Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles newest Hornet loads?

I have no small pistol primers in the house,as I do not load for anything that uses them. I've had a good run on the 6 1/2 Remington's in this case.I'm sure SP's would work well,just hate another trip to the store...Thanks

I understand, believe me!

Sorry to be so late chiming in.

John Barsness and I are Hornet fans of the highest order, and our ideas on the little booger pretty much agree. Here are the whats and whys:

You need a mild primer. Either the Rem 6 1/2 (designed for the Hornet and similar very small cases) or a small pistol primer. I personally use CCI 500 or Fed 100, and NO Winchester primer at all. The "why" is due to the very tiny case. A primer with too much gusto will unseat the bullet before the powder lights. Combustion volume, distance into the lands and bullet deformation are all made completely random. Bad.

LilGun. Some guns might prefer A1680, which is almost as good. I personally don't trust H110/W296 in anything but full-house magnum revolver loads, and that does NOT include the Hornet. Winchester uses a non-canister version of their old W680, which is very close to both A1680 and LilGun in performance. You need a high-density powder that ignites easily and doesn't pressure spike in such a small case.

Pick your brass, WW or RP. But only neck or partially size it. You want to leave a small "shoulder" or chamber diameter area to help align the case in the chamber and also to assist with precise headspacing.

Use a bullet of the correct diameter for your barrel and designed for the Hornet. Good ones range from 30 to 45 grains. My .223" Browning barrel doesn't care if bullets are .223" or .224" but another rifle might not be so sanguine. Bullet LENGTH is just as important, to match both the twist rate and the magazine length. Diameter, design, weight, and length can all be critical.

Use a Lee Factory Crimp die - or at least test one. The Hornet has VERY thin neck brass, and combined with that primer issue mentioned above, it can be a chore to keep bullets firmly in place until the powder is fully burning.

Finally, I once observed that a case-full of LilGun would probably weigh about 13 grains with most brass - but I have never suggested that as a loading technique. I have NEVER recommended arbitrary load increments such as a half-grain. I ALWAYS recommend using 2% of the book maximum as a safe and sane load increment. In the Hornet, that works out to between .1 and .2 grains or so; yes, one to two tenths of a grain. NO MORE! A half-grain added to a moderate Hornet load can take you straight to a blown primer and gas in your face. Trust me, I KNOW.

Thanks Rocky...good insight. I'll look into the crimp die....
The Lil'gun has still not shown up in my corner of the world,but I loaded 20 rounds of AA1680 and hope to get to the range today.
As I started this thread,I had not loaded for the Hornet in 30 years and remember the trail and errors of using the pistol powder,then finding the correct primers. Always seemed to be a pain in the asse.I'm not looking for 'hot rod' loads,just good shooting ones....thanks again,guys!

I've returned from the range and rather pleased with the AA1680 and 45grain Remington bullets. I shot 3 five shot groups at 3/4" with a 7.5 Leupold scope with a little wind on the 100 yard line.I think a little more load investigation is warranted.
but I'm good for a quick groundhog kill.....rifle

To add to Rocky's post:

I have never used pistol primers in the .22 Hornet; instead I use CCI 400's or BR-4's (the "benchrest" version of the 400). I've loaded for several Hornets, including a K-Hornet, and the CCI's have resulted in excellent accuracy in each rifle, with 5-shot groups at 100 yards running 1/2 to 3/4".

I don't crimp bullets. Instead I partial-size cases, using a 1/10" thick washer between a full-length die and the press, and have never had a problem with bullets staying firmly seated. I use Winchester brass and have a Hornady die. If I did have problems keeping bullets firmly seated I'd suspect a mis-fit between the die and my chamber.

With 40-grain bullets I have used only Li'L Gun for several years and have never had a problem. The only time I use a quicker powder is with lighter bullets, and then I generally use H110/W296.

As a side note, I have also tried a bunch of powders in the .221 Fireball, and haven't had any pressure problems even with maximum loads. In my rifle it's also the best powder with 40-grain bullets, with top velocities and accuracy.

Hopefully, the ban will lift soon and I find some Lil'Gun in Michigan,Republic of.........

Rifle..

It is good to see that at least you are loading something with the 1680 you have on hand. Before I began using the LILGUN, the AA1680 was my favorite Hornet powder..

I am curious, what kind of rifle are you loading for??

the rifle is a vintage Brno 465,mini-Mauser,5 round clip feed with double triggers. As soon as I can find out where the cats put my camera,I'll send some photo's out...

To be honest, none of us know for sure if our bullets move under primer pressure alone, or if they don't, or if they do only sometimes. But it's probably safe to say that there's less chance of that happening with a solid crimp than without one.

So I use the mildest primers I can get - and crimp. In the end, it's whatever works in your rifle.

That Sir may be the truest statement on reloading ever written.

In regards to primers for the Hornet, Ross Sigfried (might not have spelled the writer's name correctly), was the first person I read that advocated the use of pistol primers in the Hornet. I tried them for awhile but had greater success with Remington 7 1/2 Benchrest primers and they are my standard for the hornet now. I love the AA1680 because every Hornet I have owned will shoot it well which has not been the case with Lil'Gun or Win 296, even though the do offer higher velocities. With six hornets and trying to buy #7 I am borderline diagnosed as a "Hornet Nut" - it is confirmed at #10! Rifle, let us know how the ZKW465 works out.

John

You just made my Hero list!

Update..I got home from work Monday,my wife said some "girl" called from Cabelas and said your "little gun" was in....then asked when did I start buying little guns? I left it at that, and told I would show it to her when I got home Tuesday.

and so..I'm loading 12.5 grains of L'G with a Horny 35 VMAX today for tomorrow's range trip!! Hope the chrony works this trip!!

We be 'rockin' now!! 12.5 L'Gun,6 1/2 Rem primers,35 gr Vmax @ avg 3026 fps,3/4" at 100 hundred...
I ain't touchin' nothing,but loading more!!
I tried 33 gr Cohoon's,but the VMax's beat the crap out them....
I ready for a little "grass hog" hunting!!

This is a strange place to put my post, but I thought it appropriate. For those of us that like light loads without a lot of powder or recoil, the standard hornet loads can be duplicated in a 223 with 12.0-14.2g of Blue Dot. 12g of Blue dot gives me amazing accuracy at 3000 fps with the 40 and 14.2g gives me 3300 fps, blistering accuracy. I also shoot the 50's at 2650 fps with 1/3" accuracy with blue dot.

Hope this helps some of you nuts that love low recoil, mild muzzle report, and no cleaning to speak of.

Good luck!

Oh,damn.. I have spotted a Ruger #1 in Hornet...
I think the bug bite my azz....

Who voted for Obamma? Raise your head a little bit more,please

You are a goner! The hornet disease has a solid hold on you. Best thing to do is buy the Ruger and have it reamed to K-hornet.

I have been using 1680 in my Bee (Ruger #1) since my supply of Lil'gun is about depleted and a trip to town with "mule" '06 cases or a large air freight shipment is the only way powder or primers will get here. Actually, I may just buy a couple more pounds of 1680 when I do. I'm liking how it works. I don't think I care much about speed in this little case. I can get more with the 223 if that's what I want. That or rechamber the 218 for all the 225 ammo I found since that was why I bought a 218 in the first place. But I like the little 218. I'm sure it's Hornet cousin would please me as well.