22 Hornet advise

[JEFFPPC]

I shot thousands of rounds of Hornet in the IMHSA game. 10 inch Contender, 12x Leupold. LeeCollet dies. No crimping. 100 yd groups usually .75. 55 gr bullets 2400 powder.

 

[tominboise]

I went out today and shot a couple groups out of my CZ527 - this was factory Nosler ammo. It was quite windy, so I feel pretty good about this one. My 10 shot group of Dogtown 34gr HP and 10gr 2400 was about 1-1/4"

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[nakneker]

Picked up the rifle on Friday. I’ll mount a scope on it today. I had some brass, ammo and a variety of bullets come in last week. I loaded 50 rounds on PPU brass, AA 1680, CCI 400 primers. I’m gonna start with the Speer 45 grain you see in the pictures first. The powder fill works well with that bullet seated to max length for the CZ Mag, as mentioned earlier in this thread by another forum member the CZ mag doesn’t allow for seating out very far. I shot two rounds of each load just to check pressure, both look to be good to go. I consulted four reloading manuals and max load varied a bit, I stayed pretty conservative.

As far as loading goes I pulled the expander ball out of my RCBS full length sizer and ran the new brass through it. Then I chamfered the case mouth a bit, then ran the brass through a 21st century mandrel die, mandrel size .222 to set neck tension. I wanted to avoid pulling the expander ball back through the case neck as thin as the brass is. I seated the Speer at max length to fit in the magazine, seated nicely, no issues. I’ll shoot those up and see what they do. I don’t think this rifle has been shot, I wanna get a few rounds down the barrels before doing much load development.

I’ll update this when I have more info.

 

[superlight93]

I have owned both K Hornets and Hornets. I kept the Hornets and sold the K's.

 

[Outrider27]

I have owned both K Hornets and Hornets. I kept the Hornets and sold the K's.

Just the opposite for me, lol. Found the K less temperamental in my particular rifle after re-chambering to K.

 

[Oz88]

@nakneker How did you go with your loads?
I have the same rifle and am struggling a bit to get good groups.
I have lil gun powder but am VERY limited to the availability of projectiles,
only tried 30gr Speer and 40gr sierra, can't find any other hornet pills.

 

[nakneker]

@nakneker How did you go with your loads?
I have the same rifle and am struggling a bit to get good groups.
I have lil gun powder but am VERY limited to the availability of projectiles,
only tried 30gr Speer and 40gr sierra, can't find any other hornet pills.

Sorry for the late reply. I’ve loaded one load so far. PPU brass, CCI 400 primers, 45 grain speer bullet and AA1680. I’m shooting near max, the accuracy has been really good. I went ahead and bought a bunch of those bullets because they shoot so well. I need to get on the LabRadar but so far it looks very promising.

 

[pappaw]

Try 2400 powder, works great

 

[nakneker]

Blue collar had about 30 boxes of Hornady 45 grain bullets, .224, been hard to find.

Hornady 22cal 45gr HP/BEE #2229

Product Information Caliber: 22cal Bullet Diameter: 0.224” Bullet Weight: 45 Grains OAL: 0.507" Bullet Style: Hollow Point Bee G1 BC: 0.108 Part Number: 2229 Quantity: 100

www.bluecollarreloading.com

 

[screaminweasil]

As mentioned before AA1680 is a great start.

I find Lil Gun exceptional. You'll be able to stuff around 12.8 to 13.0gr of Lil Gun in those PPU cases, you can get 14.0gr in Rem and around 13.5 in WW.

Small Pistol Primers,
Case Full of Lil gun
Also, it's worth the $25 to invest in a Lee Collet Neck Sizer in 22 Hornet. Nothing better for those thin case walls and creating concentric ammo. You NEVER need to FL size hornet. I've got over 15 reloads on a single case using the Lee Collet Neck sizer and Hodgdon Lil Gun.

Hornet/K hornet are my favorite rounds. Enjoy that little 527