Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting .22 Hornet small game loads

I've been working with a little rifle developing small game loads with cast bullets.

First the rifle: German break-open single shot, under lever, 26" octagon barrel 1-8�" twist, .221" groove diameter, double set triggers, 6X 3/4" scope, weighs 5� pounds. Marked as "5.6x35R" (.22 Hornet dies work fine.)

Loads so far:
A) 2.2gr. Bullseye, Lyman 225438 45 grain, Alcan small pistol primers. Accuracy= 1/2-3/4" @ 50 yds.
B) 3.5gr. Unique, same bullet/primer, same accuracy.
C) 3.5gr. Unique, Lyman 225415 52gr., CCI small pistol primers, 1/2+" @ 50 yds.

All bullets sized to .2225" for a good fit in the .221" bore.

One of these loads will be my primary squirrel load this fall. I still need to develop something with a wee bit more oomph for use as a turkey load. Someone suggested 6gr. 2400 and the 225415 bullet for 1600fps. Another source suggested 5gr. 800X and the same 50+ grain bullet for 2000fps (which doesn't sound right to me, I think I'll start at 4gr.) Trying to keep velocities around 1500-1800 fps as I'm sticking with small pistol primers. (The gun won't reliably fire small rifle primers.)

I have some 55 and 60 grain cast bullets I intend to try out also. They don't work well in typical Hornets with their slow twists, but the 8�" twist in this one should stabilize them well.

There's been a lot of chatter regarding using SP primers for all loads in the Hornet, to include high velocity stuff. Seems counter-intuitive to me. Anybody have a feel for that?

Thanks for posting this, I've been thinking I need to develop something along this line for fall turkey season here; I'll be watching for updates.

I've used small pistol primers in my Hornet, no problem with them not holding up to the pressures. Crazy thing is JB published a Hornet article a while back stating he got his smallest groups with magnum small rifle primers. How counter-intuitive is that?

I believe I used small rifle primers when loading my Hornet.. I haven't loaded any ammo for several years.. I never tried small game hunting with cast in my Hornet, but have shot dozens of cottontails, some tree squirrel, one grouse, and 5 turkey with it and various jacketed bullets.. I believe I used the 40 grain Speer and 45 grain Speer for my small game rounds.. Paul Mathews wrote a little book called 60 YEARS WITH RIFLES. He mentions the Hornet in one or two chapters.. He is a bullet caster now.. I know he wrote a bit about cast in the Hornet, but I believe he used only jacketed to hunt with.. I got my loads from that source...

gnoahhh,

Using small pistol primers in the Hornet apparently depends very much on the powder.

A lot of people have gotten good results with small pistol primers with jacketed bullets in the Hornet, but I ran a test in my very accurate Ruger No. 1B a year or two ago. The combo was Li'l Gun with 40-grain Ballistic Tips, and I tried CCI small pistol primers, two kinds of small rifle match primers and CCI 450 small rifle magnum primers. The rounds with 450's shot the best, and the pistol primers shot the worst.

However, Speer ran a test with pistol and rifle primers in the Hornet a few years ago, and came to the conclusion that some small rifle primers can start to dislodge the bullet from the neck even before the burning powder. I can't remember how they came to that conclusion, but they probably just used empty cases with the primers. Anyway, a powerful enough small rifle primer might not only dislodge your cast bullets, but might melt the base slightly, which was why Elmer Keith didn't use magnum primers even in large handgun cases like the .44 Magnum and .45 Colt. With the small amount of powder you're burning, small pistol primers just might be the answer.

I stumbled onto that serendipitously. This rifle won't reliably fire small rifle primers (about every other one needs to be snapped twice), so I zeroed in on small pistol primers early on. Since I had been down the Hornet road a few times over the years and was mildly bored with the prospect of working with yet another one, from the start I focused on low-vel cast bullet loads to stimulate my enthusiasm.

I figured the small pistol primers would be ideal to ignite the small charges of pistol and shotgun powders I planned on using, given the tiny case capacity which is not dissimilar to small pistol cases. Had I read John's article I might have saved myself some experimentation, but would have reached the same conclusions. (Sorry John, I don't read much in the way of gun magazines anymore. Too few articles that interest me, although I do miss your epistles!)

Since it has a .221 groove diameter, I don't see myself experimenting too much with jacketed bullet loads, to prove/disprove the primer thesis in this particular rifle. Also, a heavy diet of jacketed bullets + 'heavy' charges of powder would hasten the demise of the throat. That would be unacceptable in an irreplaceable barrel of this nature. Besides, there are enough .22 mold designs to keep me busy experimenting with this gun for the rest of my life!

