I have been sitting on a Ruger 1A .22 Hornet for over a year and finally have gotten the time to start playing with this rifle. I have followed various threads in the past and thought I had a handle on where to start but I seem to have lost a lot of my reference material since then.

This is my first time messing with this cartridge or any rifle cartridge this small. I am hoping to shorten my learning curve on which dies I should be looking to and what steps I should include or avoid in the handloading process with such small / fragile brass.

I have a BUNCH of Nosler 40gr BTV seconds on hand so that is my planned projectile currently. Is Lil'Gun still the powder of choice? I also have 2400 and H110 on hand.

Sm pistol primers vs Sm rifle primers? I seem to remember this being another area of sway back and forth.

Not looking for 300yd performance on rodents since this will mostly be used for paper punching and small animals of opportunity while woods walking (less than 150yds and probably well inside of that more commonly). Minute of ground squirrel / crow @ 100yds is my goal.

Found success with Redding dies, L'il Gun and SRP. Most any bullet of the Nosler/Sierra/Hornady family 50 gr or less will work.

Ditto. Try some 2400 and maybe some SP primers, they might surprise you. Mind the thin neck walls, pretty easy to get crooked cartridges.

I have owned and reloaded for the Hornet and K-Hornet since the seventies and have to say there is no better time than now to shoot and load for a Hornet. In the old days the powders and bullets seemed to peter out at about 175 yards. The bullets were not very aerodynamic and velocities were considerably lower than today. In the seventies and eighties I used 45 grain Hornady soft points and H110 or IMR 4227 for powders. Today I use Hornady V-Max and Nosler BTs with Lil Gun or A1680. Haven't tried the newer powders that have hit the market in the last couple of years since I am fully stocked with Lil Gun and A1680. I am getting about 3000 fps out of a 20 inch K Hornet Contender barrel. With the longer #1 Barrel you will do better. Some complain of short case life and crushed shoulders in the Hornet, but I rarely have any issues with the tapered base bullets I shoot. Oversizing is probably the main cause of short case life. You might want to look at using a Lee collet neck sizing die. It greatly lengthens case life. I do have to trim my .22 Hornet cases much more than the K Hornet case.

Case life will be an issue no matter how you size them, and load mildly to help some. Worth it to get it reamed to K hornet.

Mule Deer clued me in to Lil Gun and CCI Small Rifle Magnum primers. 3000 FPS with the Hornady or Sierra 40 grain pills.

I haven't had to trim K-Hornet cases even once since I got the barrel. Would love to have a #1 and get it K'ed.

The load I use in my Browning 1885 is...13 grs of Lil' Gun, 40gr Hornady V-Max, Rem 9 1/2 primer, Lee factory crimp die, seated out just off the lands Neck sizing with Redding die, bullet seater is Forster. Pretty universal load for the Hornet now. In my rifle it's well under an inch at 100yds.

I have a couple .22 Hornets, but never shoot them, a 1930's vintage Savage 19H and a 1980's vintage Savage 24F.

The only .22 Hornet that I wished that I had bought when I had a change to was a minty Anschutz 1433 that could have been mine for around $700. 20/20 hindsight makes that a steal of a deal.

Here's a link to a lot of info on the .22 Hornet and K-Hornet.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/11390994/1

DF

In my TCR83 with 23" barrel I'm getting about 2950 fps with PPU cases, 13 gas of Lil' Gun, 40 gr Nosler BTs, and WSR primers.

Looks like most stuff has been covered already, but will comment that case life when using Li'l Gun (and a really good alternative, Alliant 300-MP) is REALLY good, because they attain top velocities at far lower pressures than traditional Hornet powders like 2400 and H110.

Have also found that the CCI-450 small rifle magnum primer attained the best accuracy in my rifle with 300-MP, along with Li'l Gun. But it's always worthwhile to try at least 3 primers in such small cases. They seem to be more senistive to primer changes than larger cartridges. Might also note that in my .17 Hornady Hornet, the CCI 450 was not the most accurate primer, even though I also use what are very slow-burning powders for it. Instead the Remington 7-1/2 works best.

I've settled on 300-MP and CCI-450's in my .22 K-Hornets.

I've tried a bunch of combos and to me, this is the cream of the crop.

DF

Well, I can see some 300-MP powder in my future.

The best accuracy from my 1885 has been with 11.1gr of H110, 40gr Vmaxes, and either F100M of CCI 500 pistol primers. That said, when I finally tried JB's load of 13.0gr of LiLGun and CCI 450s, it was also very accurate and if you look at the load data, pressures are way down from the ones from H110 and similar powders. The Hornet is one of the rounds that gets top velocity and low pressure from LilGun, like the .357. BTW, those VMaxes are seared way out, about 1.91 IIRC in my rifle. Can't do that with most repeaters.

