.22 Hornet bullet

My CZ 527 22 hornet likes 13.2 of Lil Gun with a Sierra 40 grain hollow point. That little bullet is hard, but very accurate and it anchors coyotes for me great. I find this bullet to be about the least affected by wind of anything out there for the hornet. Pretty sure I use CCI small pistol primers too, and I'm seating them with a fair amount of jump. 1.735" OAL. Good luck to you!
 
I've had my Ruger M77 Sporter for almost 30 years, and really like the gun. A buddy has the same rifle.

We added a Timney spring/sear kit to the and that helped with accuracy.

I started with H4227, and it worked OK, but in the early 90's, I noticed Lilgun for the Hornet in Hodgdon's manual. It showed about 200fps more speed AND 25% less pressures.

With any 45gr bullet I try, 13.0grs Lilgun and a small pistol primer seem to be the ticket.

The 2 best Hornet powders are Lilgun and Alliant MP-300. They seem to be equal, at least on paper. I have not tried the MP-300.

I use a Lee Collet Die to neck size.

When you work up a powder charge, go in small steps, like 0.2grs at a time.
 
I picked up a box of the Sierra 40 grain HP's today. Hope they shoot good cause they are cheap. LOL! Just curious, what are you fellows calling accurate? Mine shoots well under an inch but I still get a flyer once in a while. I bed the action and floated the barrel. It seems to help.
 
Originally Posted By: lhitchcoxAckleyman, have you looked at shimming the two-piece bolt? That seems to increase accuracy a lot.

I read about it, never got around to shimming the bolt.

Being able to touch the lands with the bullet was a HUGE step in increasing the accuracy in my hornets, and they fit in the magazine of the 77.

Chucks can take some killing, they can be very tough, but I used mine for coyotes. I shot the 40g speers around 2850, and they did a really great job as long as I hit them in the lungs.
 
I use my Hornet mainly for coyote, with the annual fall turkey thrown in.

After trying many bullets and weights on coyotes, I settled on the 45gr Barnes XLC, which are discontinued. Far fewer runners and floppers with that bullet.

When I run out of those, I'll use the 45gr TSX.
 
jsh said:
I traded my model 40 Savage for a 527CZ a couple of years ago, bad mistake. CZ is a 1-16, would only shoot with standard hornet style short bullets.
I got a call yesterday took the CZ back and got my Model 40 again. The 40 is a 1-14 twist and shot well. [/quote)]

Hmmm....I had a similar experience: Sold my Savage 40 at a loss because I thought I needed a magazine. As much as I like the 527, this one has never shot as well as the "cheap" Savage, and I can't load the bullets out as far. In addition, I miss the heavier barrel, and its extra length was good for a few more fps. I know all guns shoot differently, but twist rate differences just never happened to cross my mind when I found the best Hornet groundhog-slaughtering bullets I've ever found -- the Speer 45 gr. PSPs -- were accurate through the Savage, but not so much the CZ.
Click to expand...
 
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I have 2 hornets, both 16 inch Thompson Center carbines. One I rechambered to K-hornet. Both shoot moa or better at 100 yards. I like W680 Or 1680 powder or H110 or W296 (same powder) Can get 3000 fps out of either gun. I think the powder is all burned in the first 16 inches. The rest is just friction. I gained 10 FPS after I cut them off to 16 1/2" Am going to try 300-MP as well, I use both small pistol and small rifle primers. Not sure that I can tell the difference.

Dave.
 
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My hornet is a CZ 527, so has the 1 in 16 twist. I've shot 34 Midway Dogtown bullets, 35 V-MAX, 40 V-MAX, 45 Sierra SP's, 45 Hornady SP's,... etc.

I consider accurate to be 1/2" at 100 yards.

The 40 V-MAX's are great if you're trying to maximize your range. I've killed ground-hogs with these out to 225 even 240yards. I shoot these in my 222rem also, and that's a solid killer out to 250, I've even hit fox out to 280 with that thing.

