no love for 22 hornet?

Hornet is kind of a "niche" round. It was largely surplanted by the .222 and later, the .223. The most common usage is up north where they use it for woodchucks in areas where they are worried about riccochet from a more powerful cartridge. I had one in FL for a while as a turkey gun (.22hornet over 12ga over/under).
 
I've always been interested in the hornet but limitations of rifles and ammo along w mixed reports of accuracy have always led me elsewhere. Same for 218 bee. Interesting cartridge but not many options
 
I have a ruger 77/22H .22 Hornet, it is a sweet little rifle. Only owned about a half box of factory loads for it in my life, because the local gun shop had some the day I bought it and I couldn't wait to shoot it. I new it was gonna be a shooter the day I sighted it it, shooting from my back yard, had just gotten it sighted in when part way down the lane a starling landed on the ground, slight shift of rifle, POOF feather everywhere. It reloads cheap and easy as long as you don't try to make it into a .223, when you load it hot it begins to split case necks. Keep the loads mild and love it. I even killed a deer with it several years ago but was very under impressed with its performance, passed on several before I got the shot I was willing to take, short range (50 yards) looking right at me, bullet into white spot under chin into neck. Dang now I want to go drag it out and shoot it some more.:D
 
i have a older cz-680 fox-mod.2 in .22 hornet, and it shoots prive yugo 45gr into four shot 3/4 inch groups at 100yds from a rest with a 6x leupold. as i bought 10 boxs of the prive .22 hornet when it first came in, i have not needed to reload any yet. eastbank.
 
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It's got a rim, so it'll never be popular with the blasting away crowd (no hicap mags), and the necks are thin/fragile IIRC so reloaders/tuners would drift toward something more easily reloadable. I think the magnum rimfires are eating into its appeal as a cheap shooter, and the trend seems to be a step up to 223 as a minimum for centerfire anymore

TCB
 
30 years ago, I had a really cute little Krico 22 Hornet. I got so frustrated because of the thin necks I walked away from the Hornet and got myself into the 22 WMR crowd. First advantage: ammo is much cheaper (50 rounds of 22 mag is about 1/4 the cost of 50 rounds of 22 Hornet). Second advantage: velocity is about 80-90% of what I could get with the Hornet (2,100 fps vs 2,400 fps). Third advantage: The time and money I spent on reloading the Hornet I could spend out shooting the 22 mag. Winner!!

Unfortunately, I got bit by the 218 Bee earlier this year. Good news is that it is much easier to reload due to thicker brass. Bad news is that 218 Bee brass is even more expensive than the Hornet. Oh well!!
 
The big attraction about the .22 Hornet is it use to be the smallest reloadable center-fire cartridge available. A lot .17 guns now, but the Hornet is still a plinker's dream. Load it with a pellet & no powder or rocket launch a 40gr bullet. Yes, factory ammo is expensive, but the Hornet is a reloader's cartridge. Keep the pressures off max & size cases careful it becomes a cheap shooter for the reloader. If you can get your hands on a Ruger #3 in .22 Hornet you'll never sell it!

FWIW...

...bug
 
I've got a Ruger No.3 in .22 Hornet (also in .30-40, and .45-70). Also have a 10" Hornet barrel for my Contender.

its a great little round. Yes, one does have to be careful reloading it, but a slow hand (the "feel) and a good chamfer on case mouths helps. If you just crank away like on a progressive loading pistol ammo, you will mash Hornet cases!

It has always been a niche round, and so, not cheap. Pony up the cash for a quantity of ammo, or brass once, and be careful reloading and you'll be set for years.

Reloading the Hornet is still cheaper than buying hi performance .17 or .22 rimfires. One nice thing about the Hornet is that you can load it down.

You can even take the time and effort to cast bullets for it, although few do. Loaded down to match .22WMR or even .22LR is possible and the guns usually remain accurate at these load levels. Still not cheaper than .22LR, but reloaded Hornet is cheaper than .22 WMR.
 
not being a reloader i pay out the butt for it.
hence the reason i dont really shoot it. kind of a cool old gun but mostly stays locked up..ill pass it on to my son ..but it wont be wore out
 
I have a Browning 1885 Low Wall in .22 Hornet and I just love the combination. The gun is light weight, well balanced and pleasant to shoot and the cartridge loaded with 45 gr Hornady (Hornet bullets) with 13gr. of Lil Gun is just great. The combination of gun, ammo and 9 power scope will produce <1.5" @ 200 yds if the operator does his part. What's not to like about a .22 Hornet?
 
