes and red dot ready, it'll fit your needs, whatever they are. If I had to make a prediction it would be that most Hornet rifles will shoot best with the bullet ogive just making contact with the lands. Mikey Hartman, Lt. Col. To fully expand the case, a expander ball should be pushed . The most popular wildcat off the .22 Hornet is the .22 K-Hornet, developed by Lysle Killborn in 1940. I have done this on my old Fox, because it loves ammunition that is wedged into the lands. It was a .22 Hornet, that I bought and ultimately sent down the road, but the rifle came with about 400 rounds of the original owner's handloads. Spring kits that reduce it to 2.5 pounds or so are available, but I prefer to replace the factory trigger and its spring. Taurus has redesigned this sporting pistol for performance. PPU and Nosler cases are both significantly more robust and therefore heavier. As Storm said, COL isn't a big priority in a single shot rifle.It looks as though you aren't getting a decent crimp on the bullet.There isn't much of a shoulder to gauge with on a .22 Hornet.I suggest you try to run the round through your loading die a might tighter.Try turning the die a quarter turn tighter and see if you get a better crimp. Generally, modern shooters can disregard the undersized bullets and use the conventional .224 inch. The Winchester 34-grain load also has a tendency to exceed its velocity rating; it clocked an average of 3144 fps in the 24-inch barrel of a Savage Model 40 I worked with. Once this was straightened out, it began to shoot round, honest groups. I weigh every tenth charge when I am producing varmint ammunition to ensure that they are not straying from the intended number. Cold Shower Face And Body Wipes | An NRA Shooting Sports Journal, Review: Taurus G3 Tactical | An NRA Shooting Sports Journal, Video Review: Browning Citori Hunter Grade II Over/Under Shotgun | NRA Family, Video Review: Savage 93 Minimalist Rifle | NRA Family, Video Review: Springfield Armory XD-M Elite 4.5 OSP in 10mm Auto | NRA Family, Make Mine Metal: The Alloy-Frame KelTec P15 | An Official Journal Of The NRA, Preview: Smith & Wesson Performance Center M&P9 M2.0 Competitor | An NRA Shooting Sports Journal, NRA Women | New for 2022: 20-Gauge Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus, Preview: Springfield Armory 1911 DS Double-Stack 9 mm Pistol Lineup | An NRA Shooting Sports Journal, Find More Great NRA Publications Perfect For Every Interest, Discover Everything That The NRA Has To Offer. It is very similar to the Dillon with a different style powder measure and the magic RCBS APS priming system. One of the biggest surprises in my reloading career came several years ago in the form a letter from an elderly gentleman. Neck-sizing cases rather than full-length resizing often improves accuracy and most definitely increases case life. 7 Rolling Block in .22 W.C.F., as well. After I posted last night i was playing around with the crimp and bullet depth and about the shortest i could get a bullet to seat and look right was 1.90" - 1.95" (according to the book the maximum cartridge length is 1.723"). I included it because thousands of rifles sharing its combination of 0.224-inch groove diameter and 1:16 twist are still in use. For around a century, shooters have enjoyed loading and shooting the .22 Hornet. Now that we have one brand of cases, trimmed to length and neck sized, we will worry about a very, no, the most important factor in most rifles accuracy. Bullet technology being what it was in the 1950s, the .17 Hornet was mildly successful. Learn More . Top velocities easily exceed 2500 fpsmaking it an ideal varmint rig. Lyman 22 Hornet 2 Die Set + Custom Made Powder Drop Funnel - 7452277. Even though this was darned good accuracy in those days, he was not totally satisfied with the DuPont 1204 powder he was loading in the cartridge. Second Media Corp., 111 Peter Street, Suite 600, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2H1, Canada. The Hornet, like so much in life, is all about perspective. 225438 44-grain cast bullet pushed to 1,520 fps by 6.8 grains of IMR 4227. Now there are many of the light .224-inch bullets that work well in Hornets. With the cases barely sized and the bullets seated in the rifling it would not equal its fine performance with factory loads. The case walls of the .22 Hornet are thin, and a good chamfer allows the bullet to start into the case easily during bullet seating and not collapse case wallsa complaint that is often heard by new Hornet owners. In my current Hornets, the A-bolt prefers the WSR and the Contender is at its best with the Remington 6.5. These powders have the great advantage of delivering near peak velocities with typical bullets of 35-45 grains, which is really the sweet spot of Hornet performance. The .22 Hornet is a small yet powerful rifle cartridge developed in the early 1930s by Winchester. 9 Cast of scrap wheelweight metal and wearing its Lyman gascheck, the bullets actual weight is 46.8 grains. As an asidetake a little extra care to make sure the bullet is started straight in the case during the seating operation. The magazine is a device in which the cartridges of a rifle are held while awaiting feeding into the rifle's chamber. On the other hand, if you like to put some effort into fine-tuned handloads and see real results, the Hornet is for you. But do you know how to properly use them? Winchester 296 As one of the first of the improved cartridges, the .22 K-Hornet generated another 200 f.p.s. There is one last part of the Hornet story the improved K Hornet. Just the reverse is true; a small gentle primer seems to make most Hornets happy. However, when Hornady brought out the .17 Hornet as a factory round a few years ago and companies like Savage, CZ-USA, Ruger and others began chambering it, senior pest and varmint shooters eagerly flocked toward it. It can be used in somewhat settled farm country to keep the rodent population in check without scaring the neighbors. Chances are very good that your rifle or handgun will show a marked preference, as all my guns have. Subscribe to OL+ for our best feature stories and photography. I will check and see if the chamber in my rifle will accept that, if not I guess i will switch bullets. I installed a Leupold 6.5 20X scope in EAW mounts. range with modern powders and extend the usable range of the .22 Hornet out to 175 yards. All shots groups are 5 shots at 100 yards. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets. An aperture sight attached to its receiver was made by Lyman. But most hits on varmints from field positionsi.e. Find a full line of 22 Hornet ammo from all major brands at the best prices. Hornets were initially loaded with .223" jacketed bullets, and have now settled on .224" bullets. The .22 WCF stayed in production until 1935, but when Winchester decided to introduce a new varmint cartridge in 1930, the headstamp on .22 WCF cases was changed to read .22 Hornet, and it was loaded with 0.223-inch jacketed bullets. Sign In; Create an Account; My Cart 0. The groove diameter of later rifles is 0.224 inch. At the other end of the spectrum are the light bullets designed to stand up to extreme speed from a .22-250 Remington or .220 Swift. The Nosler and Hornady are 45 grains, while Sierra has 40- and 45-grain Hornet bullets. Search. Depending on the case used, cartridge neck diameter with a 0.224-inch bullet usually runs from 0.240 to 0.241 and 0.001 inch less with a 0.223-inch bullet. After trying several bullets from 45 to 52 grains, I finally settled on a Sierra 45-grain Varminter bullet in front of 20.0 grains of IMR 4198 and producing 2,888 fps from the 22" barrel of my No. I also included my favorite load for plinking and shooting small game for the pot.
Buffalo Trace Gift Shop Releases, What Is The Difference Between Mediated And Mass Communication, Property To Rent Ascot Sunningdale, Wolff Stadium Parking, Articles OTHER