22 hornet reloading

Hornet

Well-Known Member
Howdy chaps,I know some of you reload the .22 hornet so thought I would pick the brains of the more experienced amongst you, been reloading the hornet for a while now with very good results,im on about the tenth reload with the same brass 35gr vmax under 12.3grns of h110,ive noticed recently that my groups while still good are not quite as good as when i first started,and as im neck sizing wondered if this may be a factor, i noticed in a recent post muir said he fully resizes every few times,so should i follow suit for best results and get a full sizing die? as i said the groups are good but not quite as head scratchingly good as at first, im talking 6 rounds in a cloverleaf at 100yds,so could the worn brass be to blame or the fact that im purely neck sizing?ive got loads of brass fired once so maybe should use some new stuff and compare results,any advice would be much appreciated,finally of course it could be nothing to do with the ammo,just me being crap eh? many thanks guys

HORNET
 
You may have brass that is hardening from use. That 12.3 grain load of H-110 is a good load but hot... When I shot 33 grain V-Max over it I was getting 3260 fps. I backed the load down to 11.0 grains just to keep away from that ragged edge of high pressure. It still killed as well and for practical matters, shot as flat at 3050 fps.

I am vague on what i wrote last time but I do FL resize ocassionally. With the current lot of brass I'm running, and the load I'm shooting, it hasn't been necessary for the last 5 reloadings. I don't think the lack of FL resizing is hurting you. Your brass is probably shot.

For the heck of it I'll repeat my loading data:

I neck size, trim EVERY loading, flare the case mouth before seating the bullet, use 13.5 grains of Lil Gun over a small pistol primer, and then crimp after seating. This has become almost a "universal" load for the Hornet here in the US. It has proven to be low pressure, and darned accurate from many, many rifles.

I shoot a 34 grain "bulk" hollow point varmint bullet marketed by Midway. I shot 7 for 8 prairiedogs this past weekend with the farthest shot being just over 250 yards leaning out the window of my Jeep. Love my Hornet! ~Muir
 
thanks muir

Yep kinda backs up what i thought about the brass been at fault,thanks for the advice mate, 250 is an awesome shot with a hornet my best to date is grey squirrel at 204 yards, love the hornet too, must get round to trying sum lil gun cos everyone raves about it one guy even told me that you cant get enough lil gun into a hornet case to cause probs, will let you know how i get on with some new brass, cheers muir. regards HORNET.
 
I use Lil' Gun in my Hornet and it is true, you cannot get enough into a case to be dangerous. Somewhere around the 13, 13.1 grains of it gives me 2990 fps with Hornady 40 grain V -max.

With regard to Muir and his prairie dog shooting his Hornet is his long range dog gun. I know this because I have shot prairie dogs with him, and the way we do it is with rimfires. Now I know this is not the long range sniping that people usually associate with this kind of pest control, but it is good fun, and good for improving your accuracy. Not only that Muir has more rimfires than you could imagine really, he has them all from .17 up to 5mm. My all time favourite rimfire is the 22WMR, and when you are making 150 - 175 yard shots with one of those it is very satisfying. Mind you I have Ruger 10/22 that is breathtakingly accurate, all it has had done to it is the sear on the trigger has been stoned, it lives with the rest of Muir guns in Montana, unless he has sold it of course :eek: He left this morning to travel to his son's graduation and won't be back for a few days, get him started on prairie dogging and he wont's stop. :D

John
 
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