When the weather breaks I hope to do a real side by side comparison of my load an JB's; same brass, same day, to see which is really the best, but honestly both shoot well enough for any use I have, and 11,000 lbs of additional pressure is a big price to pay for a tenth of an inch or so, even if that turns out to really be the case.

I use Lee Collet dies, and sometimes a Lee Loader for the first sizing. Don't even own a FL die yet.

Those 9 1/2s must be a bear to seat!

Just pickin'😜

Another note: Along with 300-MP, CFEBLK is also a very good powder in the K-Hornet.

One primer of note is the Remington 6.5.

It's a tweener between the small pistol and small rifle when the Hornet and Bees were popular.

your gonna like reloading and shooting your Ruger # 1 in a 22 Hornet ,this cartridge has no recoil at all .i use Federal primers in my Hornets. good luck,Pete53

Pappy348, "Those 9 1/2s must be a bear to seat!" Oops! My bad, Remington 7 1/2"

I use the Remington 6.5 primer, with 1680, just to throw a monkey wrench into things. I use it mostly with the Midsouth 34gr. HP, which shoots well up close, and is c-h-e-a-p to buy, less than $9/100 last time I looked. I also use the old 40gr. Sierra SP Hornet bullets, but I don't mess around much with others, as I have other rifles for that sort of thing.

My little CZ Hornet is funner than a barrel of monkeys to shoot.

My favorite regular Hornet load (not K-Hornet) is 6 grains 2400, any old small pistol primer, and cast lead 55 grain Lee Bator. Used in a German kiplauf with 1-9" twist. Alright, it isn't a Hornet, just looks like one and I use Hornet dies to load for it. An ancient little beastie called 5.6x35R. If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck...

I have a can of CFE BLK, just haven't used it in the .22 K-Hornet. I see where it's just a tad slower burning than Pwr Pro 300-MP, similar to A-1680.

DF

It's especially useful for heavier bullets from 40 grains up--even 50-grain spitzers if your rifle has a 1-14 twist. Plus, of course, it has a decoppering agent.

My CZ is 16 twist, so don't think it'll do very well with heavier bullets, probably 40 gr. tops.

DF

Good stuff guys. This should give me plenty to start with. Thanks for refreshing my memory on a few things and point out several new points as well.

You probably mean 6 1/2 primers .....

Exactly. My K-Hornet had a 1-16 twist, and even on a warm summer day at 4200 feet above sea level, groups with spitzers heavier than 40 grains were in the 4" range. But the velocities were impressive!

IMR 4227, or H-4227 or Winchester 296 have all worked well in my two Hornets with 40 or 45 grain bullets. The 40 gr Blitzking and 40 Nosler Varmageddon (tipped) have done well in a few recent load work ups. My rifles are a Ruger no.3 and a Kimber Super America 82.

I’ve also developed some 22 Magnum level loads with Alliant 2400 and IMR-4759 (discontinued) using the same 40 grain hollow point bullets that have been loaded in the 22 Mag along with the 40 and 45 grain Sierra “hornet” bullets and the Speer 46 grain flat nose.

I’ve tried Lil Gun but my rifles didn’t do very well

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it or not, but a Lee Collet Die is helpful in prolonging case life. Also you can use regular full length sizing dies and only size about 1/2 of the neck, I think JB put me on to that trick.

my mod 70 loves the nosler 45gr. hornet bullets with ww296 and cci match primers. once I started this load it shot very well in 3 different hornets, velocity is really!!!good. enjoy your new world. turkey killing machine .

I get excellent accuracy(about 0.8 moa for five shots, average) with the 46 gn Winchester HP in my Brno. No issues with stability as far as I can see, no doubt because it is a rather dumpy bullet. Despite its dumpiness it performs well enough on small game/varmints - I've even dropped the odd pig with it - for me to continue using it. I also use 40 gn spitzers (Sierra), which admittedly shoot a mite flatter, and with similar accuracy.

I'm still using W296 with both, and it works well for me. I don't expect my Hornet to reach out past about 200 yards. I have other rifles for that. For walking around potting rabbits, hares, foxes, cats, and perhaps the odd pig, with little noise, recoil, or cost, I reckon there are few better.

Length is the deal. So, “dumpy” may be short enough, even with that weight, to work OK. Have not tried that one. May have to check it out.

