Thread: 22 hornet load worked a treat

Is that 100m

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

dont know about that one...its very fine powder,like 296 h110 any of them will fit more in a case than a stick powder
lilgun sure works well in .410 too

Lil' Gun was originally developed for the 410. In a Hornet it runs IIRC at about 2/3 the pressure of the other "Hornet" powders.

As far as Ive figured out from playing with the hornet for a very long time, its one of those rounds that responds well to high velocity loads.

hi no 50 meters the old bsa trigger is a bit still and creepy i dont play with triggers i may do better with a trigger job

I have a 23D also with a great bore. I bought a bunch of components from a guy who had sold his rifle. He had mostly used S&B brass and ran into pressure and chambering problems with Lil'gun with 40gn Vmax. Above 12.5gn, Lil'gun is a compressed load. S&B brass is lower capacity than most others. Capacity variations between brass brands in 22 Hornet are significant and somewhat notorious. Developing a load specific to a headstamp is probably a really good idea in this calibre. I went to R. P. Brass with a ladder test in 0.2gn increments from11.8gn (11.7 = Hdy10th Ed Handbook Starting charge) to the published Max of 13.2g. 12.6gn was my best group at 2759 average FPS, 12.8gn was also good in 2nd place at 2783FPS. 13.0gn and 13.2gn were acceptable groups at Averages of 2889 and 2829 respectively..yes, velocity dropped at max load. Had this happen in other calibres. Someone else might explain it, apparently not uncommon.

I also tested WC296 (Belmont Magnum Pistol Powder) with 40gn Vmax and got an excellent group at the Hdy10th Ed published max of 11.40gn. Average of 2822.5fps. I've stuck with 296 as I have more of it and it performs well.

All tests shot at 50m..barrel was 24in since been cut to 21in, threaded and suppressed. I also have switched projectile to a 40gn Hdy SP flatbase because I have plenty of them. They don't group quite as tight but I have no problem knocking over a hare at 150m off sticks. Turkeys don't like them much either.

I also have a Savage 23C in 32-20. Its a bit rough in the bore for cast but groups well with 100gn Hdy XTP HP. Love these old rifles.

I found quite a while back that the s&b brass i had didnt have the flashholes in the center of the primer pocket and went through a few decapping pins before I figured it out.

S&B Hornet cases have a smaller flash hole than WW or RP. That is the problem. Standard Hornet dies de-capping pins jam in the S&B flash holes. I found that some de-capped OK, just, whilst others the de-capping pin jammed in the flash hole. It was a piss off as I bought quite a bit of S&B to get reloadable brass. Of course, there may be some advantage having the smaller flash hole in a Hornet case but overall, I found the S&B to be of poorer quality compared to the WW.

Here's a chart of measurements I confirmed for different brands and calibres of brass.



On the subject of brass, I have Kynock, SAKO, RP, Remington, WW Super X, WW.
I settled on WW SX which was the most consistent weight wise and had good capacity compared to the others. They also held together better than RP which I also had a good quantity of.

Originally Posted by Jhon

I also have a Savage 23C in 32-20. Its a bit rough in the bore for cast but groups well with 100gn Hdy XTP HP. Love these old rifles.

My Savage 32/20 wouldn't perform with cast boolits. I tried several weights and several brands including factory Starline. Barrel is VG+.
Swapped to 100gr Hdy XTP HP and got excellent results at 50 yards (struggles at 100) and never went back to cast. I was also smart enough to stock up on the Hornadys at the time.

Originally Posted by zimmer

My Savage 32/20 wouldn't perform with cast boolits. I tried several weights and several brands including factory Starline. Barrel is VG+.
Swapped to 100gr Hdy XTP HP and got excellent results at 50 yards (struggles at 100) and never went back to cast. I was also smart enough to stock up on the Hornadys at the time.

Just having that problem myself. Just got some Hdy 100gn XTP

Originally Posted by zimmer

S&B Hornet cases have a smaller flash hole than WW or RP. That is the problem. Standard Hornet dies de-capping pins jam in the S&B flash holes. I found that some de-capped OK, just, whilst others the de-capping pin jammed in the flash hole. It was a piss off as I bought quite a bit of S&B to get reloadable brass. Of course, there may be some advantage having the smaller flash hole in a Hornet case but overall, I found the S&B to be of poorer quality compared to the WW.

Here's a chart of measurements I confirmed for different brands and calibres of brass.

Attachment 233189

On the subject of brass, I have Kynock, SAKO, RP, Remington, WW Super X, WW.
I settled on WW SX which was the most consistent weight wise and had good capacity compared to the others. They also held together better than RP which I also had a good quantity of.

you can buy a 2mm drill bit you know............

Originally Posted by zimmer

My Savage 32/20 wouldn't perform with cast boolits. I tried several weights and several brands including factory Starline. Barrel is VG+.
Swapped to 100gr Hdy XTP HP and got excellent results at 50 yards (struggles at 100) and never went back to cast. I was also smart enough to stock up on the Hornadys at the time.

hi i was cast loading for my hornet i thought i had it down pat but i was still getting the odd flyer which was pissing me right of so i got the shits with the fiddly little buggers only to learn the problem was my own fault i was not trimming my cases to standard length regularly so my loads wernt consitant

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

you can buy a 2mm drill bit you know............

I think the smaller flash hole is a plus but the S&B just weren't as good as the WW SX plus I have a lot of the Win cases.

I was meaning it would ensure you didnt root another depriming pin.... Ive actually got a fancypants primer pocket uniformer and another to uniform that flash hole........so its not anunknown/not done thing.

Gotcha