.22 hornet

[Amazed]

Evening all.

I have just put in for a veriation for the hornet and am thinking the best place to start is what makes this round viable to me, reloading. Where do I start what do I need. Am not minted by any imagination so a simple set up would serfice low on cost but usable on a weekly basis.

I am not looking to take the balls off a nat at 300 yards. long range bunnys mostly to say 200 yards and a fox or two if they get out of hand numbers wise. Thank you,

Karl.

[Graham M]

Ooooooh, reloading for a hornet can be like trying to please yer wife......

….you have to get it just right or it may not work properly.

 

Try some PPU to play with and sight it in and then keep the cases, which you will have to be careful with because too much force when re-sizing can crush them. Then I use Lil'Gun powder and 35grn bullets which do give a high MV with a very low chamber pressure.

 

Nice round to shoot.

G.M.

[bedwards1966]

Firstly, if you can get it at a reasonable price nearby, you could try Privi Partizan ammo. Many people find it accurate in their gun, and the costs work out about the same as reloading - but without the hassle.

 

If you go down the reloading route, you need:

A set of scales (a simple beam scale is fine).

A press, and the dies for it.

 

Lee equipment is cheap, some hate it but I would think that for a .22 hornet you should not be able to break it. Possibly a good choice for you.

 

There are other things you can buy, such as a powder thrower, primer pocket cleaners, ultrasonic cleaners, multistage presses and so on. The more you spend the quicker and easier it all becomes, it's down to how much your willing to spend, and how much your making. It's easy to spend a lot of money on loads of equipment, then start trying to get a more accurate load, and by doing so remove any cost savings you might have been hoping for.

 

Then just buy the powder, primers and cases, and start playing. PPU cases are meant to be good to reload, and cheap.

[nicholiath]

Neck size your brass. small pistol primers. lilgun powder. 35gn v max bullet slight crimp . job done!

[Tin Man Work]

As above - neck size only when fired in the same gun, small pistol primers, Lil'Gun or H110, definitely Hornet 35gn V-Max with a factory crimp for spot on consistency and tight groups.

 

Don't worry about all the talk about the Hornet being a thin walled collapsing reload, get everything set up right, lube your cases and dies, take your time, be consistent and you'll have no problems. I am running on Remmy brass at the moment but have got some new Priv' Partisan brass which looks much better quality than the present stuff.

 

I shot a Walther KKJ Hornet and with the 35gn VMax head the bullet length is standard factory, no messing about with over length reloads and altered magazines for me - the Walther groups better with the lighter bullet; I tried heavier factory ammo which was OK, but never as tight as the stuff I'm making at home.

 

Cheers

Edited July 29, 2012 by Tin Man Work

[Amazed]

Thank you very much for your input everyone I have been pricing up ammo and federal come in at 47. 50 for 50 and ppu come in at about 36-40 for 100. If the ppu shoot ok I will run a few boxes of them untill I am ready to re load my own thanks again,

Karl.

[steyrman]

ppu ammo £24 for 50 mine loves them

[kent]

My CZ hates 35 grn v-max, shoots them well at 50-75 yrds, useable to just past 100 then they get real bad. 40-45 grn it likes

 

I dont think a press and std dies is the way to go with the hornet. although i load other guns this way, hornet brass is very much smaller and weaker (also lacking a shoulder to headspace on). Its counter productive to use such heavy duty gear - NO QUESTION IN MY MIND I use LE wilson neck sizing bushing hand die (sizing to give 2- 3 thou. grip)Good quality brass (RWS) and an LE WILSON chamber type bullet seater. Consentric bullet seating is paramount to getting the best out of the Hornet. These dies can be operated bewteen your knees or with a small plasic mallet (which i often do) or if you wish an Arbour type press (this gives great feel without undue force).

 

Lil gun is the powder of choice as it produces the lowest pressure for given velocity and i can push a 45 grn bullet at a consistant 2900 fps. Primer choice is paramount to SD in my own testings i so far preffer small pistol primers (though others find small rifle works better) brand and match to your gun and load is the important factor. Low pressure= longer case life, high pressure= split brass, sticking cases and less life out of your cases.

 

dont judge bullets totally on muzzle speed and 100yds testing though. At 225 yds my CZ is well capable of grouping at 1" with consecutive groups with std 46 grn RWS TMS factory ammo which produces only 2550 fps (35 v-max does 3050) but isn't even worth aiming at 225 and has windages not much better than the HMR at 100yds

[Underdog]

I lament not having a Hornet any more :(

 

It is very versatile, I use to load it with H322 and get something like 22wmr vels with a S&B semi spitch full patch 45grn bullet. great for harvesting rabbits on a windy night. Cheap 55gr fmj loaded on slower powders come out very slow but don't mess rabbits up much. Some cast bullets I came across once poped out lovely on some shotgun powder, blue dot. Like a 22hv sort of performance.

 

I use to load 50gr bullets that were brill beyond 150yds. A 1958 BSA I had with 1-16" twist did not like above 45gr bullets though.

 

RWS brass lasts nearly forever.

 

I used Lee equipment and agree that a more accurate bullet seater would be better for Hornet but I did ok all the same.

 

My old powders of choice were H110, A2400 and H4227.(Old stock can sometimes be found quite cheap!)BL-C2,H4895,H322 and shotgun powders can be utilised for special loads.

 

If big brother told me I could only have a Hornet from now on I personaly would not mind, I would not like being told etc but I love Hornet. It will do more than the figures on paper may make one believe

 

U

[JonathanL]

I dont think a press and std dies is the way to go with the hornet. although i load other guns this way, hornet brass is very much smaller and weaker (also lacking a shoulder to headspace on).

 

The .22 Horent round isn't even designed to head-space on the shoulder (it head-spaces on the rim) so where's the problem?

 

Its counter productive to use such heavy duty gear - NO QUESTION IN MY MIND

 

How do you define 'heavy duty' gear and why does using such make it counter-productive?

 

J.

[kent]

The .22 Horent round isn't even designed to head-space on the shoulder (it head-spaces on the rim) so where's the problem?

 

 

 

How do you define 'heavy duty' gear and why does using such make it counter-productive?

 

J.

 

Your just missing the point, you dont need to size the shoulder as it aint got one! i am well aware it dont headspace on a shoulder. Full length re-sizing on some big cases needs some leverage hence big heavy duty presses. You would struggle handling big magnum cases with hand dies and vice versa with the diminutive skinny walled hornet case

The downsides of this type of press are many on this tiny case but the most important one is you have no feel of the process (errors or differences cannot be detected through the handle)

 

Hope this clears up your confusion