22 Hornet bullet experiments, advice, experience for Tiny Ten

[WAB]

Personally, I have no problem with "FMJ terminal performance" unless I misunderstand what you meant. I was looking for FMJs for the Hornet at one point in my research. I just wanted to pencil through on these under 50 yard shots, which is most of what I get on T10 (minus klippie of course).

I also put a lot of thought into @Philip Glass and his experiences with .223 and still might go that direction. That would open up every bullet type under the sun with the 223 and more load data than NASA uses for a moon shot. I'm glad I tried the Hornet in Africa and I didn't have any regrets but I still feel like this ballistic solution isn't finalized for me yet.

If you want to have fun with the Hornet find one in a number one. They want long bullets and you can load them to the full capability of the cartridge.

These are my number ones in hornet and two seventy five Rigby post RJ Renner upgrades.

 

[Green Chile]

My Hornet is a K95 and I'm not sure how long I can load in that...similar to the #1?

 

[HWL]

My Hornet is a K95 and I'm not sure how long I can load in that...similar to the #1?

The K95 also comes in .300 Weatherby-Magnum (same action).
No problems with your tiny Hornet...

HWL

 

[Rimshot]

My Hornet is a K95 and I'm not sure how long I can load in that...similar to the #1?

Yes, no reason you can't load out to the lands. With most bullets in my D99 (probably using the same reamer at Blaser), I am loading beyond what the magazine rifles can handle. Fantastic for pointy aerodynamic bullets that aren't traditionally used in the hornet.

Unfortunate that Blaser uses the slow twist rate though, so you can't stabilize long sleek, VLD types like the 53 grain Nosler Varmageddon or Hornady 53 VMAX.

 

[AZDAVE]

@Rimshot I have done similar testing with the hornet and K-hornet with lilgun and up to 52 gr higher BC bullets. and have shot it out to 300. Have loaded to the capabilities of the rifle and when doing that usually only get 2-3 reloads before the brass is toast. The brass wasn't designed for 55-62PSI ; So short brass life when pushed hard. If I need more than the hornet in it's designed performance window. I will just grab the 223 bolt gun outta the safe. The hornet in my opinion was designed to be a inherently accurate step up form the 22LR with a low noise compared to the 223 and bigger 22 center fires

It is just a fun little round that has it's place.

 

[DieJager]

Shot two Steenbok and a common Duiker with S&B SPCE 150 grain ammo for the 30-06. Good results, not too much damage. But were placed well. Except the first Steenbok. Lots of advice I heard was center mass shooting on the little critters. Shot the whole gut out, little critter still tried to run away, second hit the back legs. It was almost split in half.

No more center mass shooting for me, learned my lesson. Second Steenbok just my usual shot, behind the shoulder, both lungs and minimal damage. Same for the duiker. Just don't put it on the shoulder.

 

[Rimshot]

@Rimshot I have done similar testing with the hornet and K-hornet with lilgun and up to 52 gr higher BC bullets. and have shot it out to 300. Have loaded to the capabilities of the rifle and when doing that usually only get 2-3 reloads before the brass is toast. The brass wasn't designed for 55-62PSI ; So short brass life when pushed hard. If I need more than the hornet in it's designed performance window. I will just grab the 223 bolt gun outta the safe. The hornet in my opinion was designed to be a inherently accurate step up form the 22LR with a low noise compared to the 223 and bigger 22 center fires

It is just a fun little round that has it's place.

Did you use Hornady cases? In my experience the Hornady 22 Hornet brass is terrible. The case heads are soft and the brass is very thin. I only got maybe 3 or 4 loads and had incipient head separation. By contrast the Nosler and PPU brass is much thicker at the base and harder, as some of them have 8 to 10 reloads on them, stuffed full of Lil'Gun every time. I only use LilGun now because you can't even approach max pressure with 50 gr bullets or less. With 55 gr bullets and compressed load you can stress the cases some, but I have yet to have a Nosler or PPU case failure. I'm using a Lee collet die for necks and occasionally a Redding body die.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Did you use Hornady cases? In my experience the Hornady 22 Hornet brass is terrible. The case heads are soft and the brass is very thin. I only got maybe 3 or 4 loads and had incipient head separation. By contrast the Nosler and PPU brass is much thicker at the base and harder, as some of them have 8 to 10 reloads on them, stuffed full of Lil'Gun every time. I only use LilGun now because you can't even approach max pressure with 50 gr bullets or less. With 55 gr bullets and compressed load you can stress the cases some, but I have yet to have a Nosler or PPU case failure. I'm using a Lee collet die for necks and occasionally a Redding body die.

