Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 22 Hornet (? Mule Deer)

I know you've written many times on the 22 Hornet but I don't have those articles handy right now. I'm going to be loading in a break open rifle that has a barrel with a 1/9 twist. I have Winchester brass and want to use Hornady 40 gr. v-max bullets. Can you share information on powders, primers and seating depth that has worked for you?

I went back and found a thread I gleaned some info from last fall. If you're looking for a little info on the Hornet, check here.

The 22 Hornet is a really neat cartridge. It's 90 years old and still as accurate and effective as ever. The only issue I have is the case - it is very thin at the neck and can buckle when seating bullets.

FWIW, I'd listen to Mule Deer, RockyRaab, and Steve Timm (if he's still around here).

Li'l Gun is the powder to use. I do about 9.5 gr. as I recall, but I load 35 gr. bullets.

aboltfan,

Though I continue to experiment occasionally with different bullets and loads in the Hornet, probably 90% of my handloads for the past few years have consisted of 13.0 grains Li'l Gun and some kind of 40-grain bullet.

Since both my Hornets are Ruger single-shots (a No. 1B and a No. 3) I can seat them well out, so almost always use a plastic-tip, whether Hornady V-Max, Nosler Ballistic-Tip or Sierra BlitzKing. These expand easily, and shoot very well in both rifles.

For repeaters I switch to a hollow-point like the Berger or Sierra, as these can be seated to fit in magazines, but the powder is the same.

These loads have worked in every Hornet I've loaded for.

+ 1 Mule Deer.... Excellent loads! But allow me to add a caveat about the Lee Factory Crimp die on those thin little necks for more uniform neck tension. Also, when I first began loading the Hornet I was repeatedly warned about crumpling a few case mouths during bullet seating. So I've always put a real good chamfer on the case mouth and that seems to have eliminated that problem completely in my experience. Now that we've heard from Mule Deer it's time for Rocky Rabb to join this thread; for he's another master of Hornetology, who has bestowed much Hornet expertise upon this humble writer.

One thing the newer boattail .224 varmint bullets (such as the Ballistic Tip and V-Max) have done is eliminate neck-crumpling in Hornet cases.

1680 and Federal small pistol primers work REAL WELL for me in a Contender and in my CZ. The other thing I like to do is neck size about a quarter inch of the neck. I get way over twenty reloads that way.

Curious as to who makes, or how you made a 1-9 twist break open Hornet?

The neck sizing is the way to go, provided a non-wacky chamber.

I gotta say Lil'Gun and forties too, except I usually throw charges that don't make a mess. With newer Winchester cases it usually 12.5. R-P's get the full 13 with a couple taps on the case before leaving the measure nozzle.

HawkI,
The rifle is an H&R Handi-Rifle. It has the same 1/9 twist as their .223 barrels. After I retired from the state, I worked at H&R as a test shooter for the Director of Engineering until the plant was moved to New York. One of the pluses was I could have a barrel fitted and check it on the range before taking it home. I already know this one will shoot well with factory loads. I've just never loaded for it before and wanted to get a load developed. The rifle and load that I settle on has some woodchucks in their immediate future.

Thanks. I guess I didn't realize they did so. Good for them and sound economics.

Its about time.

In the Sept 2010 issue of Precision Shooting, there's an informative article by Mic McPherson on the use of Alliant's Power Pro 300-MP in the Hornet.

The "wow" results: with moly applied to the bullets, he was able to obtain 3600 fps with the 30-grain Barnes Varmint Grenade, 3370 with the Berger 40-grain HP, and 3230 with the Nosler 40-grain BT.

--Bob

I wonder what the pressures are with those loads?

Hornet brass is thin. Even with a tightly head spaced rifle and only neck sizing brass which is fire formed to the individual rifle's chamber, pressures much over 35,000 CUPS really shorten case life fast..

That is the advantage of the LILGUN powder. It produces top velocites with most .22 Hornet loads at about 34,000 CUPS or LESS.

