Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Looking For A Rifle...

Hello,

I've begun a selection process for a rifle in .22 Hornet.

Specs must be these:

Left handed bolt action

Four to five round capacity

Heavy, or semi-heavy, barrel, no sights

preferably MOA accuracy from the box with good hand loads

D&T for a 'scope mount

Reasonable price, similar to that of a Savage

Does anyone know of any rifles like this? The Ruger M77 would be awesome, as would a number of Savage rifles, but they're chambered in .223 on up. I'd really like that lil' .22 Hornet. I figure it will save on powder and will do anything I need it to do out to 200 or 300 yards.

It would potentially be a squirrel gun, so I can't have it passing through trees and stuff.

In other words, I'd like something more powerful than the .22 Long Rifle, but with more potential than the .22 Magnum.

I've never really latched onto the .17 calibers. Seems a mite explosive to me.

Any help?

Thanks,

Josh

If I ever took the dive for a 22 Hornet, I'd go with a CZ...

beyond that, I just load my 223s to anything from 22 LR, thru to full power 223 loads and every 22 caliber in between..

I'm with Seafire the Skinflint on this. On recommendation of gunnies that shall remain nameless, I was let in on the Blue Dot secret. The first few shots, the instant impression was of a really hot, and really ACCURATE, Hornet. End of story. I have a batch of special brass for BD loads and when I "need" a Hornet level of zoom, I shoot those. More room in the safe and in the truck.

Thanks folks. That was my second choice... I suppose it would also make sense from a logistics POV.

Does it take substantially more powder to drive the .223 at the same speed, given the larger case capacity?

I reload for handguns, and though I've owned a couple Communist rifles, this will be my first venture into handloading rifle calibers, and the plan is to get them more accurate than factory.

I've read a lot and know a lot of theory, but being in the field I am, as well as having a father and brother who are engineers, I am well aware that theory usually only loosely relates to reality

Thanks again!

Josh

Just look a bit farther down this forum there is a thread "Blue Dot" tried it my self and it works very very well lots of fun and very accurate. I shooting this in a .223 and is by far the most accurate light loads that I have ever shot and I have been fooling around with light loads for a number of years.

The .223 makes good commmon sense because ammo is available almost anywhere, brass is easy to come by and store bought ammo is cheap in comparison to some of the other calibers.

Take a good look at the Browning. Almost exactly what you want. Except the barrel may not be heavy enough for you. I know several hunters with this rifle. And they all like them very well. And get very good accuracy. The Hornet makes a fantastic short range varminter. Nice and quit for what you get in performance.

CZ also makes a decent rifle. But I liked the factory trigger on the Browning better. And I was a little disappointed in the CZ set trigger. Also the action on the LH 204 I had was pretty rough(gritty). Difficult To work the bolt. However it was a real good shooter. Do they make a lefty in 22 Hornet?? I have never seen one. I have owned the 204 and shot the 223, but never seen a 22 Hornet.

In my experience accuracy between the two is approx. the same. Depends more on the particular rifle. Tom.

Blue Dot, SR 4759, IMR 4227, Rl 7, IMR 4198 can all load a 223 down to Hornet or Bee specs.. using close to the powder charges of the Hornet when the hornet uses powder that will 'fill the case'....

If you have a lot of experience loading pistol cartridges, you actually have more point of reference for these powders and loading discipline than the average rifle cartridge reloader..

Joshua_M_Smith: My recollection has it that Ruger offered an ambidextrous lever action Rifle in caliber 22 Hornet.
I have a left handed friend who owned one and just loved it although I can not recall how accurate it was.
I have a 22 Hornet Rifle that would also be conducive to left handed folks and its a Ruger #1-B.
It IS a stunningly beautiful little Rifle and with a Leupold 6x18 variable scope on it I can now shoot groups (5 shots at 100 yards) just at and above 1.000".
I have never seen a left handed bolt Rifle in caliber 22 Hornet - maybe CZ makes one but I have never seen one.
Best of luck and stay away from "squib loads" - stay as far away from them as possible!
I mean don't even shoot (stay!) on the same range as someone shooting squib loads!
Best of luck with whichever 22 Hornet you try.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

IIRC, the Ruger 96 lever action rifles were made in 17HMR, 22LR, 22MRF, and 44 Mag. Ruger hornets were #1, #3, and 77/22H.

Jeff

The best Hornet I've run across is the Browning Huntsman that I have. I have a Model 54 Hornet, and a Ruger 77 in Hornet.
Everything about the Browning is high class, and as accurate as any Hornet I've owned; 3 shots in a 1/2" group. Never had that kind of Hornet accuracy before.

And I have never owned one that would not shoot 1/4" or better five shot groups. That includes the TC Contender 14" factory barrel.

I would opt for the CZ or Ruger No. 1 for a modern gun otherwise my choice would be an older Brno or an older clip fed Sako, probably the old Sako..

But that said, if your looking for 22 magnum performance why not buy a 22 Magnum?