Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 22 Hornet Case Length?

I just bought a CZ 527 in 22 Hornet for cheap practice for my 9.3x62 CZ 550 American.

I loaded with Rem cases, 7-1/2 Bench Rest primers, 13.0g Li'l Gun, 40g V-Max bullets.

When I set the bullet for C.O.L. of 1.8" it was way too long for the magazine. I measured a factory Hornady 40g V-Max round at 1.71" and one load manual had the COL at 1.723"
Even 1.723 wasn't feeding well out of the magazine.

The problem, to me at least, is that at that length the bullet is so far into the case that it just doesn't look right. It is
set right up to the olgive and maybe a bit more! Is that normal for the 40g V-Max Hornady bullet?

What overal case length do you CZ owners use for the 22 Hornet?

I was very happy to load up 100 rounds at 1.720" with no crushed cases.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Seems you're limited to the magazine, so I'm not sure what else to tell you. Either it works with the bullet or it don't, I'd not be overly worry about 'looks'.

I use the standard case length in my CZ 527 Hornet and an oal of 1.8 with the Nos. 40gr. But in order to do that the magazine had to be modified by reducing to thickness of the plastic spacer at the rear of the mag. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to reduce case length a little to keep the case mouth below the bullet ogive but then I'm not sure you could get that much LiLGun in the case.

The 35 V-Max and Speer 33 work better for "looks".

Since this was bought for cheap practice for a 9.3, the 45 gr semi-points made for the cartridge are going to be cheaper to shoot and work just fine with a grain to a half grain less, otherwise just shoot and be happy.

Working on the same round tonight while listening to the Steelers. My visit here was for the same issue. Surprised to see this post so close to the top. The 40g V-Max must be pushed in past the ogive to fit the Magazine of my Savage 342. Trimming much further would effect case capacity using Lil Gun. Never loaded for this one before and have no factory round to compare. Do bullets seated this deep present any functioning/accuracy problems?

Picked up a bag of Rem 22 Hornet 45g HP at Cabela's yesterday. Much nicer fit to case. Any idea where I might get data for this bullet?

I assume the Savage designers in the 40'S and 50's did not anticipate plastic tipped bullets.

ring3,
Thanks for posting those pics. My 40gn V-Max looks just about like that at 1.720".

I have 2 choices it appears:
1.) Use flat point tips, or shorter round nose bullets.
2.) Shorten the spacer at the top of the CZ magazine and load to 1.8" or so and keep the balanced look of the 22 Hornet.

Opinions? Any other CZ 527 Hornet owners have any input?

Dave,
Is that a Dremel tool type affair on the magazine trimming? Can you estimate about how much you took off (or how much is remaining) on the spacer at the top of the mag?

Does it still feed smoothly?

Thanks,
Jetblueman

Didn't use a dremel, don't think it would work. What I did after studying the mag was to determine that the folded guide lips end before reaching the back of the mag. I didn't want to reduce the spacer so much that the rim of the cartridge would get behind those lips and hang up. Then removed the spacer from the mag carefull not to lose those tiny pins that hold it in place. To grind it down I used a sheet of 100 grit wet or dry sandpaper laid on a sheet of glass by keeping the paper and glass wet the paper didn't move around. I then placed the spacer flat side down on the sand paper and trying to maintain an even pressure whle sliding it across the paper I slowly ground it down rotating it 180 deg. about every 3 or 4 strokes to keep it flat and not take more off one end than the other. Remove material only from the flat side as the curved front side is designed to keep the rims of the cartridges from getting behind each other and causing a jam. I would check the fit in the mag often and quit removing material when the top of the spacer was still about 1/16 inch forward of the end of the guide lips. Reinstalled the spacer assembled the mag and all worked well for me. So I never measured it just used those guide lips a reference. It was slow but I didn't end up buying a new mag or parts for it due going to fast.One last thing I filled the open spaces on the back of the spacer with e-poxy to give it a little more stiffness after reducing the thickness. Probably wasn't necessary more of a feel good thing for me. "Whew" I believe that took longer to describe than to do the job. Forgot to mention the spacer is a long piece of plastic that runs from top to bottom of the mag. so reducing the spacer just at the top won't help.

In case I don't want to try it and screw up the magazine for good, have you heard if I can just use a .221 Fireball or .223 CZ 527 magazine and call it good? (The space is farther back "as built."

Just use the Hornady 45 gr. Hornet bullets. Those and 10.2 grains of Lil Gun out of my 527 shoot on top of each other all day long and the COL for those fit fine. You could also get a single shot adapter for the 527 from Calhoon and not have to worry about magazine length.

Faced with single-round feeding my 527 I asked CZ about the idea of swapping out the Hornet magazine with a 204 Ruger or 223 Rem mag. I was told that those mags will not fit my Hornet. I then asked if I could remove the rear spacer and replace the follower with one out of the longer magazines. I do not mind modifying it to fit. CZ never got back to me on that question. I expect to hit one of the custom shop guys up at the SHOT show in January for a solution. In my opinion, the rear spacer is not needed if you are careful to load each cartridge with the Hornet�s rim to the front of the last round. However, when you remove the spacer the follower tips and screws up feeding.

I get very good results with my K-Hornets using the 40-grain V-Max bullets seated at 1.915�. My CZ shoots .5� to 1� groups and my Kimber shoots 1� groups using them. I did pick up some 30-grain Barnes Varmint Grenades that gave me .25� groups @ 3400 fps in the CZ, though. These bullets are better suited for the Hornet magazine since I seat them at 1.785�. I have not tried to seat them any deeper, because I am used to single-feeding by now. Anyway, it is much easier to recover spent brass when you slow down and single feed.

Can you please give me the COL you seat to for success with 45gr bullets in your CZ 527? That would help immensely! Thanks, Jetblueman

CZ sucks...............

I will check my notes this evening...I don't remember off the top of my head. I guess being over 50 does that to ya!

My OAL on the 45 gr. Hornady's was 1.750. That came right from the Hornady book. The 50 gr. V-Max that called for 1.780 did not fit the magazine. I didn't mess around with trying to get them to fit because the 45's shot so well.

You do have one more choice,that is to snip the ends off the nylon tips on the 40gr v-max.

I use the 40gr v-max as well in my Anschutz 1730HB,but I load them to 1.840" for best accuracy.Of course that won't fit the magazine,so I trim the ends of the nylon bullet tips off with a cutter so that they are no longer than 1.740",and will function in the magazine.Shortening the nylon tips removes less than .1 grain of weight from the bullet,and it doesn't effect accuracy(I compared accuracy trimmed and untrimmed).The gun still groups five shots into less than 1/2" at 100 yards,and less than 1-1/2" at 200 yards.I could probably do better at 200 yards, but I am only using a 3-9 scope.

Tip Snippin'!

I'm cryin'!!!!..............

I think I may give this a try.

You are mean,to string her along like that.

But I'm digging your sense of humor!.................

The shortened bullets produced the five shot groups below at 100 yards.The very center bullseye is 1/2",and both groups are sub 1/2".



The infamous snipper is below.