22 Hornet Brass

[K Workman]

I have a T/C Contender in 22 Hornet. My brass life is terrible. There are 2 problems. First is split necks and the other is loose primer pockets. I seldom get over 3 loadings per case. I load 4.0 g. Of BE with a 50 grain bullet. The load is accurate but brass life is short.
It may be headspace in the contender. Your thoughts?

 

[bozo699]

4.0 gr of BE? What is BE? I usually shot 10 or 11 grains of powder in my hornets with no issues other than I never found a accurate one.
Wayne

 

[Homerange]

4.0 gr of BE? What is BE? I usually shot 10 or 11 grains of powder in my hornets with no issues other than I never found a accurate one.
Wayne

In the short time I played with one I found the Hornady 45 gr HP BEE to give reasonable results.....well better than anything else I had at the time. Yeah they can be a finicky little pup.

 

[biggun2869]

I have an early Walther and a CZ in rifle, Use 10 grns of 2400 and a 34 grn Dogtown bullet with 6 1/2 Remington primer. I have used mag pistol primers. The primers make a giant difference. You are on the wrong track with Bullseye.

 

[bozo699]

I have an early Walther and a CZ in rifle, Use 10 grns of 2400 and a 34 grn Dogtown bullet with 6 1/2 Remington primer. I have used mag pistol primers. The primers make a giant difference. You are on the wrong track with Bullseye.

BE..... Bullseye!.... I’ve never been any good with acronyms!..... hate them!... yes 4.0 Grains of Bullseye is probably why your having pressure issues . In my inaccurate hornets I found the most accurate of the inaccurate was Accurate Arms 1680 and Alliant 2400 both will fill the case with powder.
Wayne

 

[Iowa Fox]

I have 3 factory TC barrels in the straight Hornet. A 10 -16 and a stainless 21. The 10 & 16 have nice chambers the 21" is sloppy.I've gone to the Lee collect neck sizer only 100% of the time for sizing. 4 gr of BE might be more than the thin little case can take on the primer pockets.

 

[slugflinger]

I agree with Iowa Fox, 4 grains may be a little much for a 50 grain bullet. I have for many years used Unique for reduced loads in my 10" Contender, usually around the 4 grain charge weight area, and usually with 45/46 grain bullets. The Lyman cast bullet handbook lists 3 to 4.6 grains of Unique with a 55 grain cast bullet, and Unique is a tick or two slower than Bullseye. I would back off at least .5 grain or so. I have also had neck splitting problems previously, but only with certain lots of Remington brand cases. What brand of cases have you been using? Also, I have wanted to try Bullseye for reduced loads, but could never find any published data.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

2400 seems to work best in my Hornet.. I use 40 grain Vmax's.

 

[bozo699]

How full is the case with 4.0 grains ofBullseye?
Wayne

 

[mike mccormick]

I use Lil'gun in my hornet with 40 gr dogtowns. Head shooting squirrels at 100-150 yrds. This is one cartridge that neck sizing is appropriate

 

[Lefty Trigger]

I would think Bullseye is just too fast for the Hornet back when I had one I used Win 296 or Accurate 1680. Weak brass was why I gave it up, super thin and seems soft.

 

[biggun2869]

I've tried lil'gun and that's what i'd go to for max velocity. Incedently the CZ shoots better that the Walther

 

[bozo699]

I've tried lil'gun and that's what i'd go to for max velocity. Incedently the CZ shoots better that the Walther

well a Mossberg 16 guage is more accurate than either one of my 77 rugers
Wayne

 

[Herman48]

I use in my Browning A-Bolt Microhunter .22 Hornet reloads 10 grains of 2400 behind a 45 grain bullet. Before this load I tried several others, and the results were discouraging, to say the least. No matter the load, included the one I described above, at 50 yards the "groups" looked like a load of BB's shot out of a cylinder-choked 12 gauge: all over the paper. I was about to try to find a sucker who would take this POS of a rifle off my hands, for half the price I'd paid, but before doing so I began to examine the gun very carefully, and I finally realized that it has a very long leade. The jump the bullet had to make to engage the rifling was too long and the bullet never engaged it straight or at the same angle. Naturally it would then fly out of the barrel yawing, or spinning erratically like a top at the end of its spin. I tried the above load, but I seated the bullet way out, so that it would almost touch the beginning of the rifling. Fortunately there is enough space in the magazine for cartridges whose COL is off the chart for this caliber. The result was fabulous: five shots in the same hole at 50 yards, and at 100 yards one-inch groups. So those of you who think your Hornet is not precise, check its leade. It may well be the cause of its lack of accuracy. Neck-sizing only also helps--if you are reloading for only the rifle in which you shot the original load--and the cases last longer.

 

[zap]

Lil gun, and H110 are good choices, and i believe i used pistol primers also if i remember right.i was using 35 gr vmax bullets.

 

[Treerat-sniper]

I've settled on H110, I use a stiff load with 35 gr V-maxes & a mild load with 46 gr bee bullets. The 46 gr bee bullets are an excellent coon load, replicating a .22 mag.

