22 hornet issues

[Kroberts]

I've been playing with my new litle cz527 in 22 hornet and trying to find a load for the 40 gr varmagedons. I havnt got it grouping to my liking yet, but it's on its way. It's averaging 2" at 125 yards for 5 shot groupsand it does the same with the factory hornady 35 gr vmax stuff. the powder I've been playing with has been lil gun, and I will say that in getting some incredible velocities with it so far. But compared to all the other cartridges I've loaded for this one is acting different to me. This rifle has a very loose chamber. The case body swells so there is a distinctive dip at the case webbing, and I can easily fit 13.5 gr of lil gun in the case with about 1/8" of case neck left. But I stopped working up with the charge at 12.2 gr with the bullet at right at magazine length because the velocity was about 3050fps, and with the longer than magazine seating depth and same charge the velocity became 3150 fps. Though the rifle seems to prefer the bullet seated much longer. Which from all my reading is very high for that powder charge. With hornady brass I am gettinf 3 loads before the primers won't stay put, and I'm getting minimal pressure signs, the primers are just starting to flatten but still have rounded edges. And the charge is well under max in the hodgdon manual which is 13gr. This has me confused on why I have a large chamber, but high velocity for a relatively small powder charge.

Right now the load I'm messing with is:hornady brass, cci500 primers, 40 gr varmagedon hp 1.805" OAL, 12.2 gr lil gun, with a LFC crimp.

When seating the bullet out progressively further the main group started to tighten up quite a bit down to 3/4" but still with 1 in 5 that brings it to <2" at 125 yards. And the speed spread started to drop a lot. With magazine length I was getting ~100 fps SD and 225 ES, I've never had a spread that high. With the longer length it dropped to ~30fps, and 65 ES. So I'm going to play with powder charge at around that point and see if the flier will pull into the group. If not and the brass life stays the same Ill switch to another powder and see what happens.

three main wierdness that I'm curious about is the short primer pocket life for a supposedly lower powder charge with a large chamber, and the high velocity that goes with it. My only thinking is that the cz bore might be a little tight.

Any input and thoughts appreciated.
Thanks,
Kyle

 

[scottishkat]

Hogdon Lil gun did not group well until I got to 12.6. Primers make a big difference.
My most recent load is 13.0 gr with a Remington 1.5 sm pistol primer from 2 CZ 527's will group into 1" at 100 nearly all day.

On the high extreme spread I would trim all brass to the same length and weight sort all brass and only shoot brass that is within 1gr or so of each other. COAL is as long as magazine will allow. When the brass is the same size outside slight dimensional changes on the inside changes pressure created within the case.

My best group is attached at 12.6 with a Remington 6.5 with a 50g Hornady SP. Group size is about the same with 45's maybe a little bigger. Never shot 35's or 40's

Both rifles shoot about the same one has and international stock the attached was shot with it.

Good luck and shoot straight

Bob

 

[LoneTraveler]

I helped a friend with a 22 Hornet rifle many years ago. We finally found a load with IMR 4227 Powder and Rem. Small Rifle Primer. and 45 gr. .223 diameter Hornet bullets. From your post you are using CCI 500 Primers. These are listed as Pistol Primers. From all the information I had access to and read as a Police Firearms Instructor, Pistol Primers have a hotter fire, To ignite powder quick in short barrels. And softer primer cups for more positive ignition with less striking force of a firing pin. A small case and a hot primer can cause a bullet to move before the powder is actually burning and moving the bullet out of the case prematurely. check the bore, That may be part of the problem. Good Luck on this rifle.

 

[Kroberts]

I tried a few hotter charges, but not a lot higher yet. I went up to 12.5 gr. they didn't do much better but the two warmer charges were atleast going in the right direction. They were about 1 1/2- 1 3/4" 4 shots, instead of the 2-3" that the others are doing. Though the speed spread was still in the upper 200s, around 280. I didn't weight sort those cases since thy were already loaded. I also loaned my digital scale to my buddy to weigh is ball python, so I'll have to weigh the cases on my balance beam. I'll keep upping the charge till I hit 13 gr or a load that groups good and see what happens. I've got several bricks of the cci500 primers, so I might finish this batch of testing with them. I've got 1 brick of Winchester small rifle primers I'll give a try and see what happens. If none of that works the. I've got most of a pound of h110 I'll give a try. Hopefully something works with it. It's not terrible since its a 250 yard varmint round anyway with these bullets. But id like a little more precision.

Thanks for the tips,
Kyle

 

[flashhole]

I don't have a Hornet but I do have a 221 Fireball. I found using mild primers gives best accuracy w/o sacrificing any velocity. Like was already stated, you want the powder to do the work of dislodging the bullet, not the primer. My go-to bullet is the Nosler 40 grain Ballistic Tip. Accurate 1680 may be a powder worthy of testing in your Hornet.

 

[Kroberts]

I finally got around to doing a little more work with the hornet. I went up to 13 gr of lil gun with the same set up as before. Once I got above 12.6 ge everything started to get better. The speed spread shrunk from a high of 350fps down to about 40 and the groups went down to Moa. The wierd thing is that as I went up in charge the average velocity didn't change much and actually dropped a little. At the lower charges I would get an average of 3150 but the ES would be over 250. At the higher charges the average dropped to about 3000 fps but a much tighter ES of about 30-40. I think lil fun much have sporatic burn qualities until you you reach food case fill. I've drcided that before I do any more testing I'm going to take a few days bed the action. And see if it helps.

Kyle

 

[J E Custom]

I use the small rifle in my hornet, (CCI 400 or the Remington 6 1/2) with very good results. I also use them in my 22 K Hornet.

I don't recommend using the small pistol primers because of there Brisance.

The link will explain this and has some very good comments about the 22 Hornet.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PRIMER

J E CUSTOM

 

[LoneTraveler]

I remember another thing when working with the 22 Hornet case. Be sure to have a neat smooth bevel on the inside of the case neck. If you do not, And the bullet catches the case mouth it will collapse the thin neck and ruin the case. Jill pokes the case beyond repair.