MIne is a Ruger #1B. Heavy gun and very accurate. If the group with factory ammo is greater than .50" it's my fault. If with reloads? My fault again. I have a reasonable substitute that is about as cheap the shoot as .22LR. It's a .223 Rem. with 55 gr. cast bullet and 4.0 gr. of Unique. Flat raises hell with pocket gophers and does bad deeds on jack rabbits. 5.0 gr. of Unique is a bit hot but puts the load into about half way between the Hornet and the WMR. One thing I have noticed is the bullets have to be hard if you want accuracy. Currently I use linotype but as soon as I make a new basket, I'll be heat treating the bullets in my altered toaster over and water dropping them that way with my normal working alloy. As cast they run about 12BHN but heated to 425 degrees for a bit over an hour they'll drop at about 22 BHN and age harden over month to 30 to 32 BHN. :cool: They're harder than an IRS auditor's heart..
Paul B.
 
.22 Hornet ammo is horribly expensive. A .22 Hornet shooter must be either be rich or a reloader.

i own several .22 Hornet rifles. Also own two .22K Hornet rifles. Reloading the .22 Hornet is fairly easy. Most of my loads are less than maximum and cases are good for four to six reloads.

The big problem with many US made rifles is the huge SAAMI spec chamber: Some are worse than others. Years ago a tool and die maker friend made a .22 Hornet reamer to European specs for me. i chamber my own barrels.
 
Good classic cartridge. If you don't reload, the PRVI ammo is decently priced, online.

Mine is a Ruger 77/22 Hornet, nice rifle. Saw a Ruger No. 1 or 3 for $450 at a show couple of years ago, foolishly looked at the next table before deciding to buy it. Alas, gone in sixty seconds!
 
No love for the hornet? Wha-choo talkin about, Willis?

I started with a hornet in an HR single shot. Very nice gun, once I disabled the ejector. Made keeping up with brass a whole lot easier. It shot groups of around 1" to 1 1/4". Got a bolt action Ruger, in the target gray with the laminated stock. Never could get the accuracy I wanted out of that one, plus it was just HEAVY. Sold it and got a Contender carbine with a 16" hornet barrel. It was just a tack driver. I shot a 1 1/8" group at 200yds with it, and numerous .75" and smaller groups at 100.
Problem with that one is that I got the itch for a K-Hornet, so I sold that barrel and got a Bullberry barrel for the Contender. I've still got that combination, and will probably have it for the duration. I can get 3100 fps pretty easily with 40gr VMax's that are just devastating on small varmints. I can also load it down as low as I want to go with cast lead bullets.
This is the most efficient cartridge I've ever loaded for. 13gr of powder, and it's a very capable 200yd varmint cartridge... farther if you place your shot well. 40gr cast bullet with almost no powder, and it's every bit the equal of the .22 long rifle.
Great little cartridge... no love? Check out my handle.....
 
Since getting a 221 Fireball rifle my Kimber 82 22 Hornet is not used. There are not the problems reloading the modern 221 case that one can have with the long tapered thin 22 Hornet case. There is a Hornet I like. Its a CZ 527 Varmint 17 Hornet Rifle. With Hornady 20 Gr bullet ammo it shoots sub 1/2 inch groups off a bench rest. The case walls are thicker and the case shape is more like the K 22 Hornet. I expect to get more reloads from a 17 H then I got from 22 Hornet cases. The only thing that the 22 H has over the 17 H is that it can shoot heaver bullets . But the 221 FB can also shoot the heaver bullets with more velocity so why would one get a new 22 Hornet rifle ?
 
ahh..a Hornet

Over 45 years ago, my great Uncle had a Hornet in Savage 34 (?) with a Weaver K4 on it. He shot groundhogs farther out than my grade school eyes could believe, and I've wanted a Hornet ever since.

I've had numerous examples and opportunities to buy, but have not. The most recent was a scarred up Ruger No3 in a shop last week in central PA, for a whopping $895. Another was a genuine Savage 34, but when the guy produced it, the barrel had been lopped, and an AR GI flash hider screwed on!

About 10-12 years ago, the local Wally World closed out a lot of Hornet ammo, several hundred rounds of Rem factory.......about half price. I watched it, was tempted to buy, but you might be more than a rifle loony it you buy ammo for a rifle you don't own....so I passed.

The fella that had the lopped Savage hunted for the gov't in the Smokey's, hog eradication. He and a sidekick both shot Hornets, both Savages. (34?). Shot them enough that accuracy deteriorated!!! T hey bought Ruger 77/22's in the Hornet. He said they used handloaded 50 gr (?) bullets, claiming the lighter 40-45 factory slugs sometimes exploded prematurely on the skull and neck and they did not get the penetration and kills they wanted. These guys killed a slew of hogs, neck and head shots only. The rifle was shortened to save weight, and the ammo was light and they could carry a lot. Report was mild and did not attract too much attention comparatively speaking. Very outstanding woodsman and cool shots. Then the gov't got involved, forbid them using personal rifles, and issued Ruger stainless '06's.

I'm still in the market for a Hornet, though the need for it is hard to explain.
The .223 does more, and components and platforms abound. And the .17' rimfires and my old 5mm rimfire mag fill in below the Hornet and come pretty close performance wise. And there's no groundhogs left anyhow.
 
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