DF

Dan,

There are all sorts of takes on the .22 Hornet, but I got really interested in it 20 years ago after shooting a friend's Ruger No. 1B .2i8 Bee, which because of the 26" barrel could easily drive 40-grain Ballistic Tips to 3200 fps. This turned the old round into a 250-300 yard varmint rifle, with so little recoil I could actually see the bullet hit through the scope through a pretty high-X scope. He was interested in selling it, but at the time .218 brass was very scarce, so I ordered a .22 Hornet 1B directly from Ruger, a standard offering at the time.

Discovered (as I suspected) that it was only about 100 fps behind the .218--and because of the higher BC of 40-grain Ballistic Tips the old Hornet (which many still consider a 200 cartridge at most) was easily a 250-300+ yard round. This was both because of the higher BC of the plastic-tipped bullet, but also because of Li'l Gun powder, which got 3000+ fps from the 26-inch barrel, with excellent accuracy. Essentially, both new bullets and powders turned the old Hornet into a .222 Remington (or at least what the .222 was when introduced, with 50-grain softpoints) but with even less recoil, and using half the powder for longer barrel life. Plus, the pressures were so much lower with Li'l Gun that the thin Hornet brass lasted almost indefinitely, which is not what I found with "traditional" .22 Hornet powders like 296 (which I am sure youl know is H110 with a different name). The longest shot I've made with the "modern" .22 Hornet was 427 yards, on a 2-pound prairie dog. However, that was on a pretty calm day.

In general I find it a 300-yard round with plastic-tipped 40's at 3000+ fps, whether the Ballistic Tip, V-Max or whatever. But if somebody wants to limit the .22 Hornet to its traditional ballistics with blunt bullets around 45-46 grains, why not? But those are the ballistics that almost killed it off when the .222 was first introduced, because the .222 was a definite 250-300 yard round.

Much of the reason the .22 Hornet has made a comeback is the improvements due to newer powders--which not only get more velocity, but extend case life, due to lower pressures.

The thing I enjoy most about the Hornet (and its attendant twist "handicaps"), is its ability to make cast loads run like your favorite jacketed bullets, with the same powder charges.

Another Hornet, K-Hornet link.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/10863792/1

DF

Lowest scope set up I've found for the 527 CZ. I used this rail (see link) and low Weavers. Need the low CZ bolt handle to make it work. Easy to swap out.

http://www.diproductsinc.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=1133585

DF

Had a .22 Hornet in a Savage mod 23 (pawn shop find) way back when rather young, and it shot lights out even with that side mount for the scope. Somehow or other I managed to get a small gouge in the chamber and it caused case ejection to become rough, then difficult. I tried to clean it up and the one-piece barrel/action setup defeated that. So, I figured out the way to clean it up would be to ream it out to K Hornet.

I wrote to Clymer (no e-mail in the early 60s) and asked them if they would make a K Hornet reamer with a long shank so I could go in through the action end. They wrote back - said it would be more costly than I would wish, but told me of a gunsmith customer who had one. I called him about the issue - he was nice to lend me the reamer - mailed it - went into Yuma to a small machine shop/gun guy and we make a K Hornet in about 15 minutes. Wish things would still work that way.

The K Hornet was just a bit more punchy than the original and still shot lights out. Local guys seemed enamored of that little rifle and eventually sold it for a lot more than I had in it. Went back to the same pawn shop and got a nice Win Model 54 in .22 Hornet. Haven't sold that one.

I rented a reamer and a T handle, opened Hornet to K-Hornet by hand. Did two chambers, CZ and T/C Contender. Fired cases will interchange, so they’re pretty close.

DF

I had a #1B in 22h. Accuracy was unacceptable.
Currently have two Anschutz 1730 in 22h. Both very accurate, 3/4” groups at 100 yd.
My load
Win brass
Fed sm pistol
13.2 lilgun, full case
Various 40 gr bullets, Berger mostly

I won a barrel in .22K Hornet that Fred smith of Bullberry made for himself and used it to shoot and win in the annual TCA tournament . My investment was $ 5 for a chance . When I got the barrel I was not the least bit thrilled , mostly due to my ignorance of what a beautiful super accurate little cartridge it is . I called Fred and asked him for some information and he gave me a few tips for reloading . I've stuck mostly with AA1680 and some 4227 , used up to 45 grain Sierras and as light as 32 grainers . The Hornets just makes bug holes . Now I'm thinking about a CZ 527 in Hornet and have it Ked right away . Or maybe a Ruger number 1 .
You are really going to enjoy the Hornet .
Soup