All this because I wanted an off-beat small game rifle for this year's season that gives me flatter sub-100yd. trajectories than .22RF target ammo. (That plus the odd turkey that may wander in front of my gun.)

Let us know how the Hornet works with these loads.. I haven't shot any small game with mine for 6 or 7 years.. I would question the cast bullet on turkey.. A friend tried the Speer 55 grain full patch out of a .218 bee.. He shot 5 or 6 turkey that fall and all he got was a hand full of feathers.. I think he even tried shooting them backwards.. He was a good shot and excellent turkey hunter..

I think it was the Book of the 22 that had some load data for cast in the 22 hornet. It's been years since I read the article.

I'm thinking that the reason for your friend's failure on turkeys lies in the FMJ bullet. I should think that a soft flat nosed lead bullet moving at a respectable velocity would do more tissue damage leading to a more certain death. Using a FMJ to not destroy edible meat is admirable, but I vote myself in the group that is willing to sacrifice some meat to ensure a quick kill.

Also, a turkey needs to have its central nervous system punched, or its wing butts punched if it's to be put down right there. A hit in the chest cavity or the guts will see it making a good effort at getting away. There's truly a lot to be said for enveloping a turkey's head/neck in a cloud of #6 shot.

Our fall turkey season is still 5 weeks away, so I have a little time to work up some suitable loads, and make a final decision about even using it for turkeys. For now, the main emphasis is still the almighty grey squirrel!

gnoahhh, Over the years I have shot most of my gobblers with a rifle.. In the last 4 or 5 years, I used a shotgun to see the shotgunner's side of gobbler hunting .. I will go back to the rifle this fall.. But I am still a bit leery of the cast bullet on a gobbler from a .22. Maybe it would work with a bigger diameter bullet and a good flat point.. As you well know mature gobblers are tough to kill.. I would want some positive expansion from a bullet in .22 cal. if I am shooting turkey.. I bet these will be just the ticket for grey squirrel.. I shot a few fox squirrel with my Hornet one fall in W. Va. It worked like a charm.. I used jacketed bullets I think 45 grain Speer and I am not sure now. The Hornet is one sweet rifle.. Be sure and keep us up dated on your success which I am certain will be great..

A raccoon does not like a flatnosed 48 gr. NEI and 3 grs. of Blue Dot.

Never worked a load in the Hornet with a SSP that didn't shoot as well or better with SRP. As JB said, it's likely a powder issue. That said, shoot what works. If it works well enough and you hold well you will bag a turkey easy enough. Probably better that .22 LR. They work too...

To clarify: my intent isn't to create a dedicated .22 cast lead turkey rifle, rather to work up a load that will be used primarily for squirrels yet be sufficient to give me a fighting chance at a turkey if one presents itself while squirrel hunting. Were I to hunt one with a rifle dedicated to that purpose I would probably just use a .30 caliber rifle and 150gr.soft cast plain base bullets at around 1200fps.

Going out this afternoon to test the next batch of loads. After this, I'll pick the best of the lot (although the worst of the lot so far exceeds my initial expectations), zero it and work out the trajectory for different yardage out to 100yds or so. After that it's just practice, practice.

I understood that. What I was trying to pass along is that .22 LR loads will kill a turkey if placement is good, but I think the range would be fairly short to assure such placement. The most consistently reliable shot I've found for large birds is to wait for them to face away from you and put the bullet between the shoulder blades.

Been shooting some 44 gr. cast in my NEF Hornet using 4.0 gr HS-6 with CCI 500 small pistol primers. Very accurate but may be a little fast for your purpose, tears up ground squirrels pretty bad at the closer ranges. Haven't chronoed them and probably won't. Fun shooting load.

Well, I settled on a load. 3.8gr. Universal Clays, 52gr. Lyman 225415 flat nose @ bhn11, Alcan small pistol primer*, W-W cases, 1.790" OAL (the gun has a deep throat). Two ten shot and one 5 shot group all less than 3/4" @ 50M. Zero'ed at 50M, trajectory testing at shorter and longer ranges having to wait 'til next week. Velocity unknown, I suspect somewhere in the realm of 15-1600fps. (Discovered a dead battery when I went to set up the Chrony ) All I need is to resist the temptation to continue experimenting with different loads before taking it to the squirrel woods...



* why use 50 year old primers? Because they work as good as new ones, and I have a couple thousand of them.

Sounds great.. let us know how this works.. Those Hornets are pure fun.. I must have shot a hundred cottontails with mine over the years.. Far more fun than a common .22..