Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting First effort at making 'rimfire' ammo for the centerfire rifle

I finally got out and tried a few '.22 loads' in my #1-B Hornet. When I bought the bullet mould, I don't think I had yet gotten the Hornet and the 22 RF shortage hadn't hit so I bought a 55 grain Lyman mould #225415.



I measured everything using whatever appropriate rotors I had for the Little Dandy measure. My first groups at 50 yards were pathetic using a #5 rotor with 700-X. It was throwing about 2.9 grains and it made me wonder if the bullet was going to work at all in the rifle. I had a second batch of 700-X using a #9 rotor which was throwing about 3.7 grains. The Lyman 49th edition showed 700-X to be an accuracy load in the 218 so I thought it might work in the Hornet. I decided to skip the second batch after seeing how poorly the first ones shot. Instead I tried a batch of #5 rotor 5.4 grains (not 5.8 that is written on the target) of Lil'Gun. The first shot was about 6 inches low, not quite as low as most of the previous shots landed. The next shot landed 1/2" away. (Maybe a fluke!) I kept feeding the single loader and it kept planting more 'flukes' until I couldn't tell in the scope where the shots were landing; there was a cluster.

So I knew the bullet could shoot in the Hornet. Next I decided to try the 700-X load again in the heavier loading. That powder seemed to give it the speed it liked, getting three-shot groups around 1".

Finally I tried a Blue Dot load with the smallest rotor RCBS recommends for Blue Dot, the #9 rotor. They shot randomly. The powder might have potential, but I'm not going to fool with it right now since the Lil'Gun load looks to have good potential and is an easy powder to use.

I sized the bullets using Rooster Labs HVR lube to .225", with a Lyman gas check.

My cost is between 8 and 9 cents per round.

My speeds are unknown at this point as I didn't feel like fiddling with the Chrono on the usually busy public range.

(For some reason the pic-hosting website doesn't deal with pics the same way that it deals with ordinary camera pics....go figure.)

Lil Gun and AA1680 are my favorite horned powers. I wave never tried cast in the hornet but have some 55 gr cast for the 223 I am thinking about trying. They are gas checked and powder coated.

Per JB's oft mentioned advice, I've used Lil Gun in my Bee for a number of years with complete satisfaction. And of course it seems to be as ideal in the Hornet. However, both of those involved high doses of the powder and I kind of wondered if it would be problematic at lower charges as H110 seems to be sometimes. But Lil Gun seems to be near ideal as a propellant in these small rifle cases.

Perhaps it was pure luck, but I just found Lil Gun listed by Lyman for the K-Hornet, so I used the Little Dandy rotor that threw a charge just below the K-Hornet start load and it was showing me groups with unweighed, unsorted bullets which rival decent 22 LR ammo at 50 yards. (And this rifle hasn't shown itself to be a superbly accurate, all-around shooter either.) I don't think I'm going to mess around a whole bunch.

Shoot as much as you want without heating the barrel; as cheap or cheaper than rimfire ammo these days; what's not to like?

I agree but I have been a hornet fan for over twenty years. Now I shoot a K-hornet. A nephew is in Montana fire forming 450 K-hornet this week for me while getting rid of ground squirrels for my brother in law.

Klik,

Hodgdon lists a 32-20 load with Lil Gun in their pistol section. Its pretty mild pressure wise (under 15,000 cup) and having used it I find it still burns clean and goes bang with boring regularity, despite charges 7-7.5 grains.

It ignites easier than H110....

My 22/22 mag load for the 46gr. cast Hornet used 3grs. Blue Dot.
The bullets were heat treated and i shot a coon in the face.

The bullet exited its haunch and went through the wood fence behind it....

I was very surprised that Lil Gun was working at a random low charge rate. I did expect it to need a full case like H110/W296 seems to prefer, and the best jacketed loads with it in the Hornet and Bee seem to be case-full loads. I suppose I can play with the load a bit, but after shooting the same bullets with other powders which definitely showed a random variation, I was in some disbelief and started looking at the target very carefully after each shot when I wasn't seeing new holes dispersed. I just knew they couldn't all land in the same cluster, but that little black pair gradually became more solidly punched out. It really is nice to find a 'rimfire load' for the Hornet, especially one that measures straight out with the Little Dandy measure so easily. And at over 1000 rounds per pound and some fiddling around for casting and assembly, these rounds come in at a cost similar to the random .22 ammo that shows up on the shelves.

Welcome to the club. I've been shooting cast bullets in Hornets for nearly 40 years now. The one thing I would recommend is trying small pistol primers if you aren't doing so already. (Think about it- a tiny case smaller than most pistol cases, with pistol-like charges of fast burning powders.) The second thing I would recommend is getting a Lee .22 Bator mold. Mine weighs 52 grains and is significantly shorter than the Lyman 225415 due to its blunt shape. Propel it with 6gr. 2400/small pistol primer and get back to me. That load gives MOA groups (½"@50, 1"@100) in mine and other guy's Hornets I talked into trying.

You gotta love getting over a thousand shots out of a pound of powder, with accuracy at least matching that of average .22LR ammo. Don't ignore too the nearly infinite case life with such loads. No small consideration in this day of expensive brass with spotty availability.

I've mostly just played with 35-45 caliber cast rifle loads, and revolver too of course. I'm not sure why I hadn't been too cray to try the diminutive bullets and cartridges. I guess I figured they might be harder to cast, being so small and less inclined to heat the moulds. Anyway, I was very pleased with my first outing and will probably play a bit more, but the results are encouraging. (Even the heavier loading of 700-X might have potential. )

There you go. Not that much of a trick casting .22 bullets.