Pappy,
Sold my No. 1 .22 Hornet when I realized it wasn't getting used anymore--and my CZ .17 Hornet was.
The last time the No. 1 went prairie dog shooting was in 2016, when some friends and I met in southeastern Montana. One of them was Brad O'Connor, Jack's son, and the only vaguely appropriate rifle he owned was a single-shot Colt/Sharps .22-250. I knew he was bringing the .22-250, and also suspected he'd find it kicked too much and heated up too quickly for continuous shooting, so brought a few other rifles for him to try out, including a CZ .17 HMR, CZ .17 Hornet, the Ruger No. 1 .22 Hornet, and a Remington 700 .204 Ruger.
He tried them all, partly because the .22-250 handload (worked up and loaded by a friend of his) used a very heat-sensitive powder. since the weather was typically warm, after a few shots a case would stick in the chamber, and have to be knocked out with a cleaning rod.
I asked him at the end of the shoot which of the other rounds he liked best, but he wouldn't say. The next year, however, he showed up with a brand-new Ruger bolt rifle in .17 Hornet, and a bunch of Hornady factory ammo. He said it shot so well and cost so little he didn't see any point in handloading--and gave me all his fired brass!