 

[Bojo]

I use h110 and a 40 grain Sierra "hornet" in a model 43. I have not loaded for it in about 8 yrs. Haven't shot it in a few years until last fall. Started splitting necks right away...
Give the loads a slight bump in the seater press as it seam with the 22 Hornet that the longer it sits loaded the stickier the Bullet is to the brass.

 

[bozo699]

I use h110 and a 40 grain Sierra "hornet" in a model 43. I have not loaded for it in about 8 yrs. Haven't shot it in a few years until last fall. Started splitting necks right away...
Give the loads a slight bump in the seater press as it seam with the 22 Hornet that the longer it sits loaded the stickier the Bullet is to the brass.

I think all ammo is that way “clickers” or cold welding but with the thin necks of the hornet it probably is more than it can take.
Wayne

 

[OzKHornet]

I have a T/C Contender in 22 Hornet. My brass life is terrible. There are 2 problems. First is split necks and the other is loose primer pockets. I seldom get over 3 loadings per case. I load 4.0 g. Of BE with a 50 grain bullet. The load is accurate but brass life is short.
It may be headspace in the contender. Your thoughts?

Howdy guys.
have a Sako M78 rifle in K Hornet. Most of the forum discussion is re standard Hornet, the K can hold 1/1.5 grn more powder. There is much discussion re "inaccuracy" (and case life) of the Hornet family. I have some observations, findings which may improve the accuracy of your rifle/s. The Sako M78 is factory, based on rimfire action, no front lock up, only few mm engagement bolt into chamber/receiver. Look at ADI powder website, Australian powder maker, (producer H, IMR and others) you will see two targets of mine shot with the rifle at 100m posted on the ADI site. Four shot clover leafs, one 0.19 MOA, the other 0.2 MOA. these are centre to centre measurement, one raggedy hole (two raggedy holes).
The following may not work in you firearm, however after many hundreds of rounds with varying changes, these are the results. Not interested in speed, way more interested in accuracy, no accuracy without control!
Moved from Winchester brass to S&B, (fireform from standard Hornet to K). The 1.5mm flash hole seems to be a key, same load with Win. to SB, groups "much" improved (Win case 51 grn, 2mm FH, SB 55 grn, 1.5mm FH), slight change in internal capacity, therefore pressure, may have some bearing too.
Annealing cases for K forming or standard, to set headspace also seems to be beneficial. Fully prepped cases, annealed, trimmed, flash hole de burr and chamfer etc. Small pistol primers also appear to be a trick, have used many, SRP's; Win., CCI, Fed, Magnum, way best accuracy achieved with S&B SP Primers. Have tried many projectiles, 35/40 grn; Hornady, Berger, Sierra, Nosler etc. Far and away the best, Hornady 40grn Z/V Max.
Seating the projectiles 'long', I am something more than 2mm over magazine length, about 0.005" short of lands. Neck size only; 2.5/3mm down from case mouth only.
Using ADI 2205 (check charts for equivalents, H, IMR) 11.3 grn. (This load may not suit your firearm/s, start 10% or more below and work up, looking for signs of over pressure etc.). Hornady 40 grn Z/V Max (OH Hornady bring back the Z Max, price point sensational). S&B Small pistol primer. S&B 22 Hornet case, fully prepped and FF, and leave the small flash hole alone! other than clean up.
I am achieving several reloads per case with the technique, Hornet brass is very thin, as we know. Annealing appears to be a benefit, (strip, anneal reload new factory load ammunition too), (only anneal if you know the correct procedure). Neck sizing only the first couple or three mm of the neck seems to help too.

 

[PigButtons]

I have four 22 K Hornets, 2 Contenders, an Encore, and a converted BSA Martini Cadet. All of them will shoot sub MOA. ( After months of chasing after a suitable load for some. )

By far the best bullet is the Nosler 40 gr ballistic tip varmint, but the rifles will shoot dogtown 34gr, and 55gr nearly as well. The Martini Cadet bullets have to be sized to .223 because the barrel used for the conversion was from back when that was the standard for Hornets and over pressure was a problem at first.

I have more than 12 loadings on PRVI brass that was annealed when new and then never again. I only neck size and the brass is kept rifle specific. The cases are lightly oiled for fire forming and a light load of 5.5 gr is used. The down side is that even with all of the prep and care taken about 10% of the cases split during fire forming.

I use Lil'Gun and each rifle has it's own tastes in charge weight and it wasn't easy to get it dialed in since 0.1 gr windows are the norm and 0.3 gr max window for the Encore. They range from 8.3gr to 11.7gr. I use Puff-lon for any load under 11 gr otherwise velocities are erratic and accuracy is nil.

Remington 6 1/2 primers are best with Federal SPP being next.

Key to accuracy in my opinion was when I changed over to a Wilson inline seating die. Before that, because of the thin brass, it was hard to get the bullets seated concentrically enough.