22 Hornet shoulder measurement

T

Tex S

New member
I have a Hornady OAL gauge. Apparently 22 hornet is a curveball for that particular system. My standard set did not come with a bushing that fits the small cartridge, so I had to buy a “blank“ bushing for it. Hornady designs these to be drilled out. Does anybody know what size I should drill it to?

I understand that all measurements like this are relative, but if there is a certain size it should be I would prefer to do that. Any help would be appreciated!
 
Nope. The 22 Hornet body and shoulder junction diameter is 0.2773", so its whole shoulder would fall right into a case comparator adapter made for the triple deuce's 0.330" datum diameter. The Hornet's datum diameter is 0.262".

A letter G size drill (0.261") comes closest without going over. You could also use a 6.6 mm drill (0.2598). If you want to get it exact, you'd have to follow up with a 0.262" chucking reamer, but with adapters made of soft aluminum, that wouldn't hold its contact point diameter for long. I think your best approach would be to use a 1/4" drill as your pilot drill and follow up with the letter G drill. Drill bits are often a couple of thousandths undersize to allow for walking, which won't happen with a pilot hole, so you may end up with a very slightly undersize hole anyway that you could lightly chamfer to get something that would last well for comparison purposes.

The SAAMI drawing is here.
This links to a table of drill sizes.
 
I use regular dies (no bushings), and have never bothered with the various "comparator" gauges. My Hornets are a Ruger No.3 and a T/C Contender and both shoot better than I do using the standard dies. A bit of extra care is needed, but after ruining a few cases, you'll figure it out, :rolleyes:

I find a generous chamfer of the case mouth and working very slowly, and just "kissing" the bullet in the seater die to start it, then removing it to check things are straight, and if so, finishing seating, helps those very thin cases survive longer.

YMMV
 
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