.22 Hornet

[Bowland blades]

How many?

between a sh** Tonne and a 'kin great amount . Happy to see if the government go the easy / cheap way of just saying no sales of lead bullets of a " hunting spec " or lead only to Target shooters who have authorised clear up on the range . That seems perfectly logical , however when has a government acted logical in these matters in the past ?
On Reach powders though they have stuffed the RFDs who cannot sell it from stock they have now .

 

[jfr_1991]

That wasn’t something I hadn’t considered actually, if lead is banned, will the .22 hornet be rendered useless or are there certain non lead loads that would work in a 1:16 barrel?

 

[Ratel]

What can I say that I've not said before. If only I could use it on .....
Probably be buried with me, certainly last to go.

 

[Bo Diddley]

.22 Hornet lovers all seem to be stockpiling their favorite bullets if they reload. I have about 3000 I suppose that shoot well out of mine.

 

[Bowland blades]

That wasn’t something I hadn’t considered actually, if lead is banned, will the .22 hornet be rendered useless or are there certain non lead loads that would work in a 1:16 barrel?

They might but its bullet length not weight so they need to be short and hence light , the BC ( though not great on the std hornet) is going to be terrible ( same issue they are having with the .22 lr ) which BTW is pretty much the same twist
If it comes to it a new barrel will be a bit more than i paid for the rifle new about 16 years back ? Action isnt any use for anything like a 222 up as the CZ was built with a hornet size action
RWS do a none toxic Hornet round but they dont sell the bullets for reloaders . They are too expensive to shoot on pests by far ! The logical solution is really to do some reduced 223 loads or just maybe re- barrel in 17 hornet ( IF we have access to some of the none toxic 17 hornet loadable ammo and a re- barrel ) just because of the fact hornet velocities can be replicated in the 223 or 222 if you have one at minor extra cost and these will also need to have a compatible twist for any .22 none toxic. 1-12 should suffice with the shot stuff .

 

[liongeorge]

Anything that old shoot it first to see how it groups or only take on sale or return. There's a fair chance they'll be in the barn door department.

 

[Bowland blades]

.22 Hornet lovers all seem to be stockpiling their favorite bullets if they reload. I have about 3000 I suppose that shoot well out of mine.

If we can use what we have post ban , Sale of i am fine but we dont know how the law will be written . I hope they learned from the pistol ban ( when a few folks certainly sold the goverment sand powder under a cast bullet )

 

[lincolnjefferies]

I had a mint condition pre war Winchester Model 70 Hornet, it was an exquisitely crafted rifle from superior materials and very accurate. It was a pleasure to shoot and own. But to be honest the CZ527 American that replaced it, did everything the 70 did, without constantly having to worry about getting it wet or scratching it. Plus it is a lot lighter for field use and there is no guilt at desecrating an historic rifle by threading it for a mod. Is the Winchester already drilled and tapped, as I remember they are factory drilled for an aperture sight.

 

[stevec]

Has anyone tried the Peregrine or Barnes Varmint Grenade 22 Hornet?

 

[Bo Diddley]

If we can use what we have post ban , Sale of i am fine but we dont know how the law will be written . I hope they learned from the pistol ban ( when a few folks certainly sold the goverment sand powder under a cast bullet )

I think I will be inclined to carry on regardless of what we may or not be told in the future....

 

[Heym SR20]

I am building mine with a 1 in 12” twist to future proof it.

They are popular in Germany as a training rifle especially on running boar. To maintain their hunting license they need to pass a shooting test each year which moving targets.

22 Hornet’s velocity is same sort of speeds as typical boar suitable calibres - 308, 7x65r, etc so lead on target is about the same.

Most hunters do quite a bit of practice shooting on targets, and there are plenty of club and public ranges and shooting cinemas to support this. And 22 Hornet is a hell of a lot cheaper than anything else to run.

222 and 223 are both well over 3,300 fps so will need less lead than a 308 at 2800 ish fps, and this builds in error when training.

 

[Smellydog]

.22 Hornet lovers all seem to be stockpiling their favorite bullets if they reload. I have about 3000 I suppose that shoot well out of mine.

