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Old August 3, 2005, 11:31 AM   #1
zeisloft
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22 hornet

Some I know, don’t mess with a good thing, but I am. A friend sold his Hornet to a non reloader so he gave me about 200 rounds or Hornady 35gn Vmax. He had only begun to experiment (10 rounds). Now I pick up where he left off. I have run a ladder of 5 rounds bump it up .2 gn load 5 rounds…you know the drill. Using H110, I started at 12.0 gn and have worked up to 13.4 gn, nearly a full case. I have not chronographed yet, usually, I find decent accuracy then fine tune w/chronograph. However I have not found a tighter group than 2 ¼ “ at 100 yd. Rifle is a stock Ruger 22/77 topped with a Leopold 3x9. This gun will shoot 40 and 45 grainers inside ½” all day. Does anyone have a pet load for these 35 gn bullets?
Thanks
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Old August 3, 2005, 03:37 PM   #2
Dave R
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I don't, but I'll note that it has been my experience that some guns just don't like certain bullet weights. I don't know if its barrel harmonics or what, but some of my rifles just don't shoot light bullets well with ANY load.

You may want to trade those 35 grainers on some heavier bullets.

Or you might wind up burning all 200 looking for a load that's not gonna work.
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Old August 4, 2005, 03:57 AM   #3
MADISON
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Hornady 35gn Vmax?

I am not familiar with the Hornady 35gn Vmax bullet.
After owning 5 .22 Hornets, most were single shot, I picked up a Ruger 77/22-Hornet. The load I selected for it is 9.7 grains of 2400 behind a 45 grain bullet.

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Old August 4, 2005, 07:07 PM   #4
caz223
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My 77/22 never shot all that well, but it seemed to like 45 grain SP bullets (Speer 1023, IIRC.), and seemed to do the best with either H110 or 2400.
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Old August 11, 2005, 10:32 AM   #5
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I thought I was the only one into self abuse enough to load the 22 Hornet. Doing so can make you wonder if you're schizophrenic or just dyslexic.

I don't load it often, but best accuracy so far, (still in progress of working up loads) has been with 9.3gr H4227 and the 45gr Hornady #2220. It will consistently produce 1-1/2" groups if I do my part. It might be able to produce better accuracy with more load tuning, but for anything I will ever use the Hornet for it has been great for ranges inside 150 yds. I haven't chronoed them yet, but will by the end of summer.

I have loaded lighter bullets, some with good accuracy (on some days) but have found performance all over the place from one set of conditions to the next. I had a great load worked up using a 33gr Speer TNT. It would clover leaf 5 rounds - at 65 degrees F. I shot the same load, same gun at 85 degrees and it wouldn't group minute of garbage can.

I haven't tried LilGun, but probably will as time allows. The good thing is, if I can't develop a good Hornet load with the LilGun, I can always dump it in the 500 and use it

I have lately been using some Remington brass I picked up off Ebay, it has two loadings on it so far with no over-pressure signs or problems. I have found in the past, the brass doesn't last nearly as many loadings as other calibers.

Cabelas and others offer S&B .22 Hornet in bulk. Does anyone know if it is boxer or berdan ?

HTH

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Old August 11, 2005, 02:17 PM   #6
hivel37
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LilGun works well in both Hornets that I shoot. The Contender that I use in silhouette gets 8 grains behind a Sierra 45g #1310, a very light load that still does the job. The Ruger 77/22H allweather gets 12g behind the same bullet. Accuracy in this rifle is nothing to brag about (1 1/2"). Have not tried any of the 35 grainers yet.

S&B ammunition in 22H in boxer primed.
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Old August 18, 2005, 08:56 PM   #7
308LAW
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I had the same problem with the hornet, first I had a Ruger 77/22 and the best I could get out of it was 2 1/2 inches, I sold it and bought a Browning micro-medallion, but it wasn't much better, 2 inches, with 45 grn bullets, oddly the ruger and the browning shot best with 55 grn full metal jackets.
Since i have switched to one of the new Remington Laminated BDL in a .221 Fireball.
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Old August 21, 2005, 08:56 PM   #8
Wiskers
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22 Hornet in ruger 77

Howdy fellas
You might want to check out www.centralfirecentral.com & click on hornet.
They have an interesting "fix" in getting the hornet to shoot in a ruger mod. 77. One method is installing a new pin & the other is shimming the 2 piece bolt. When I shimmed my ruger 77 Hornet it brought the group from 2 1/2 " to 3/4 " at 100 yds. The negative sides are its a pain in the portuzzo to find the right shim combo, & then when you do, the bolt is tight to open & close, if you don`t mind it its a great improvement over factory.
40 gr. V-max , 13.2 gr Lilgun, cci-400, necksized ww brass is my perfect combo in my ruger. It took this fixin & many rounds to find this combo,.

That`s my hornet 2 cents.

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Old August 21, 2005, 09:14 PM   #9
Wiskers
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22 Hornet 35gr V-max

Howdy again;
For my 3 cents on the ruger mod 77 22 hornet loads.
For 35 gr V-max, 13.0 gr Lilgun, Cci-400 ,with necksized ww brass. The coal has to be played with for each different rifle, & this proves to be very, very important on these ruger 77`s. I know, I polluted the earth with many rounds before I found the rite combos.

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