Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles newest Hornet loads?

Rifle
Glad you found a load you like.
As for the #1, if it shoots like mine you will be very happy. Besides they don't make them in the Hornet anymore so if you don't buy it............................ well I think we've all been down that road.

Ernie

Hi guys, I've spent a load of time the past two weeks on the internet researching - and ran across this forum. I was impressed with the quality and expertise of information posted to this forum, and this thread in particular, signed up and now here I am asking for input.

I will be ordering, in the near future, an S.Sharp 1885 Low Wall - caliber .22 Hornet. This rifle will have a heavy, 34" barrel with 1:12 twist for the .224 bullet diameter. I will use this rifle to shoot offhand, with Creedmore sights, out to 200 yards.

I would appreciate any comments on this rifle.

I have never reloaded, but will begin with this rifle. There is tons of information available for bullets and loads up to 55gr and I'm expecting this rifle to shoot very well with loads from 40gr to 55gr. What I've been looking for, and unable to find, is any information on loads and performance for the 60gr bullet. I was hoping to shoot the Sierra 63gr SMP, the Nosler 60gr Partition and the Hornady 60gr SP as an upper end hunting load.

What's become apparent from reading this thread, as well as others, is that the light powder load of the Hornet, and the OAL of the cartridge, will limiting factors.

So my big question is simply, and without regard to how well it performs, will I be able to shoot this round?

Thanks ahead of time and I will be double posting this over at the Single Shot thread.

I once had a T/C Contender Carbine in .22 Hornet with a 1-12 twist. One day I decided to see if would stabilize the 60-grain Nosler Partition, and it would.

The powder charge I ended up with was 10.3 grains of Hodgdon Li'l Gun. This got about 2450 fps in the Contender barrel, which as I recall was 21" long. Accuracy ran 1" to 1.5" at 100 yards for 3-shot groups.

This is encouraging. I believe there's a rule of thumb that says I might gain somewhere between 10 fps and 20 fps for every extra inch in barrel length. If this holds true, I might get 2600 fps at the muzzle and, hopefully, about 2100 fps at 150 yds. The Nosler Partition has acceptable expansion at this velocity. Thanks.

I would definetly use H Lil' Gun for the Hornet. Powder charges are basically limited by case capacity for the 50gr and less bullets and the pressures are the lowest. I noticed in one the the early posts someone stated that they had or saw someone that had pressure issues with this powder. This would lead me to believe that this person had a tight barrel or oversized bullets. I have loaded 50gr v-max over 13grs of Lil Gun and had no problems and that was with a CZ 527 that many say have .223 barrels. Hope this helps! T.S.

Rifle; I have a Brno Hornet Sporter and I found the Sierra 40 grain .223 to be quite accurate. I used Lil Gun for it also.

Making it a K-hornet will help a little.

As I stated in my other post, I an new to reloading; in fact, I am in the process of selecting the components of my workstation. I've been reading at lot and am a little confused about the sizing and seating dies.

First, I had selected the full contact, competition seater, either Forster's Ultra Micrometer Seater or Redding's Competition Seating die.

I have read, on this forum, comments that it is suggested only neck sizing and only 1/4" of the neck. So I started looking at these dies. Forster does not make one for the Hornet, so this narrows my choice to one, the Redding Type S - Neck Bushing Die.

Now my confusion results from looking at the diagrams of the full length seater, which shows the case body and the neck completely supported by a close fitting, machined sleeve. If the neck has expanded and you have sized only the top 1/4", how does the case slide into the die? Are you not, in effect, sizing the neck to conform to the machined dimensions of the seating die?

Several companies make neck sizing dies. I recommend neck sizing for the hornet and K-hornet. I made my own dies. It is a simple task if you have a lathe.

Just looked and Wilson makes 22 hornet dies. Best way to go in my opinion.
http://lewilsondirect.com/chambertypebulletseater17caliber-1.aspx

Happiness is a K-Hornet fueled with R/P hulls,400's,'296 and a moly itty-bitty V-Max kissin'.

Lil' Gun cain't begin to hang................