I fell in love with the 22 K Hornet, but until today it didn't love me back. I tried load recipes from all quarters and nothing did all that well. The best I had found was 10.9 of LilGun with a 50gr Spire Point BT that was about MOA at 50 yards.
While trying to put 34 gr flat bottom bullets into PRVI annealed cases I noticed just how off center the points were ( I'm using a Forster CoAxial press with micrometer RCBS bullet seating die). Closer examination of the case necks showed a bulge where the base of the bullet was offset to the opposite side from the point. The case walls are so thin that even BT bullets were canting in the necks. That can't be good for accuracy and it made chambering a round difficult because of the tight neck size in my Encore Bullberry match chamber.
So I spent two days on my antique Craftsman mini-lathe making a concentric bullet starter out of a 1" stainless steal rod and some brass bar stock. The neck of the case is held square and the bullet is dropped in from the top and then seated with the brass centering pilot and a small mallet.
Before the tool: .006 to .008 runout at the tip.
After the tool: .001 or less runout at the tip.
Before the tool: MOA at 50 yards but most much worse.
After the tool: 1/2 MOA at 50 yards and a bunch more loads look promising.
I had never run into this with .223, 22-250, or larger calibers, I think due to the thicker, stronger case walls.
Anyway, it feels good to know that I've turned the corner and hoping to get some great coyote loads to do some pesting, as they've started coming much closer to the inhabited portion of my land.
While trying to put 34 gr flat bottom bullets into PRVI annealed cases I noticed just how off center the points were ( I'm using a Forster CoAxial press with micrometer RCBS bullet seating die). Closer examination of the case necks showed a bulge where the base of the bullet was offset to the opposite side from the point. The case walls are so thin that even BT bullets were canting in the necks. That can't be good for accuracy and it made chambering a round difficult because of the tight neck size in my Encore Bullberry match chamber.
So I spent two days on my antique Craftsman mini-lathe making a concentric bullet starter out of a 1" stainless steal rod and some brass bar stock. The neck of the case is held square and the bullet is dropped in from the top and then seated with the brass centering pilot and a small mallet.
Before the tool: .006 to .008 runout at the tip.
After the tool: .001 or less runout at the tip.
Before the tool: MOA at 50 yards but most much worse.
After the tool: 1/2 MOA at 50 yards and a bunch more loads look promising.
I had never run into this with .223, 22-250, or larger calibers, I think due to the thicker, stronger case walls.
Anyway, it feels good to know that I've turned the corner and hoping to get some great coyote loads to do some pesting, as they've started coming much closer to the inhabited portion of my land.
