anyone else out there tinker with the 22 hornet anymore? I love mine, but finding info on them nowadays is getting a little harder. The only ones that seem to be making hornets anymore are Thompson, Ruger, and CZ and I think one other. Mines a savage 340-e that I have had since I was a teen, and its still a good 1 to 1.5 MOA at 100 yrd shooter even with my reloads. I wouldnt mind seeing about other reloads and what they do. Myself , I have mostly used Accurate 1680 or Hec/ Allaint 4200. I know, stick with the book loads to be safe, but someone has to be a rebel.

Dandad, you forget probably the best: Anschütz.
Mine is the model 1432. It's a single shot with a heavy barrel and it's trigger is something you rarely meet. The trigger has a so called "Stecher", which I never use because even without pulling the "Stecher" you get a real hairtrigger. My standard reload is the 45 grs Sierra (#1210) and Vihta's N110 or our local PCl512. Both are powders for a magnum load in the 357 RM and the .44 RM.
That rifle has rather large optics (10-40x) and is too heavy to carry arround for hunting, but from a steady spot is more than nice for rabbits, foxes, ... upto fallow-deer (which is not allowed because too little energy, but it works well, I know )

I have it's cousin the .218 Bee in a Ruger #1 and have found sub moa accuracy with A1680 and the 35g Hornady V-Max. Lots of fun I can't keep it loaded though because as soon as I get 100 ahead the kids shoot 'em up.

unfortunately even though Ive been reloading for a while now, I still haven't ventured into loads that are not in the load manuals, and I want to expand beyond the manuals, not just in the hornet either. But the hornet is one of my favorite medium range rifles and I shoot it a lot. my 340 E has a 9x40 and I often pack it with me walking or on the atv, even rides along on the tractor once in a while.

I was loading some 40vmax the other night and I dont think they are really made for the hornet. I couldnt get them to seat correctly in the magazine without the bullet to low in the cartridge. So I decided to just file back the plastic tip on the vmax to make up for the difference, and now they work well in the clip and the gun. Although I have not been out to shoot them yet, I will be doing that hopefully as early as Friday. Another thing I found out over the years is that the LEE dies size for a 223, not 224. So you have to either open the neck up a little, or use RCGB dies, which are 224. I have both so I can load both 223 and 224 without any problems, and have used both in the savage, but usually just 224.

I am going to try some of your suggested loads though, and really appreciate the loads and help you all over here.

I have seen the 218 bee, that is a sweet little rifle. can you get brass for it these days?



Oh, and just call me Dan..

I also have some 22 molds that size to .224 my dad gave me years, ago. I am thinking of using those on the hornet as well. I think they should be good for paper cutting at least. They weight out to 46 gr.

I know, its pretty sad for someone who has been shooting for over 45 years to be just now getting into loading like this, but hey, I have time now. lol

just looking around and I found a cheap source of vmax bullets. 40gr boat tail. Its at the same place the ATF busted for making Brass bullets too!

www.eliteammunition.ne...751507.htm

40gr vmax blue tip boat tails , $15 for 250

it looks to me like .222 size is for .22 jet or hornet
.223 size is for .22hornet
.224 is for the other .22 centrefire rounds

early [ pre WWII] hornets were 223, and later ones, 224. The savage 340's are all 224, at least that is everything I have read and been told. So I could be completely wrong! but Ive been shooting 223 and 224 with good results.

yeah .218 is available but I like necking down 25-20 it makes the necks a little thicker it holds just a little more powder then the 22 hornet. I guess you could always neck down 32-20 as well.

dan1dad wrote:

I also have some 22 molds that size to .224 my dad gave me years, ago. I am thinking of using those on the hornet as well. I think they should be good for paper cutting at least. They weight out to 46 gr. I know, its pretty sad for someone who has been shooting for over 45 years to be just now getting into loading like this, but hey, I have time now. lol

Now that will be a different approach. I still have 2 projects hanging arround in my head: 1 is to make a .224 bullet using pure lead and a .22 LR or Short case, the other is getting a .224 mould and go for a subsonic .22 Hornet load, something that can be compared with .22 LR and/or even .22 Zimmer performance.
Both can give a lot of fun.

The Hornet is one of my favorite calibers, I have 3 of them. The first is a prewar savage that was my first centerfire rifle, the second is a Ruger #1 that consistently shoots 3/4" groups with 13.5g of Hodgden's Lil' Gun and 40g nogler ballistic tips. Best thing I ever did was get away from the "Hornet Bullets" this may not work with magazine fed rifles but sure shoots great in the Ruger. The third rifle is an original 1885 low wall but it doesn't gedt shot much.

I tried my 35 and 40 gr vmax out this today. Half were with A2400, the other half were with Accurate 2015br.. Its listed in the old #1 accurate manual, but when they were bought out it was dropped from the hornet loads. But I tried it anyway , loading to the books specs. At 50 and 100 yards the 2400 did as expected, 1 +- MOA at 50 yrds, and Im going to blame this on the wind, but I couldnt get better than 2+-MOA at 100 yd today. Previously I was able to get 1+- MOA at 100 with both 2400 and 1680 and 45gr spears. maybe I was just off a little , and I didnt have my rifle rest, used my dads which is a modified gun rest for gunsmithing. Not the most stable, but it works.
Now the real surprise was the 2015 rounds. 3 inch drop at 50 yrds, 5+ inch drop at 100 yrds. I would never have though they would just fall off like that. Accurate emailed that 2015 was dropped as it is to slow burning, but its right under 1680 on the burn chart I saw. Cant be that much slower. Another thing it did was to deform the cases more than 2400 did, and pushed the primers back a little.
I wont be using 2015 for the hornet anymore. But I just wanted to see what it was like since it was listed in the older Accurate manuals.

So that was my morning so far. Im going out to pluck a few with my Garand later today, and maybe shoot some more on the hornet. Tomorrow, my favorite, clay pigeons with my browning B80.. Love that gun!
why I love going to my parents , even though my dad can be crabby. They have lots of land, and room to shoot up to 1000 yds plus I want. :-)

They wont allow hunting though, in their old age they like to look at the deer and turkey more than eat it. Maybe its due to the lack of real teeth? LoL

Miner,

I see the ruger a lot. Im seriously thinking of getting one. I assume you really like it, and if its pulling 3/4 groups , I assume at 100yd? thats great! I guess Im going to have to break down and try that lil gun powder. A lot of people seem to really like it. But I still cant see how you get 13 gr into a 35mm case. I used 11.5 gr of 2015 and it just barely fit.

fnuser wrote:

yeah .218 is available but I like necking down 25-20 it makes the necks a little thicker it holds just a little more powder then the 22 hornet. I guess you could always neck down 32-20 as well.

do they still make the bee in a rifle? That sounds like a fun little gun to shoot. I did see some brass listed for sale online. They sure are proud of it at around $40 for 100 . But I bet that little bugger packs a real wallop

just saw on budsguns, its like the sear toy catalog was for kids only for grown up , for me. It shows Taurus makes a 218 bee, in a revolver though. That has got to be a fun gun to shoot though.