If the Alliant 300-MP powder keeps pressures down, then it could be great stuff for the Hornet. Otherwise, that velocity is coming at the cost of reduced case life.

I had occasion to load a K-Hornet with Li'l Gun for quite a few years and it was enlightening to say the least. I don't even want to relate the velocities I got with sub max loads per the Hodgdon data with 40 and 45 grain bullets. Well into the 3,000 fps realm though and I'll leave it at that.

I found the powder sensitive to neck tension but otherwise perfectly behaved. Annealing cured that. The brass is still in service 10 years later after 5 or more firings each. No signs of failure in any regard, or expanded primer pockets.

I like Li'l Gun for paper patched .44 Mag loads too. Rifle shoots MOA with 300 grain lead, about 1600 fps.

Mule Deer has excellent words.
I have three Hornet rifles I load for, and spent a year developing loads for them.
My Hornet rifles are a Ruger 77, a Browning Huntsman, and a Winchester model 54. The 54 is a safe queen however as it is pristine condition, especially the metal.
The other two shoot Sierra's 45 gn Hornet bullet best; one with 10.2 gns of H-110, and the other with 13.0 gns of Lil-Gun.
The Browning Huntsman is the most accurate rifle however, and it is the one shooting Lil-Gun powder.
Primers are Federal Small Pistol, and bullets are crimped.
I did test all of the light weight, pointy nose bullets, with both powders mentioned, and never got decent accuracy with any of them. I had hopes that I would have found a good pointy nose bullet load as I could have squeezed more velocity out of one of the two Hornets I shoot most.
The Browning got one group of 3 shots at 100 measuring 1/2", with most groups slightly higher. The Ruger shoots around 3/4" for 3 shots.
Although the Ruger is a very nice rifle, the Browning is a better one in design. I changed the trigger spring in the Huntsman for lower pull weight. It's now a dream to shoot with balance that is superb.

My Ruger Hornet is very accurate, and quiet as well. My other one is a Brno, which is pretty accurate, but not like my Ruger.

The beauty of the HOrnet is not in velocity, its quite the opposite, a 45 gr. bullet at 2600 FPS..

If I wanted to soup the Hornet up, I would rechamber it to a 223 or 22-250.

I do prefer the K Hornet from the standpoint of handling headspace, brass last much longer due to the lack of case streatching and you can IMP a Hornet with your fingernail, but a hand reamer might work better! but I would still keep velocity at book level..

I have shot coyotes, Antelope, and deer with factory hornet ammo and handloads. It works great up to 75 or even 100 yards. I never tried it on larger game beyond about a 100 yards, and only once or twice at that, but it worked very well.

Ray,

If you haven't tried the Hornet loaded with a pointy 40-grain and Li'l Gun, then you are missing something. It shoots a LOT flatter, and becomes a 300-yard round for ground squirrels, prairie dogs, etc. And that's about as far as just about anybody can hit them consistently, no matter what the round.

This doesn't require any "souping up." Li'l Gun gets around 3000 fps with 40's well within the standard Hornet pressures, and case life is just as long. Recoil is so light that you can watch the bullet hit, which isn't the case even with a heavy-barrel .223, unless it's loaded down or braked.

Since I started loading the Hornet with this combo I have killed more PD's with it than any other round (though this year I have also grown quite fond of the .17 Fireball).

A 13 gr. charge of Li'l Gun and a 40 gr. Vmax in Remington brass primed with a Federal small rifle primer is the only handload I've tried so far in my CZ 527 chambered for the Hornet. I'm suspect a little tweaking may improve consistency, but the little testing I've done so far has given 3 shot groups under an inch at 100yds and there has been the occasional sub half inch group.

It seems hard to go wrong with Li'l Gun and a decent 40 grain bullet. I can qualify that statement by saying that I'm no great shakes at the loading bench and I've found it easy to get this combo to shoot decently.