Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles .22 Hornet Newbie

I am going to get a Hornet soon (CZ). Have handloaded lots of calibers for 40 years. I wanted to know if there are any strong do's or don't with the Hornet. Also, I see loads with .223 and .224, with some labled 'Hornet'. Why the difference? I've used RCBS dies for most of my time but in the last 10 years or so have had some Hornady that worked well. Any strong recommendation on dies. Full length sizer or neck only?
Any guidance or advice would be appreciated.
Ron

Original hornets were built with 22rf barrels, and used .223" bullets, and so component bullets are still available for those rifles. Your cz should be barreled for .224" bullets.

As far as concerns, the little cases are very sensitive to powder charges, with a ~12 gr capacity, 0.1 gr changes make a difference. So the biggest concern is consistant powder charges. Also those small charges like to be lit off with a milder primer, rem 6 1/2's are a good starting point.

I generally prefer a fl sizing for all rounds I load, but if I can't get the accuracy I'm after, I'll give partial sizing or neck sizing a go. I'm also a fan of redding dies, so that would be my recomendation.

You will like that CZ try 12.5 Lil gun behind the 35gr v max mine will do a half inch no problem.The hornet bullets are designed to expand at hornet velocities.The mild primers are good advice I load federal small pistol and that little CZ shoots so well its scary.Good luck with it.

Thanks 458 and Trapperman for the info. You cleared up some questions. Fortunately, I have half a brick of WW small pistol regular primers left over from my .38 days. I know there is a huge variance in bullet frangibility and always try to choose carefully for the job. I'll check on the Redding dies. My stimulus check has not arrived and I'm having to be real careful with my spending.

The Hornet was created from rimfire barrels as stated (.222 groove). Later most pre-war models were made with the .223 groove.

Today, most Hornets run .224, although Browning uses a .223. Your CZ is 224, and is a darn fine gun.

I've found the 33 Speer and 35 V-Max accurate, explosive and both fit the mag on the CZ well. Its magazine OAL makes the traditional RN and those two bullets work best. If you can find the defunct Nosler SB 46 grainer, its a gem as far as holding together for bigger stuff and for accuracy.

You can't get enough Lil' Gun in a case to have any pressure issues or alter case life as with many other powders, and is always my choice for the Hornet.

For cost-effective precision, Forster makes very fine 22 Hornet dies.

I traded into a Kimber of Oregon 22 Hornet and ended up purchasing a CZ 527 in 22 Hornet this year. Since I heard so much negative about the standard Hornet brass that I had them both opened up to K-Hornet. Brass is supposed to last much longer and be easier to load. We have an excellent gunsmith close by that charged me only $50 each to do this. I replaced the CZ trigger with a Rifle Basix. I just could not get used to the set trigger and all of the creep it had.

I load both rifles with 13 grains of Lil�Gun and the 40-grain V-Max just love it. Both guns shoot into �� if I do my job. I load these bullets too long for the magazines, so I feed them single shot. I use them on gophers (ground squirrels) and prairie dogs out to 200 to 250 yards.

Just an interesting side item� In order to keep each rifle�s brass separate I found a chemical for blackening brass at my hobby store and I soak the brass for one rifle in this for a few seconds and tumble it. There is no doubt which rifle that brass belongs to.

You will greatly enjoy your Hornet. Good shooting.

Could you expand on the brass blackening chemical please. I have doubles of a couple calibers.
Thanks; Allan

CCI small rifle primers with W296 and a 40 grain Hornady VMax has always shot very well from my CZ. I tried Lil Gun and while I like the velocity gains it did not shine in the accuracy department. Never could make it work.

If you have some old W680 lying around give that a try. I know that AA-1680 is supposed to be the same formulation but it did not work as well for me.

And as others have posted don't overlook those older Sierra or Speer bullets that were designed for Hornet velocities. Some of them really shoot.

Interesting about bore diameters, as I have read many times the CZ's had .223 bores (their European standard), but have never heard Browning used .223 (why would they?). No biggie, as I would readily shoot .224's thru a .223 bore w/o concern.
My CZ Hornet didn't last long as a "regular" Hornet, as it quickly became a 17 Ackley Hornet...which is even more fun for me (though I still have a NEF Hornet, as I never want to be "Hornet-less").
For me, 1680 produces great groups, but a wide velocity spread (as does LilGun). I have purchased a Lee Crimp Die, to see if the velocity can be made more uniform.
H/IMR 4227 are also good powders to try. The stubby little Speer 40gr, and the Hornady 45gr Hornet, have been my favorite bullets.

Greg

I've never slugged my Browning to see if it is .223" or .224" - mainly because it doesn't seem to care which bullet diameter I feed it.

My recipe, which seems to work for many, many people is as follows:

WW or RP brass. (RP holds a bit more, but it's a coin toss)

Partial size. (Leave about 1/16" or so of the neck unsized to help concentricity)

FIRST BIGGIE. Use the Rem 6 1/2 primer (NOT 7 1/2!) OR any small pistol primer EXCEPT Winchester. (the Hornet wants a very mild primer to prevent unseating the bullet before the powder fully ignites or you'll get poor accuracy and velocity spread)

Use 13.0 of LilGun. It will fill the case almost to the mouth. Swirl-charge it through a funnel or vibrate it if required. No need to work up. Just use 13.0.

