.22 hornet or .22

Shadrach2986

Well-Known Member
Im looking for a varmint rifle, for a range of 150/200 yards for rabbits, foxes and corvids. Is for around the farm/farmhouse, anybody have any, and what would you recommend. I'm toying towards the hornet, for the cheap reloading and thinking it will prob be abit quieter?

Cheers Matt
 
The Hornet suits your spec. perfectly.
35g vmax travelling at around 3200fps giving about 729 ft/lbs is ideal for foxes.
Seldom if ever get an exit.
 
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Cheers for the replies, looks like it will be the hornet, what bullet weights would you recommend, do they make much mess of rabbits,
 
I have both .22lr and a hornet use the lr for close range ( up to 80 mt) and the hornet for longer range hornet will do a lot of damage so always go for head shots if you want the meat, if i just want to cut down the numbers anywhere on the body is a definate kill. Im looking for a mould for casting my own so it makes it cheaper
good luck
Ray
 
Been looking that way myself, had 222 in the past and got on well with it, but its a whole different
way of shooting compared to a rimfire
The HMR seems to have a certain cynergy with night shooting for rabbits. fairly cheap to run, and enough leggs for
those precise shots at 200 yds plus a bit.. The centre fires are better suited for a slower style long range snipeing situation
Drove round for an hour last night, fireded 18 shots, had 16 bunnies with HMR.dont think would have had more than half that with
222 what with small mags and saving brass and needing better backdrops
 
Are you well??

I almost fell off my chair when I saw this...

I guess I'm simply a carp Rifleman as I just do not see the .22 Hornet as an ideal bit of kit for "200 yard" vermin control.

Cartridge (Wb@MV)
Bullet BC
100 yds.
200 yds.
MRT@yds.
MPBR (yds.)
.22 Hornet (45 Sp at 2690)
.191
+1.5"
-2.5"
1.5"@100
188
222 Rem. (50 Sp at 3140)
.220
+1.4"
-0.4"
1.5"@118
222
You can of course argue that a calibre requiring the Operator to develop an enhanced appreciation of bullet trajectory over such a relatively short range will be all the better for the experience but I’m not sure that’s a call for us to make, hence suggesting the 222.

My Hornet is not for sale though!

K
 
That's the one problem with the excellent Hornet. If you need the rabbits to sell etc. it does make a mess of them, I find the 45grn soft points are not so devastating as the 35 V-Max.

Due to difficulties getting the usual Sierra 45 grns I have tried some Speer of the same weight. They seemed very good.
 
Been looking that way myself, had 222 in the past and got on well with it, but its a whole different
way of shooting compared to a rimfire
The HMR seems to have a certain cynergy with night shooting for rabbits. fairly cheap to run, and enough leggs for
those precise shots at 200 yds plus a bit.. The centre fires are better suited for a slower style long range snipeing situation
Drove round for an hour last night, fireded 18 shots, had 16 bunnies with HMR.dont think would have had more than half that with
222 what with small mags and saving brass and needing better backdrops

Joe, I just don't rate the mighty HMR, as I live on dartmoor, it just doesn't buck the wind very well, hence going for a c/f. My normal guns are .22lr for the rabbits and .243 for foxes, but they want me to be abit quieter around the farmhouse/barns so hence something smaller than the .243, for the foxes, and abit further range for the vermin.
 
.222 is the way to go if your looking at 150-200 yards, accurate easy to load for and has a certain charm that all the others lack, buy one and be happy.
 
Been looking that way myself, had 222 in the past and got on well with it, but its a whole different
way of shooting compared to a rimfire

The HMR seems to have a certain cynergy with night shooting for rabbits. fairly cheap to run, and enough leggs for
those precise shots at 200 yds plus a bit.. The centre fires are better suited for a slower style long range snipeing situation
Drove round for an hour last night, fireded 18 shots, had 16 bunnies with HMR. dont think would have had more than half that with
222 what with small mags and saving brass and needing better backdrops


not one for telling people how to shoot or picking holes in descriptions but.......... a novice reading this is potentially going to think they can get away with dodgy shots just because it is a rimfire

HMR, .22, WMR or hornet/.222 still require the same consideration especially at night. more so for the .22WMR/.22lr and HMR with 20gr loads

That said I would never consider a full case (.222/.17rem etc) CF as a dedicated rabbit gun
the .17hornet and .22hornet offer that little bit more than magnum RF without the issues of full case CF

personally for the OP I would say if the 200yd max range is required the hornet wouldnt be my first choice
I have a .222 and love it
also have a WMR which is somewhere between Hornet and .22lr
 
You need to decide your priorities as well as look at ammo/components availabilty and cost.
Hornet is fine out to 150 yards on foxes.
If foxing beyond that is important to you, go for .222 or .223.
Here's a Hornady ballistics chart download to give you an idea...

http://www.hornady.com/images/ballistics/ballistics_charts.pdf

I used to use a Hornet with 35g vmax. Flat shooting out to 150 yards with enough velocity and power to take foxes without a problem.
Then I wanted to go beyond the 150 so I went to a .223.
Was very fond of the Hornet though.
 
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