22 Hornet / K Hornet with SP3

[Bernie]

Hi all,

Has anyone run loads in any of the 22 hornets with SP3? I have a bunch of it and I’m looking for some experience to get a starting point. The factory data seems a lot lower than the one load I have seen posted from experience in an old thread.

Based on the burn rate and the comparisons I’ve made in 410, I think it’s a solid powder choice for the Hornet cartridge.

I’m shooting a Ruger M77 22 K Hornet.

Thanks for any experiences.

 

[Smellydog]

Loads of hornet data for sp3 on their website.

 

[Bo Diddley]

Looks like a frugal powder
Starting charges in the 5 & 6-grain range
Max charge in the 9 & 10 range for 40 grain heads

 

[Bernie]

Looks like a frugal powder
Starting charges in the 5 & 6-grain range
Max charge in the 9 & 10 range for 40 grain heads

So a lad on here with a decent amount of hornet info, on the surface posted 12.5 grains with a 40gn sierra blitz king. Plus the shotshell loading I’ve done with it has it slower than LilGun with similar charges. I’ll just start with the factory data and work up like always.

 

[Bo Diddley]

So a lad on here with a decent amount of hornet info, on the surface posted 12.5 grains with a 40gn sierra blitz king. Plus the shotshell loading I’ve done with it has it slower than LilGun with similar charges. I’ll just start with the factory data and work up like always.

12.9 grains of SP3 would scare the $hite out of me looking at Vectans data.
I use 12.9 of Lil'gun, that's about as much as I can get into a Winchester case comfortably.
I also use H110 sometimes, that's also frugal.
Start low and be safe.

 

[Blobby159]

So a lad on here with a decent amount of hornet info, on the surface posted 12.5 grains with a 40gn sierra blitz king. Plus the shotshell loading I’ve done with it has it slower than LilGun with similar charges. I’ll just start with the factory data and work up like always.

Hi Bernie. That “Lad on here” using 12.5gr of Vectan SP3 in a K-Hornet formed case under a 40gr Sierra BlitzKing projectile was me my friend! Ha! It is a really accurate reload in my rifle abs gives me approx 3,050fps but it is a load I worked up myself and case life is generally really short two maybe three reloads.

After that they get a noticeable bright ring around the circumference of the case body and I can feel a weak point there if I run a small, opened up paper clip that has a bent tip on it up & down inside of cases with this marking. It is a sign of incipient case-head separation - SO BE WARNED!!

When .22 Hornet cases from good manufacturers (Winchester, Remington etc) were in good supply I didn’t mind this short case life, but now it is difficult to find ANY Hornet brass, this load of mine (good fox & rabbit taker) is too destructive of these already terribly thin bodied cases. I have changed my load to 13.0->13.5gr Hodgson’s Lil’gun. That’s a FULL caseload and requires a bit of careful case tapping (I now use a battery powered toothbrush) to settle the flat grains of that powder down into the tiny cases. A fiddle, but helps give sufficient neck depth for seating those wee bullets to close to the shoulder of the ogive and the shank so the reloads cycle through my sturdy Anschutz 1700 magazines. I have attacked the front end of my two magazines with small, fine files so they can carry the loaded rounds I produce which was a necessity way back when I worked up that original SP3 load!

Hope these ramblings help some Bernie. Come back and tell me how you do please….

Kind Regards,
Steve.

 

[Bernie]

Hi Bernie. That “Lad on here” using 12.5gr of Vectan SP3 in a K-Hornet formed case under a 40gr Sierra BlitzKing projectile was me my friend! Ha! It is a really accurate reload in my rifle abs gives me approx 3,050fps but it is a load I worked up myself and case life is generally really short two maybe three reloads.

After that they get a noticeable bright ring around the circumference of the case body and I can feel a weak point there if I run a small, opened up paper clip that has a bent tip on it up & down inside of cases with this marking. It is a sign of incipient case-head separation - SO BE WARNED!!

When .22 Hornet cases from good manufacturers (Winchester, Remington etc) were in good supply I didn’t mind this short case life, but now it is difficult to find ANY Hornet brass, this load of mine (good fox & rabbit taker) is too destructive of these already terribly thin bodied cases. I have changed my load to 13.0->13.5gr Hodgson’s Lil’gun. That’s a FULL caseload and requires a bit of careful case tapping (I now use a battery powered toothbrush) to settle the flat grains of that powder down into the tiny cases. A fiddle, but helps give sufficient neck depth for seating those wee bullets to close to the shoulder of the ogive and the shank so the reloads cycle through my sturdy Anschutz 1700 magazines. I have attacked the front end of my two magazines with small, fine files so they can carry the loaded rounds I produce which was a necessity way back when I worked up that original SP3 load!

Hope these ramblings help some Bernie. Come back and tell me how you do please….

Kind Regards,
Steve.

Thanks for coming back Steve. I have a decent amount of D037.2, LilGun, H110 and N110. I have a bucket lid of SP3 but I also load for 410 shotgun so that’s where that’ll have to sit for now. I ran some SP3 loads under 35gn NTX and would have needed to get towards your 12pms or so to get the speed where it needed to be.

Thanks again

B