Have you ever had any issues with the size of the flash hole on some case brands? Some brass, the flash hole is too small to allow the decapping pin to dislodge the primer.

 

[AZDAVE]

@Rimshot used hornaday, remington and winchester brass. You are correct on the PPU being much better. Both my hornet and Khornet have the best accuracy with 40 and 45gr bullets occured in the 2700 to 2750FPS range in the sub 1/2 moa range but when I pushed them above 2800 groups went to 1 1/2 to 2 MOA range. So everything I have loaded i dialed for best accuracy in my Ruger 77/22hornet and HR Handi K-hornet

 

[Surgeon1]

4 years ago used the PH’s CZ in 22hornet and 45 GR soft point PPU ammo to take oribi, common Diker, klipspringer, and a Jackel all one shot kills 25-200y. The CZ is not as nice as the 3 Ruger Hornets I have but very accurate. The clip sucks in comparison to Rugers.With the 3x9 Zeiss and PPU ammo it worked to a tee!
I’ve shot thousands of prairie dogs with a hornet most recently with Vmax 40g!
I’ve used Norma brass but the PPU brass I got from Powder Valley is as good if not slightly better.
Shy away from Hornady brass.

 

[Rimshot]

Have you ever had any issues with the size of the flash hole on some case brands? Some brass, the flash hole is too small to allow the decapping pin to dislodge the primer.

I have never had that problem with the Lee collet die, but I've only used Hornady, PPU, and Nosler cases. It wouldn't surprise me if some garbage like S&B had abnormal flash holes but I've never used it.

Nosler is the best brass I've tried, not sure who makes it for them. PPU is close to Nosler in thickness but much cheaper so it's probably the best value. I'll probably either throw away or give away my Hornady brass. I'd bet RWS brass is good but have never been able to get any.

Ever since getting a 22 Hornet (in my combo gun) I've been in love with the cartridge. Bullet and powder expense is negligible. I can shoot thousands of rounds guilt-free, and it is so accurate and fun to shoot. The brass lasts a long time if you don't overwork it.

To me it isn't necessarily a 'short range' cartridge. Every month I shoot subsonic 22 rimfire in competition out to 200 yards from various positions (NRL and PRS 22), so 200 yards with a 22 hornet at 2.5x velocity and higher B.C. is a chip shot. Under optimal conditions I think a 300 yard shot would be reasonable IF there was a bullet that would expand. The bullet I am using in the hornet has the same energy at 300 yards as a 22 win mag has at the muzzle. I'd be thrilled if I could find a bullet that was both aerodynamic and expanded down to 1800 fps which would be 250 yards. I think my best option for now is use the hornet for <200 yards and switch to the 6.5 for 200+

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

It wouldn't surprise me if some garbage like S&B had abnormal flash holes but I've never used it.

If I recall correctly, it was exactly the S&B cases that had these issues.
Good call!

 

[WAB]

You guys got me excited. Walked down to the range and put 5 shots in an inch at 200. The hornet is sure a fun little rifle!

 

[Green Chile]

That's excellent shooting and far better than someone could hold in the field. I wish all of my rifles shot that good!

 

[Rimshot]

That's excellent shooting and far better than someone could hold in the field. I wish all of my rifles shot that good!

If you haven't experimented much in your K95 I'd suggest starting with either Speer or Hornady 50 gr SP. They are cheap (Speer $10 and Hornady $14 per 100), have high BC, and shoot extremely well in mine. If you're feeling rich enough to spend $20/100 the plastic tipped 40gr bullets shoot well too and grenade on impact if you're into that. I've never bothered with the 35, 40, or 45 gr "hornet" specific bullets because of low BC, and they cost 2x as much. Fill the case to 3/4 up the neck with LilGun (maybe ~12 grains with thicker brass). Seat long or 0.020" off the lands and crimp with Lee FCD. Some people swear by pistol primers but I've had good results using rifle primers and crimping. It's such a joy to load for. A stockpile of bullets is cheap and takes up little space, a jug of powder lasts thousands of rounds!

I have also found that LilGun generates a fair amount of carbon in the throat. I was getting increasing velocity after a few hundred rounds so I started using Boretech carbon remover and things are back to normal.

