.22 hornet for bunnies

[pigeonroost]

I considered a hornet for some time , a few pals have them. If I could find a clean one ,as there quite rare I trade the 17hmr no doubt, the 17hmr is fussy on ammo, ammo is over priced & poor quality , for the weight it useless, deflecting in the longer grass, making it unpredictable in accuracy within 2" head shot, I would not attempt to take a fox with it either over 75 yard .. The hornet has the punch with the 35-45gr heads.

Edited May 24, 2016 by pigeonroost

[Dekers]

I considered a hornet for some time , a few pals have them. If I could find a clean one ,as there quite rare I trade the 17hmr no doubt, the 17hmr is fussy on ammo, ammo is over priced & poor quality , for the weight it useless, deflecting in the longer grass, making it unpredictable in accuracy within 2" head shot, I would not attempt to take a fox with it either over 75 yard .. The hornet has the punch with the 35-45gr heads.

 

Well, they may well be your findings, but they are not mine.

 

I have never found it ammo fussy, it isn't useless, and it IS accurate. I have never considered the ammo particularly overpriced, but it certainly has its issues. If you find the ammo deflects in longer grass then don't shoot through grass! As regards distance you are happy to take fox, then that's up to you!

 

That's my opinion.

 

[kent]

Hornet is fine for fox if you can make the shot - energy is not the issue it's got plenty enough out to 200 yards for head or chest shots

It's fine for bunnies shot them as close as a few feet to over 200 yards ( I don't chest shoot bunnies by intention) Hit just a few in the chest and lower neck and they were OK to eat but anyplace further back and they are fox bait

It's a great rifle for hares

It's at its best reloaded - far and away

Avoid 35 v max ballistics are pants

I use 40 and 45 grain bullets little gun powder rws brass

Rws 46 grain factory are very accurate if a tad slow but are good for the brass is as good as it gets for future reloads

[Alycidon]

What about .22 Ackley improved? Been pondering this round for a while as an alternative to .22 hornet. Would need to handload though.

What about .22 Ackley improved? Been pondering this round for a while as an alternative to .22 hornet. Would need to handload though.

 

 

Hard/impossible to get to feed from a magazine. I have a 17AH, have to load rounds single and push forward into chamber past the shoulder to prevent the round jamming on the shoulder. Suspect a 22K Hornet might be better.

 

Using a Hornet against a fox may up the need for a fast follow up, I would stay at the standard 22Hornet, this is a vastly more capable round the 17HMR.

 

A

[owain]

I've got a ruger .22 hornet. It doesn't get out of the cabinet as often as it should as I usually take the .243.

However I had it out last night as I was looking for foxes but wanted a couple of rabbits for the pot aswell. It really is a brilliant little round, no foxes but 3 bunnies. Two head shots and a neck shot, pinpoint accurate and lovely to shoot.

I use 35gr v-max over h110 and highly recommend it.

[Zetter]

Cheers all for the input as long as I get the gorund cleared its definately a serious contender now althought it will be interesting to check out Colin's .222 thanks to his kind offer.

[spandit]

Because the .223 is such a popular calibre in the USA, there's more reloading data available for it than some other calibres. Also many more rifles to choose from and if you need factory ammo, every RFD will stock it