getting ready to fire form ( a lot ) of 22 Hornet to K Hornet... looking for

M

Magnum Wheel Man

New member
suggestions as to load level & cheapest way to do this...

I have several 1000 R-P cases saved up from firing in my standard hornet chamber ( nearly all are once fired ) I'm wanting to do a fire form load for the new K Hornet chamber... hopefully something reasonably accurate, & economical , yet easy on the cases hopefully keep from splitting any more than necessary...

for "cheap" I'd like to use some existing powder ( since I likely payed less than if I bought new powder ) I could probably shoot up premium bullets I have in stock, cheaper than I could buy bulk bullets today, however replacing the premium bullets would likely cost me much more than buying bulk bullets...

I'm just starting to look, & get this project going... I have found 40 grain bullets for as little as $0.17... may be some bulk bullets somewhere for less ???

looking I can find bulk 55 grain bullets for $0.08 but not thinking light loads with 55 grain bullets would be the best for shooting fun... likely just wasting powder & bullets & time for forming cases???

any suggestions would be great... thinking I'd load 500 at a time, & will just shoot the fire form loads at targets

open for any suggestions from those who have done similar
 
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The cases are where the money is at least in my book. I would say bullets are next. I surly would not want to blow away expensive bullets but you are looking for some kind of accuracy.
This is where I shoot up all of those bullets that never worked out for what I wanted them for. So now they are what I call a collection of waste. Those partial boxes would be going for fire forming since I prefer to form twice for a good full fit then trim.
Do you plan to fireforming without annealing? You have a lot to work with but why not start in a smaller batch to assure you won't be cracking a lot of necks. I suppose you could go up to 55gr. and down to 30 or 35gr.
I have been trying to come up with one good subsonic load but haven't found it yet. My accuracy load is Hornady 35gr. but it is any thing but sub sonic with Lil'Gun. The pressure with Lil'Gun is one of the lowest so you might want some thing with more pressure.
What is your goal with the formed cases?
 
uses of the cases... the rifle I shot them in last has now been chambered in K Hornet... I mostly just shoot paper... with the Hornet, out to 300 yards... both my rifle, & my revolver are also fast twist ( 1 in 9" twist barrels ) so I could use heavier bullets... in fact I have 2 boxes of bulk pack 55 grains I may use for these...

I will probably load up 10 or 20 & see if I get any cracking... usually R-P brass is soft & forms better, but I could do the cake pan & water annealing method if i'm getting too many throw aways... also will be looking at my powder library & my load manuals & seeing if there is some powders I don't use much of, that are safe to run in the Hornet... that way powder would be the cheapest :)

Hornet cases / ammo are starting to show up, but they have been pretty rare the past couple years... still all I can find are Hornady & Prvi, with any regularity... ( especially on the small cases I really like to run the same brand )

it may be possible to use some of the cracked case mouths ( depending on the level of damage ) for my 257 Special revolver, which uses K Hornet cases trimmed to 38 special length... ( I need a couple hundred of these cases anyway... & I've always used K Hornet cases to make them... though it might be easier to anneal & expand the whole case straight & then trim )???
 
I've been messing around with the 22 BR Remington cartridge, and just recently formed some cases from 7 BR. I used a sawed off 243 neck sizer die for a mid-step neck down, and the shoulders looked pretty gnarly.

I did just what you want to do, and used powder that isn't ideal for this cartridge, but will work. (IMR 4320) It's pretty slow for this shell, and you can't fit enough in the case for an over load.

I capped them with Nozler 40 gr. seconds that I'd bought at our gun show for I think, 12 bucks a hundred. I repeat, these shells looked pretty ugly with rounded shoulders and lube dents galore.

I took thirty of them up the hill to test and form, using one of my six bullseye targets. Six groups later, all five shots at a hundred yards, all but one group were sub MOA. The cases look great, with sharp shoulders.

I was happy enough with the load that I loaded the rest of the hundred cases the same, and went ground squirrel shooting -- and tore em up. I've got over a keg of that powder, and may even continue using it, but I'd sure like to try it through a Chrony to see what performance is like. jd
 
Don't waste components by fire-forming them all at once.

Work up a load using only the standard cases. (Never use the same case twice.)
You should have something pretty decent within 100 rounds, I'd say.

Then, just stick that load in standard cases and burn through it over time.


Somewhere around 900 rounds later, you'll have your 1,000 fire-formed cases, and you can move on to developing a new load.


I STRONGLY advise giving it a chance; not just for financial reasons, but...
As I've mentioned in the past, people often end up finding that the most accurate load the rifle ever shoots is the fire-forming load. The extra room for the case to expand often acts like a buffer that smooths out pressure spikes and softens the ramp up to peak pressure. This serves to 'normalize' pressures and pressure curves from cartridge to cartridge, and keeps things very consistent.

If you waste the chance of being able to experience that 900 rounds of pure heaven, by launching cheap components through the barrel, you'll never be able to live with yourself. Plus... that's a 1,000 rounds of wear and tear, for no good reason!
 
FM... that's a fair comment... since I don't know how they'll shoot... & have so many cases to do... I could just as well treat it like a new cartridge & develop a load that forms the case well, & provides acceptable accuracy... :)
 
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