Stock piling anything these days isn't a bad thing!

 

[hammo]

I am waiting on a variation to get a 22 hornet, really fancy an old rook rifle. Hopefully can find a serviceable one if I take my time. If that doesnt happen will be happy with an older bolt action.

 

[Blobby159]

I bought my Anschutz in .22 Hornet something like 30 odd years ago and it’s still serving me very well for night time rabbit and fox destruction. I tried a few of the commercial rounds available here in the UK at that time and found them to be a fair bit below what is stated on the box of 50 rounds (hey so wot’s new eh?) especially the relatively expensive RWS 45gr Softpoint ones that barely broke 2,200fps on my chronograph!!
The better ones I found were Winchester 46gr hp and Remington 45gr sp, with the Winnie’s being a bit more accurate in my rifle.
But as soon as I bought it more or less I started hand loading for literally everything I shot/shoot and was able to both optimise velocities AND the accuracies of my bullets, generally fixing on 40gr Sierra BlitzKings which, for me are amazing!! Like most on here who have one, I stick to around 150yds or so for my longest shots and NEVER had a lost pest that I set my sights on, though I try to get closer than that if I can…
My home load fave is that 40gr BlitzKing at a measured 2940 fps average which are very accurate too!

I have shot thousands of rounds thru that Anschutz and I love it to bits. It is lighter & more manageable than my other pest rifles and the beautiful stock just seems to “fit” me!!

Those much vaunted 35gr V-max bullets are good too, and a bit faster yet with my loads, but they run out of steam quickly and are not very good if it’s windy out, no doubt due to their stubby cross section and low B.C.!?

I note that several guys here on this thread talk of going back to or staying with the .17 HMR if a lead van becomes prohibitive to us shooters, but what do they think is the core material of those tiny Hornady projectiles?? We’ll LEAD of course, and we are ALL likely to be cursed with non-lead projectiles if this ban goes ahead and becomes TOTAL!!!
I have other rifles where the change to a copper based alloy for bullets might not be quite so catastrophic ( at least I hope that’s the case?) but our .172 & .224 old hunting rigs will suffer from that of it cones to pass!!!

I feel a collective preying session coming on! ……

 

[hammo]

When I had my 17hmr, the CCI TNT lead free shot exceptionally well.

 

[Bowland blades]

I think I will be inclined to carry on regardless of what we may or not be told in the future....

Be aware people have been prosecuted and licences revoked even within wildfowling , even if you get off lightly you wont get in any other club localish to you . Will also be big fines i guess
Though nobody really knows , what we do know is shooting lead on ranges is to be very tightly controlled with inspections . So hopefully very few are going to be breaking laws when passed

 

[Bo Diddley]

Be aware people have been prosecuted and licences revoked even within wildfowling , even if you get off lightly you wont get in any other club localish to you . Will also be big fines i guess
Though nobody really knows , what we do know is shooting lead on ranges is to be very tightly controlled with inspections . So hopefully very few are going to be breaking laws when passed

I struggle to see how anyone walking about in the middle of the night shooting foxes or rabbits over farmland would ever be "caught out" if they carry on shooting lead, of course I wouldn't ever take anything shot with lead to a game dealer if everything goes belly up. But I will be super careful. Fingers crossed it will be some years off... maybe even get kicked into the long grass... stranger things have happened.

 

[Smellydog]

I tried a few of the commercial rounds available here in the UK at that time and found them to be a fair bit below what is stated on the box

Factory hornet, especially European is loaded soft in favour of some old weak action design's of long ago.

 

[User00036]

Its interesting to note on these forums that the Hornet, & to a lesser the .22 LR & .222, just dont go away, they were meant to be superseded by faster flatter rounds, but still they have a devoted following, with more & more folks enquiring after them. Long may it continue.

 

[Triggermortis]

I have seen two. One is a 1936 Winchester model 70 and the other a Ziegenhahn and Sohn which would be a similar vintage I imagine.

Am I right in thinking that the very early hornets were designed to shoot .223 and not .224 bullets, can the .224’s be shot from a “.223” hornet?