 

[WAB]

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That's excellent shooting and far better than someone could hold in the field. I wish all of my rifles shot that good!

In the words of a famous gun writer, only accurate rifles are interesting! If it doesn’t shoot it gets weeded out.

 

[flatwater bill]

The 45 grain Privi-Partisan ammo that I have averages 2414fps in my Hornet, and will not expand on a rock chuck......and will not even expand when tested on a fence post. My older Hornet, with a 1:16 twist will not stabilize a 55 spitzer........just FWIW data................FWB

 

[50Gunner]

Rimshot,

My 22 hornet is a 24" barreled 1949 year model winchester model 70 Supergrade, it's favorite light big game load is:

New WW brass
45gr Barnes TSX
13.5gr lil gun powder
CCI-450 small rifle magnum primer
Velocity 2922 fps

With that load I shot a coyote dead in the chest at 88 yards, he was pestering a cow down calving, the bullet exited two inches off his nut bag, DRT, that took care of his menu concerns, the other was a 160lb black russian boar hog at 45 yards straight through both shoulders, real shocker there, the shot knocked him down, he raised his nose like a crocodile, I gave him another one in the back, it was over.

I have no experience with it in Africa, have only hit two of the tiny 10, a Duiker and Steenbok, both shots pulled well back in the ribs on purpose, a 400gr round nosed Woodleigh Weldcore dropped them too ; ]

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Based on some preliminary experiments I've done with both water jugs and synthetic ballistic gel, it seems that traditional lead-nose soft point varmint bullets will only reliably expand down to 2000 fps. At 1800-1900, they just pencil through, or sometimes tumble. From 2000 to 2800 (max hornet velocity with 50gr bullets), they mushroom like a big game bullet, which is ideal for this purpose. Penetration when the bullets mushroom was about 14-18 inches. Even the claimed "thin jacket" bullets such as Hornady's SPSX 'super explosive' exhibit this trait.

On the other hand, the plastic tipped Hornady VMAX will fragment violently even at hornet velocities. Penetration is only a few inches, with the bullet completely disintegrating! Based on the wound cavity in the gel, the amount of energy released could easily blow a large hole in the offside hide, ruining a mount especially at closer ranges. I have a few brands of plastic bullets yet to test though, maybe some are harder than others.

The other thing I have yet to test is the 55gr Norma Oryx bonded bullet. It does have a blunter nose profile, so that's promising. Supposedly the bigger Oryx bullets expand at low velocities, but it seems 22 caliber is a different beast from my testing so far. Internet searches turned up nothing either way so I ordered some to try.

Another thing I haven't tried is the "hornet" specific offerings from Sierra, Hornady, Nosler, etc. The reason is low BC. Even if they expand at much lower velocity, the range won't be any greater and the wind deflection will be much worse, so there is only downside.

The 22 hornet in my combo gun is very accurate. If it's not too windy, smacking a little 4" plate at 300 yards is easy. However, based on my testing, 200 yards would be the limit of bullet expansion using "hide friendly" designs. I have killed turkey at 220-230 yards and based on ballistics the bullet was definitely in the "no expansion" velocity range, yet the turkeys just flopped a few seconds and died, so that part is a puzzle.

Am I over thinking this? Should I just be satisfied with a 200 yard limit on the 22 Hornet? Perhaps at 200+ I should switch to the 6.5x55 with 140 partitions, which would be down to 2350 fps. Inside of 40 yards I could use #4 TSS from the shotgun barrel.

In this specific scenario I'm thinking of klippy since they seem to have the most delicate hide, and may require longer shots.

@Rimshot
I use 40gn VMax in my K Hornet exclusively at 2,900fps. These are devastating on small game like bunnies but in game like wild dog and smaller goats they drop them like a bag of shit and I haven't had one exit at ranges upto 150 yards.
The 40gn VMax gives me great velocity retention and sub threw quarter inch groups more commonly sub half inch when I do my part.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

You could try a lighter bullet, over here people used to load 40gn 22mag projectiles, think I’ve still got a few somewhere.
Gumpy

@Grumpy gumpy
I have about 150 of those neat little bullets. I've tried them flat out at 2,900fps and was disappointed but when I dropped the velocity down to around 2,200-2300fps they grouped well and made the Hornet a longer range 22mag.
Haven't shot anything with them yet as I love the 40gn VMax but they would make a great small game round in settled areas and give a bit more range than the 22mag
Bob