But I've pretty much settled on the Sierra 40HP's now for my 22 hornet. 12.6 of Lil'gun is one accuracy node, then 13.2 is where I'm at currently with these in my gun. Again, this is with CCI 500 Small Pistol primers, and at a short COL of 1.735" which feed really really well out of my magazine on the CZ.

I shot the 45 Hornady SP's very accurately at 11.0 of 4227 (think I was 1.765" on those, with Rem primers.

I shot the 45 Sierra SP's accurately at 10.0 of 4227 (when trying to find an ultra slow load for fox), but this one is far too susceptible to wind for my liking.

Could never get the Sierra 45 SP's to fly great at higher velocity. 12.5 of Lil'Gun with CCI Small Pistol primers wasn't too bad. And in another guy's CZ 527 American in 22 hornet, 12.8 of Lil'Gun with the CCI 500's was pure magic. I did find another sweet spot with the 45 Hornady SP's in mine, again at 1.765", at a whopping 13.4 of Lil'Gun and those same CCI 500 small pistol primers. That's a real freight train load in a hornet.

But for sheer accuracy performance, for a good killing bullet - and the one that seems to be least affected by wind, at least in my gun, I keep coming back to the Sierra 40 grain hollow point which I believe Keith turned me onto saying that this little bullet was designed for 22-250 / 220 Swift type levels of speed. I wanted to try it on fox, hoping it would be HARD in the hornet and wouldn't expand but I still find it rips light little fox hides to pieces on broadside hits so I use the extreme accuracy I get from these, and pumped back up all the way to 13.2 of LilGun and just take head shots all the time now.

Good shooting everybody! The hornet is an amazing little round. I've considered 17Rem, 17 Rem Fireball, 17 Hornady Hornet, the 17 WSM rimfire, but I just haven't been able to justify any of these (yet) because the little CZ 22 Hornet is just soooooooo good. For the amount of time I have to hunt, it very well covers the small game base for me.
 
I shot three different loads today using the 40 grain Sierra HP and LilGun powder.All three loads starting with 13 grains, then 13.2, then 13.5, shot under an inch and the 13.5 had 4 about 1/2inch and the 5th shot just out making the group in the 3/4 inch range. All shot at 100yds. Very pleased with those results from the little Ruger. I bed the action, floated the barrel and shimmed the bolt. I also put a reduced trigger spring in it but still not happy with the trigger even though its not terrible. It shoots the 35 grain V-Max good also but the Sierra gets the nod for accuracy.
 
I never owned a 22 Hornet but a close friend did years ago. As I recall one of the things about it was the bullet dia. Back then someone was making bullet's just for the Hornet. 40gr max and .223" dia! I never tried then in my 222 Rem back then, shot only 50gr and 52gr MK's, .224 dia. I' don't know if the same thing still goes today or if Hornet barrels are all .224 now.
 
13 grains of Lil gun and 35 or 40 V max shoots great or dime size at 100- good nuff for my work. The 35 cut a pigeon in half at 60 yards for me. Got a pic but posting that here is way to involved
 
C.O.L question. I'm using Sierra 40gr. HP bullets. I measured the COL of my gun Ruger 77/22.
By not using 22 hornet style bullets I'm .150" off the lands. 1.875" Should I just use the reloading manuals 1.725" and go with that?

JT
 
With the Rugers, using a 40g speer spire point will allow you to use the magazine and still touch the lands, Which is huge in terms of getting small groups.
 
ackleyman. The longest I can make the COL is 1.800". Anything longer won't fit in the magazine.
That's going to make the bullet .065" off the lands. Should I try a couple of round's and see how they group?

JT
 
Hands down in my H&R single shot 12gr Lil' Gun and a Sierra 45gr Hornet SP bullet.
3 shot groups at 100 yards always under .5"
Best group .375"
 
35 gr hornady vmax with 11.5 gr h110 has done a great job for me. Very accurate in 4 different 22 hornets I've tried it in. Under 1" 5shot groups at a 100yds.
 
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