Forming K-Hornet brass problems

[Pyscodog]

My new Ruger 77/22 is now a K-Hornet and I've been fire forming some brass. All brass is new Winchester. My load was 10 grains of 296 and a 48 grain Winchester bullet. Old bullets but figure they will work to form brass. I had them seated to kiss the lands. Problem is, some are blowing the sides out. And actually splitting the side of the case above the rim. My smith thought it might have been a bad batch of brass, IDK! I talked to a reloading shop owner and he suggested PPU brass as it a little tougher and thicker. Also to try Lil Gun instead of the 296. He thought the 296 might be causing to much pressure. Well, I loaded 5 of the Winchester and 10 of the PPU with 13 grains of Lil Gun and a 45 grain Sierra for Hornets. The 5 Winchester made pretty little K-Hornet cases but now, I split the neck on 6 of the 10 PPU cases??? I annealed 10 more PPU cases and loaded 5 with 13 grains of LG and 5 with 12 grains. I'm hoping annealing the brass is the answer for the PPU brass as I hate throwing away once fired brass thats trashed. Any other suggestions?? Thanks

 

[rebeltex]

I think 12 grs of Lil Gun will be the ticket for fire forming , then work your way up in the k brass. My brass is mostly Win and I very rarely will split a case fireforming.

 

[chuckshooter]

this sounds about right for a k hornet, some people do OK and others not so much. I lost about 10% of my cases if I remember correctly. Be careful with little gun. same thing goes here, some have great results, others not so much. I ended up using 1680 and then I turned mine into a 20 ackley hornet and never looked back.

 

[Outrider27]

And, based on my experience with the K Hornet, I would not recommend seating out to touch the lands for fire forming. We always used mid level or slightly higher regular Hornet loads seated short of the lands and haven't lost any brass yet, but our initial voyage into fire forming for the K was simply to buy 100 factory hornet loads and shoot them in the K - no problems with that approach either. Just random thoughts that may help you. All factory Hornet loads fire formed were Winchester.

 

[Pyscodog]

I honestly think the first Win brass I loaded and had problems with was a pressure issue.When I backed the bullets away from the lands I didn't split cases. Not sure about the PPU brass yet. Thats another range trip.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

In my K-Hornet I just load up a normal working load for the Hornet and go shoot squirrels. Every case is WW, all cases eject perfectly formed, and I've never lost a single case to splitting. I also load short of touching the lands in this caliber, even with formed K-Hornet brass.

Seems the ticket here is to NOT touch the lands when fireforming to "K".

 

[Pyscodog]

Well annealing helped the PPU cases. Never lost any out of the 10 I annealed.

 

[Hippy]

In my experience with the K-Hornet the BEST way I have found to form it is with the "False Shoulder" . Using a 6mm die run the expander ball into the neck full length then size the brass with your hornet just enough to give it a "Crush" fit. Much the same way we size 6 Dasher brass.
I have done this with both Hornet and with 218 brass (Mashburn) and very seldom do I loose brass to split necks

Jim

 

[lefty222]

As Pyscodog said anneal the brass if it's new.

 

[lefty222]

l just fire formed 100 new Winchester and 100 PPU brass, l anneal all the brass, loaded whatever 22cal heads l had from 40g to 55g oddballs with 8.5g 2400 power CCI SPP l did not lose one piece of brass

 

[moorepower]

13 grains of Lil gun might be a bit warm for fire forming.

 

[kenacp]

10.5gr LG works for me.