Your choice of bullets as long as it is less than 50 grains weight. The 40s are great, but the real screamer is the new Barnes 30-gr Varmint Grenade especially for the Hornet. Wow! (Not their 36-grainer, which is way too long to stabilize in the Hornet.)

Seat to whatever your magazine allows.

SECOND BIGGIE. Use the Lee Factory Crimp Die. (The Hornet has weak neck tension, and in combo with a mild primer, you MUST crimp to keep that bullet firmly in place until everything is burning. Trust me on that.)


If you don't follow that recipe exactly, ESPECIALLY with regard to primer and crimp, you'll be one of those guys who complains about his Hornet. But if you DO follow it, you'll grin a lot.

Mulerider,

With Lil'Gun or 1680(or Olin680), I don't think you'll see any pressure signs of significance with 224 bullets in a 223 groove bore.

I have proved it to be quite unnerving with a faster powder like H110/296, especially when I didn't have a chronograph. When I did get one it opened my eyes, luckily before my skull got opened up!

The Browning Micro here slugged .2235 at the throat, .2231 at the muzzle. The CZ slugs .2245 pretty much all the way through.

CZ uses a 1-14 twist, same as their 222's. Browning uses a 1-16 and 223 bores, just for their Hornets. Have no idea why. I'm kinda glad they did, because for some reason it shoots a trifle better than a CZ and handle 48 gr. cast bullets great!

I can also tell you they don't cotton or stabilize to a Berger 30 grainer, but run 40 BT's, V's and BK's just fine.

RockyRaab,
Thanks for those great tips. It comes through very convincingly, so I'll follow it to a T. I have to offload an old 10/22 Mag before I can upgrade to the CZ. Those old Mags are bringing a LOT more than they are worth. But, I just handled the CZ 527, and was unimpressed with the trigger. Setting it is cumbersome and noisy. Too much travel. I'd much rather have just a nice crisp 2 1/2# trigger. Anyone traded out the CZ 527 trigger with good results?

I too am not keen on the CZ set trigger, as its action within the trigger assembly is rather crude (but certainly can be set light).
Fortunately, it is typically easy to adjust the single stage of a CZ527 trigger down to the 2.5-3 lb range, which is where both of mine operate.

Hawk: H110/296 has seldom worked for me in several different Hornets, with a very narrow window on pressures. Many recipes printed were way too warm for my rifles. Some folks love it, but I stayed primarily with W680, AA1680, H4227, and then later, LilGun.

Another major do, plenty of chamfer on the inside of the neck, those cases are paper thin and it is WAY too easy to wrinkle one while seating a bullet. i have used 35 Gr V-max successfully in my savage. if you have a cut down lever for your press, use it, a light hand is more than just a piece of advice, its basically a must, and the short lever will help. if you can get a good load, you will be sold, if you can't you will be just another one of those A-holes that gripe about how "obsolete" and "useless" the cartridge is. I adore mine.

Good luck

Anyone have any comment on the Ruger 77/22 Hornet? The Good, the Bad, the Ugly?

I like mine. 12.6gr of lil-gun and 35gr v-max.
Allan

I own one, and it now shoots very well. I say now, because I did three main things before shooting it to insure that it would shoot well; a trigger job, free floating the barrel, and polishing the bore to smooth out tool marks.
The last 3 shots I made with the rifle before the snow fell last fall resulted in a 3 shot, 1/4" group at 50 yards, with a Weaver V-16 scope set at 16x. (Snow was too deep, so I opt'd to shoot at 50 yards.. )
I'd stack my 77/Hornet up against any Hornet made today, factory rifles, for accuracy. And, I do like that rotary magazine. It sets the 77 apart from all comers as far as magazine goes. I also have a Browning Huntsman in 22 Hornet that ain't too shabby for accuracy either. It is ONE FINE rifle, thank you Rocky Rabb.. If I had to choose one and only one Hornet rifle today, it would be the Browning, and not because of anything negative about the 77. That's how fine the Browning is. It's balance is SUPERB. And, it came with the barrel free floating, and the stock was glass bedded when I bought it new. I did do a spring change in the trigger, a no brainer, to get the weight of pull down where I like it.

Don, mine is the Micro-Medallion grade, which they only made for the first two years. For that reason alone, I'm leaving it box stock original.

One of my suggestions to them when I reviewed it was to offer it in Hunter grade for the lower gloss. They did, but I did NOT mean for them to cancel the Medallion model, just add one. It is still the only review gun I've ever bought after the review - sent the others all back, including another Browning. That's how much I like mine!

Any review on the M40 Savage, accuracy, Accutrigger, etc.? In the $500-700 range, is the CZ the best value overall? Is a new 77/22 going to need a trigger job?