Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles newest Hornet loads?

this was about .22 hornet not 221 fireball

I hand load ALL my cartridges to THE rifle in my hand.I've loaded for about 40 years now and have found it to be the safest and most accurate for MY rifle. I may follow someones lead on components,but at a very safe starting point.

I have never seen any published information on "dipping" a case into powder.I've spent a lot of money on good equipment and learned proper use of it.I would not condone such practices....

I have H110 on hand and waiting on Lil'Gun to show up.I'll report my findings.....
Thanks,guys

From a thread titled "22 Hornet Newbie" a few months ago. Probably where the the question referenced above came from.

Rifle, I read that post somewhere and the fellow was dipping the case in powder to fill them. I did they same and weighed each charge and they were really close to 13 grains. I did a test with lil gun going from 12.5-13.5 with little change in accuracy. But there was 200 fps increase with the 13.5 charge.

My CZ Hornet shoots better, but not by much, at 13 grains, so that is what I load.I am amazed that the gun will shoot .3-.3 1/2 if I do my part.

I run Lil'Gun in my Hornet and get very good accuracy. My Number 1 shoots best with 40 gr Blitz King bullets and 13.5 gr of Lil'Gun. I often use 12.5 gr of powder since it can be a pain to get 13.5 in the case and accuracy is close.
Have fun with your Hornet.

Ernie

I started loading the hornet about 20 years ago. That was long before Lil'Gun was around. I think I used a lot of IMR 4227 and played with several other powders until I tried AA1680. After working with the first can of AA1680 I bought an eight pound can and am still using it. I love it for the hornet.

For my work with loading for the hornet see http://tcbunch.com/home/index.php5?title=Scott_Fairing%27s_.22_Hornet_2005

H 110 and 40 gr Hornady tipped spitzer.

H 110 is an old standby but is is pretty dirty. 1680 meters well and is much cleaner burning.

Nice write up there, Scott. I read that back when I got back into the Hornet after a 20 year absence. I did not know that our ScottF was the author.

Well,it seems I will add 1680 to my shopping list. My local spot has been out of Lil'Gun for a while now,so I will explore the AA powder.I've used their 2015 for years in my .223,nice stuff..I don't really care for the H110 or most of the other "pistol" powders,as they all seem dirty to me.
Thanks guys,I hope to get the old Brno up and running next week...

Thank you. I was a member of the old TC E-List back in the Prarienet days. I still read it but seldom have time to add to the list any more. I see they have some of my stories still posted in their story section.

My 22 BR loved 2015. I cannot remember buying anything but AA in the last fifteen years.

Rocky Raab says he has to crimp 22 hornet to get good groups. That has never been my experience. I am thinking that maybe our difference in findings may have much to do with different barrels than a real differing of opinions. I think a wise shooter would try both ways and see what works best in his rifle.

I have been loading and shooting the hornet since about 1980. I have owned a good selection of rifles including Anschutz, Kimber, Custom Martini, Wickliff, CZ, Ruger and Brno. I arrived at the same place with Win 680 which was the forerunner of AA 1680. I now load 1680 because all my Hornets shoot the powder with accuracy that runs from good to exceptional. True you are not going to hit 3000 fps; but it's a Hornet.....let it be itself. I load 13.5 grains with the 35 grain Nosler BT. In Win cases this is about all you can get in there.....Rem cases hold more powder. Case life is wonderful in a strong action (read not Kimber). I never have a case head pull off. After too many loadings, sometimes a case will split in the neck. Hornets need a tight chamber to get good accuracy and they are much more than a 200 yard rifle if you shoot one enough to get familiar with it.

Good posting. My neighbor up here uses AA 1680 and gets great accuracy with his Hornet.

As much as I hate to order powder on the 'net,it looks like my only hope. None of the locals,including Cabelas has either Lil Gun, nor 1680. I have enough factory loaded to get me to the range,I really like sticking my own bullet in there...
Thanks for the advice John!

.........rifle

If you use factory Hornady, I believe they load it with LilGun and a 35 V-Max...

John,

I had to resort to ordering powder from a distant dealer a year ago. It was my first time doing it, because none of the local suppliers had what I wanted. So, I orderd several different powders, just in case. That was from Natchez, in TN. If you look at their prices, you just might wind up paying less per pound than buying it locally, along with paying sales tax. Their prices for powder were the best I've found anywhere. Then adding shipping and the $20 Haz Mat fee left me paying about the same as buying it locally, and I got Everty type powder I could want for the duration.. I originally wanted Ramshot TAC, which is nowhere to be found around here. I figured it would be a good time to order all of the powder I could need.
Check out their powder prices per pound, and compare it wil local prices. I did, and made a HUGE powder order..

I just started loading for my nephew's new Ruger 77 Hornet the other day. That endeavor brought me to this thread. He bought a bunch of Hornady Factory stuff to have something to shoot and for the brass. That load goes 3050 from this rifle. The factory powder is 12.0 grs of a golden hue spherical powder, that aside from the color looks just like WW 296. The 296 was the only thing suitable I had on hand to start. At any rate 12.0 grs of 296 just matches Factory velocity. I have a suspicion that the factory is loaded with a non canister H 110, as that matched Hodgdon data.

I found some Lil'Gun the other day, and it looks different than the factory powder, is the typical dark "gunpowder gray" and bulks a little differently in the case. Burns slower too. 12.0 grs of lil'gun is slower than 12.0 of 296 or the factory. 13.0 grs of lil'gun just about fills the case and goes at 2980. I can drop 13.3 from the powder measure, and fill the case level to the mouth, but it still goes 2980. So I see no point in drop tubes or other technique to settle the charge to get more in. I suspect the common refrain of "can't get enough Lil'Gun into the Hornet to cause pressure problems" is probably pretty accurate.

So anyway, we have some loaded with 296 (need to use up that old can anyway) and some with Lil'Gun, and the rest of the factory stuff. Next decent day and it is time for minute of ground squirrel experimentation.

I have scored on some AA1680 and Rem 6 1/2 primers,new Win brass and a bag of the old Remington Hornet 45gr bullets,even updated my die set to RCBS. Great day shopping at the gun stores!! I hope to be shooting the new stuff next week...stand by!

Try suing small pistol primers in the hornet. I use CCI with great results.