Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Optics for 22 Hornet

I learned a number of years ago via Ross Seyfried that small rifle magnum primers were key to Hornet accuracy and, as usual, he was spot on.

I have a Leupold FX-III 6x42 on top of my CZ 527.

I have the 2x7 Bushnell 3200 on my Hornet . Work great for calling

Ed,

Ross did not use small-rifle magnum primers across the board in the .22 Hornet. Like me, he found that the Hornet is very sensitive to primer choice, mostly depending on powder, and also used small pistol primers if they produced the most accuracy, and other small-rifle primers than the CCI 450 (which is the only American small-rifle magnum primer, though some others are close).

I use nothing but Remington 7.5 BR Primers in my Hornet

Mine wears a Leupold VX-3 2.5-8x36.



It's still kinda new to me. I'm burning factory ammo and saving the brass.

The old long tube M-8 4X Leupold is a match made in heaven for my pre-64 22 Hornet.

FWIW I use Winchester Small Rifle primers in my Hornet. I've found it has definite preferences as to which bullets it will shoot well, with best accuracy from either a 40gn HP by local manufacturer Taipan, or the 46 gn Winchester HP, either of which will average about 3/4 MOA for five rounds with a fairly warm load of 296. Certainly accurate enough for my purposes anyway.

Your pic has something missing

My Hornet is a Ruger No. 3 with a K chamber that currently has a 4.5-14. If I were to start over, it would be a 3-9 or 4-12...

I traded a nice FN .257 in when I bought my Browning Low Wall Hornet, but I kept the glossy Vari-X II 3-9. I usually prefer matte scopes, but the shiny Leupold looks good on the shiny little rifle. It has enough power, but a little more wouldn't hurt as long as the scope wasn't too big.

For looks, it would be hard to beat a FX2 6x36 on a 77/22, if that's enough power for you.

I've got a Weaver KT-15 on my little CZ, mostly because I had it sitting around.

So far, it's been great. No reason to have that much magnification on a Hornet, but it's a compact and really good clear scope and I like it.

It's not much bigger than the V-9 Weaver, so it doesn't overwhelm the little CZ.

OSU Sig,
very good info so far both on load/primer information and on your original question regarding optics.
I currently shoot (daily) one of four Hornets...Ruger 1B in K chamber, M77/22 original Hornet, custom heavy barrel M77 Hornet and a Copper in K chamber.
The scope on the 1B and the custom M77 are my favorites...SWFA 5x15 FFP mil/mil reticle. Leopold is very good...Burris is fine and I have many of both but for the Hornet I found the SWFA very hard to beat.
Good Luck,
Dog Man

thanks Dog Man and all the others who've offered you're thoughts. Lots to consider here.

My contender K Hornet wears a 4.5-14 that a bit big for the rifle. I had the scope on the shelf, so I just mounted it. For predator hunting I would go with a lower power scope like a 3-9, but for varmints I like something in the 10x to 12x range. My first Hornet wore a 6x, and I had no problems shooting small groups.

It's hard for me to imagine a case that small can attain 3100fps. powdr

Not hard with the right powders in a 26" barrel, and not hard with several powders in a K-Hornet.

Of course, bullet weight has a lot to do with it too. The standard Hornet bullets for many years were around 45-grain, and round-nosed. Today 30-35 grain bullets can really zip along, and if the rifle can handle 40-grain plastic tips downrange performance is really different.