Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 22 hornet primers?

So I have seen some loads that feature small rifle and some that feature small pistol. What have you found that works better? Thinks in advance

I use C - Small pistol magnums.

They all work.

For ball powders I like CCI-450 small rifle magnum

Agree, especially slower burners like 300MP and Lil'Gun.

Here's a rather long thread about the .22 Hornet and .22 K-Hornet, lot of good stuff, lots of B.S., but this IS the Fire....

Mule Deer did a bunch of work on this subject and came to the conclusion that CCI 450 Mag primers were among the best if not the best.

Good load data, especially for the K-Hornet.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/11390994/1

DF

On all these guys advice I have been using 450's with H110 and have had excellent speed and accuracy with my current K-Hornet.

Ditto the SR magnums, but some of it may be in my head because I can't tell much if any difference between standard SR and them in L'il Gun loads. For loads concocted with 2400 and 4227 I just use Remington 6 1/2 primers, cast bullet loads (and truth be told quite a few jacketed loads too) get SP primers, brand being whatever falls to hand.

No small pistol magnum primers here amongst the tens of thousands of primers in my house so I can't speak to them. I don't think there would be earth shattering differences/gains to be made in a Hornet anyway.

Truth on using whatever primer you have or can find. That is a challenge today.

As JB has noted, with such a small case with small powder capacity, the primer makes up a bigger percentage of the total fire package vs. a larger round with more powder capacity.

So, saying the Hornet may be more primer sensitive than most other rounds does make sense.

DF

Thank you all!

I got better accuracy with 6 1/2 primers than with 7 1/2 primer with Lil Gun, same loads with both primers

Interesting. How hot you shooting that Lil’gun?

Just goes to show that the small Hornet case may be more primer sensitive than larger cases.

DF

cci br4 only one I use in hornet

Br4 pretty close to the 450. Both work well in the hornet.

DF

12.4grains of Lil Gun, I have tried small pistol also, but best accuracy was with the 6 1/2.

Well, seems that would be the ones to use.

I have some of those, but sticking with 450’s for now.

Now if I run out of those…..

DF

I've had better luck with mild primers. Small pisto generally seems to work better than small rifle, but SPM have given me better results with H110, 296. SPM and Rem 6 1/2 are about a toss-up with Lil Gun. Never had any good results with most SR, none with SRM.

primer choice seems to be more critical than with most rifle cartridges, I suspect case capacity has much influence.

So, saying the Hornet may be more primer sensitive than most other rounds does make sense.
I’ve got a pair of M77 hornets and they are very primer sensitive as well as the powder charge. I settled with cci 400s shooting 296.

I would have better luck locating a unicorn. LOL

Yeah, ya gotta find'em before you can use'em....

So, guess we use what we can lay our hands on or have on hand.

DF

I get a little better results with the CCI BR 4s in my two rifles.

I highly recommend you only use rifle primers. When I tried pistol primers with 12 8 grs of Lil Gun I had failures in both my Savage 40 and my Contender carbine. Although there was no serious damage the face of the receiver of my contender has a ring burned in it and so does the bolt face on my Savage 40.

I use both CCI 400'S and Rem 61/2's these days. Accuracy is excellent and no problems with primer failure. I have been loading Hornets since 1991.

I have used mostly Winchester brass purchased in the early 90's (I bought 1500 one day). I have a few hundred pieces of Remington brass . Lately I have bought some PPU BRASS and it is very good. My primary choice in bullets is the 40 gr Nosler BT and I do use the 45 gr Speer soft point hornet bullet regularly. I have tried the 50gr dog town HP with good success but haven't shot any of them lately. I have burned a few cans of AA1680 in my guns and it is very good in the the old Hornet if you can't get Lil-Gun.

Just my Hornet Ramblings