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22 hornet reloading


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Just part exchanged my 17hmr for a Anschutz .22 hornet, lovely roll over monte carlo stock, bit light in colour for my liking and a bit of dink history so have the woodwork covered in nitromors right now for a revamp. Barrel is being shortened to 18 inches, can't have barrel and action yet anyhow as no doupt it will take firearms a few weeks to sort out the one for one variation. Decided to go with Hogdons H110 and small pistol primers but a bit undecided on bullets, all the ones advertised for hornet seem to be more of a round head soft point type. I really want to use ballistic tips and what dia, 223 or 224 or does such a small difference in diameter matter? Been reloading for a long time now with 243 and 308 and have always wanted a hornet but I have heard it can be a little more difficult so any advice welcome, found from experience that welcome advice can save a lot of time and money.

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Just part exchanged my 17hmr for a Anschutz .22 hornet, lovely roll over monte carlo stock, bit light in colour for my liking and a bit of dink history so have the woodwork covered in nitromors right now for a revamp. Barrel is being shortened to 18 inches, can't have barrel and action yet anyhow as no doupt it will take firearms a few weeks to sort out the one for one variation. Decided to go with Hogdons H110 and small pistol primers but a bit undecided on bullets, all the ones advertised for hornet seem to be more of a round head soft point type. I really want to use ballistic tips and what dia, 223 or 224 or does such a small difference in diameter matter? Been reloading for a long time now with 243 and 308 and have always wanted a hornet but I have heard it can be a little more difficult so any advice welcome, found from experience that welcome advice can save a lot of time and money.

I found that a 35g Vmax with 11.9 grains of H110 work like a charm in my hornet,deadly accurate and always dropped fox's stone cold dead

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A look at Hodgdons reloading data reflects that below 40 grs (35 V Max is the obvious {although I don't rate its down-range accuracy} one), H110 is the way to go. 40 and above, Lil' Gun comes into its own.

 

+1 with UD re recognised Hornet bullets - Speer Spitzer, Hornady Hornet and Sierra Soft Point (1310), all 45 grs and very good and with the latter two, the BC is approx' twice the BC of the 35 V Max. My oppo has the same rifle which I think you'll find is a 1:16 twist (TR) and you may just struggle with mag length problems with a 40, 40+ BT. Also just be aware (can't be more definite than that) that with the TR, bullet stabilisation with BTs could be a consideration because of their length. Should you try them - Nosler and V Max both at 40 are the obvious two and if all is well, the theory has it that you might also be OK with the Hornady 50gr SPSX which is shorter. This just has to be THE Hornet fox bullet but again you could have mag length problems.

 

Good luck and enjoy.

Edited by wymberley
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Found some 40gr sierra blitzkings to start experimenting with, everyone seems to prefer small pistol primers, is there a reason. As for powder, swung to viht n110, its virtually the same burn rate as H110 and I have a stockist just a few minutes down the road ( plus its over £20 a kilo cheaper). What I can gather then that BT's may have length issues in regard to mag and feeding, must say I'm looking forward to experimenting again, haven't work up new loads in the 243 and 308 for over five years according to my data book, the loads I have are just so damned consistent and reliable and so far I have never had a accuracy change with different batches.

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I never fully understood the pistol primer thing myself and just used rifle primers.

I seem to recalled pistol are softer than rifle, needing less of a percussion. Not sure.

 

I used Sierra 40grn trad types in my last Hornet and they were very good.

 

Have fun.

Edited by Underdog
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I never fully understood the pistol primer thing myself and just used rifle primers.

I seem to recalled pistol are softer than rifle, needing less of a percussion. Not sure.

 

I used Sierra 40grn trad types in my last Hornet and they were very good.

 

Have fun.

 

Is that traditional hornet shaped sierra's ?

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Found some 40gr sierra blitzkings to start experimenting with, everyone seems to prefer small pistol primers, is there a reason. As for powder, swung to viht n110, its virtually the same burn rate as H110 and I have a stockist just a few minutes down the road ( plus its over £20 a kilo cheaper). What I can gather then that BT's may have length issues in regard to mag and feeding, must say I'm looking forward to experimenting again, haven't work up new loads in the 243 and 308 for over five years according to my data book, the loads I have are just so damned consistent and reliable and so far I have never had a accuracy change with different batches.

I used n110 it's a bit twitchy with srp but pistol seem better, the only issue is that it's a very low load density.

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I used n110 it's a bit twitchy with srp but pistol seem better, the only issue is that it's a very low load density.

Maybe the load density was the reason for being twitchy, from all the reviews on h110 maybe I will go with that.

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H110 is a spherical powder and there is a limit to how much one can come down from a max charge. Compared to extruded it can not come as low in charge weights.IIRC h110 can not be lowered more than 6% from a listed max charge.

 

It is because it is a little more difficult to light up and the fuller the case with that powder the better it ignites.

 

If any one wants to reduce loads a lot as a general rule, avoid spherical powders.

 

Most spherical powders also require magnum or recognised hot primers. This is not usually decided by pistol or the rifle type!

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Found some 40gr sierra blitzkings to start experimenting with, everyone seems to prefer small pistol primers, is there a reason. As for powder, swung to viht n110, its virtually the same burn rate as H110 and I have a stockist just a few minutes down the road ( plus its over £20 a kilo cheaper). What I can gather then that BT's may have length issues in regard to mag and feeding, must say I'm looking forward to experimenting again, haven't work up new loads in the 243 and 308 for over five years according to my data book, the loads I have are just so damned consistent and reliable and so far I have never had a accuracy change with different batches.

 

Its the small rifle primer upsetting the bullet before the powder has its full chance. Be aware though pistol primers are for pistols and should be used with great care as the cups are thinner for lower pressures. LilGun produces way less pressure for velocity than 110 that why many use it exclusively. I use small pistol and LilGun but I am cautious about recommending pistol primers in what is a rifle shell especially with higher pressure producing loads like 110

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And you will be roughly half the pressure of a H110 load of equal velocity

 

So for a 40gr bullet upward I'd best stick to small rifle primers and lilgun, thanks for all this valuable information. Apart from all the bitchin ( which I have been equally guilty of fuelling in the past :rolleyes: ) this info is valuable to gain a start safe point.

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So for a 40gr bullet upward I'd best stick to small rifle primers and lilgun, thanks for all this valuable information. Apart from all the bitchin ( which I have been equally guilty of fuelling in the past :rolleyes: ) this info is valuable to gain a start safe point.

Got it in one. When working the load up, don't be too surprised if somewhere around about 12.5gr+ - it is impossible to be precise - you find that there is no appreciable gain in velocity but accuracy starts to fail. Simply as an example, for me with 45gr I hit the sweet spot at 12.8 and with 50 it's 12.6.

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Got it in one. When working the load up, don't be too surprised if somewhere around about 12.5gr+ - it is impossible to be precise - you find that there is no appreciable gain in velocity but accuracy starts to fail. Simply as an example, for me with 45gr I hit the sweet spot at 12.8 and with 50 it's 12.6.

I use 12.5grn of Lilgun with a 45gr bullet. It seems to be fine in my rifle.

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My findings (over a chrono) are the hornet with lilgun can throw freaky top range velocity now and again even with very modest loads. You might get 4 pop out the end round about 2400 with one steaming along at 2700-2800. Never got to the bottom of it all I know is once the fill gets to a certain level were you might expect 2800 and this goes and primer choice matters

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