22 hornet bullets in a 223

R

rcurti

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I got some free Hornady 22 hornet FMJ bullets. They are 45 gr. Would it be dangerous to load them in a 223 cartridge? There is powder data for a 45 gr jacketed bullet, but these are shorter than the 223.
 
Not dangerous if proper loading techniques and loads are used. How well they were work, is another matter.

What size are the "Hornet" bullets?? There are 0.222", 0.223" and 0.224" diameter bullets.

Pre WWII .22 Hornets often used a .223" bore, and there are (or were) bullets made for that. Modern Hornets all use the standard .224" bore.

.222" jacketed bullets are for the .22 RemJet.

My old Lyman manual lists loads for the 45gr jacketed bullet, test rifle was a Colt Sporter 20" barrel. (AR-15)

With two powders max load for the 45gr was about 1gr heavier than max load for the 55gr bullet. With the other 7 powders tested the max loads for both the 45gr and the 55gr bullets were the same.

There is NO safety issue here.

If you don't want them, TRADE or give them to someone who does.
 
There's 45 grain jacketed bullet .223 data on Hodgdon's site. Use the Sierra SP data. SFires are frangible bullets.
Hornady appears to have discontinued .223" bullets. .224" only now.
 
Use faster powders at the low end of the spectrum. Watch carefully for bullet setback, especially with auto-loaders.

I load 22WMR pulls (have thousands of them) in .223Rem at pretty low velocities. They are giggle soft to shoot and accurate enough for some plinking.
 
22 hornets in a 223 cartridge

Ok, thanks. Actually I already loaded 25 of them. Then I had second thoughts about shooting them. The amount of H335 powder recommended is significantly more than that for a 55 gr.
The diameter is 0.223. I was going to use them for targets at close range, since there is no danger, I'll just try them and see how they do.
 
OK, now that folks have taken you all around the block...

They are correct, no safety issues.

All the fast .22 center fire rifles used a .218" bore.
That is the ACTUAL bore, not the rifling.
Most all rifling is .223"
This includes the bore (.218") of the .223 Remington/AR barrels.

The issue here is rifling twist rate.
Super light bullets don't much care for today's fast rifling,
The older .22 CF rifles had 1:16, 1:14, 1:12 rifling.

Today's stupid fast twist rates are intended for long/heavy bullets, the same reason the chamber taper is cut stupid long, to accommodate stupid long heavy bullets some idgit might stuff into them. (Lawyer Chambers, keeps idiots from blowing the rifle up)

It's been my experience that light weight bullets don't like crazy high pressures, and they don't like 1:6, 1:7, 1:8 twist rates which are common on today's AR rifles.

I take crap regularly in general (and on this forum), for recommending a reasonable twist rate and a chamber that will best fire common bullets, the ones you are most likely to buy or load.

No sense in 'Scattering' ammo when an AR is perfectly capable of shooting ragged hole groups.

If you have one of those stupid fast rate barrels, then consider trading or selling those bullets, there are several (more than I thought!) .218 Bee, .219 Zipper, .22 Hornet, etc owners that would give you a reasonable price for your find.
I'm one of 'Them', the guys that like these laser ACCURATE little .22 CF rifles,
And like the guys said, some places have stopped making/selling .223" diameter bullets in favor of the .224" bullets.
 
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Those FMJ Hornet bullets are used by trappers. The FMJ when loaded won't
tare up the hide when used to dispatch lively critters. The draw back is the bullet holds together so is likely to keep on going.
 
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