Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .22 Hornet?

I just picked up an H&R 158 Topper in .22 Hornet, and curious about reloading. I'd been looking for a Hornet for a couple months, and had almost pulled the trigger on a new CZ bolt gun...but found the H&R. I've had one for years in .30-30, and really like the older single shot rifles.

I've read where some people use small rifle primers, but I've also read that only small pistols should be used....any suggestions? Plan is to load 40-45gr bullets, just to make a decent 150 yard plinker/coyote rifle. I have plenty of 4227, H110, AA #9, and *maybe* a couple pounds of 1680.

In my experience the primer depends on the powder used. With some, small-pistol primers work better, in others small-rifle primers work better--often including the CCI 450 small-rifle magnum.

IIRC, I loaded 13 grains of Hodgdon Lil Gun with a 40 grain Vmax and lit it with a CCI small rifle BR primer. bumped off a lot of various and sundry varmints with that.

I have had really good luck with the cci small rifle primers in both my regular hornets and the k hornets.

I have two hornets; one likes IMR 4227 and the other likes WW 680 (discontinued). They both do best with CCI small rifle Bench-rest Primers. For bullets, they like Speer 45 gr soft points or Sierra 40 gr Blitzkings or Nosler 40 gr Varmagedon (tipped).

I briefly thought about reaming this one to K-Hornet, but really don't need the extra velocity....although it may help extend brass life.

I had a NEF .22 hornet. After a few boxes of ammo the ejector stopped working, leaving the spent case stuck in the barrel.

Got a 77/22-Hornet hiding in the dark corner of the closet. Need to give it a go just to see how it shoots.

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I use SP, either CCI 500, or Fed 100M for H110 and 2400. After Mule Deer did all the work, I switched from Rem 7 1/2s to CCI450s for LilGun.

Many years ago i had a Topper, & killed a ton of groundhogs shooting off dirt roads in very rural areas. Back then groundhogs were thick before Coyotes moved into the Eastern US. I don't remember what i did with that little rifle, but the Hornet just didn't miss & the red dust would roll up from a hit !!!

Jason280,

FWIW-
I have a CZ 527 in .22 Hornet, that I bought primarily for wild turkey hunting in the fall. I intended to handload for it, and bought a box of Hornady ammo to sight in with and make empty brass. This ammo is loaded with a 45 gr. bullet, with a MV advertised at 2665 fps.
What I found was that this factory ammo would shoot into sub-half inch groups! The first round I fired at game was a wild turkey kill at 85 yards, absolutely no meat damage.
You might want to give this stuff a try, unless you intend to burn lots and lots of ammo through your .22 Hornet.

I have the same gun and I shoot 45 grain soft points over a case full of 4227 or Lil Gun.

Kills well!

I have two Anschutz 22 hornets. Both are very accurate with the same load.
That load is-
Win brass
fed sm pistol primer
13.2 gr Lil Gun ( full case)
Various 40 gr bullets.

I think I would like to get a rifle. Single shot is fine as my Contender pistol barrel in K Hornet seems to do quite well. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

I did just that and like the result. To me, the K-Hornet is a better round than the std. Hornet for more reasons than a just bit more velocity.

Here's the link. I've posted it several times. Hope you don't get tired of looking at it. https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/11390994/4

DF