Thread: 22 Hornet loads

Hey team was looking for advice for 22 Hornet loads. Have a BRNO ZKW 465 and wanting to try get as much performance as possible. Currently have IMR 4227 but looking at the manual looks like H110, lilgun or Accurate 1680 is the go.
Cheers

If its a true hornet the bore is .223. If you run .224 bullets you will run into pressure problems early. CHECK first. Minor edit the new cz use 224 bores but it would pay to check

i think the original ammo was 45gr im running 2 22hornets 1xkrico and 1xnef handi took a little but of playing around to get them to shoot as the hornet is quite sensitive to even the slightest chnages in powder changes ive settled on 12.5gr lil gun and 35 vmax its really accurate in these 2 rifles i am head shooting goats at 100m could possibly go further but im happy at 100 some people will recomend using small pistol primers and i thought about it until the owner of one of the hornets i bought had 1 eye i asked him what happened to his eye and he said using small pistol primers i value my eyes so i use federal small rifle primers as i understand they are softer i havnt noticed anything bad from using them biggest thing is geting your powder charges exactly the same for each load

I run Allient 300mp in my K-hornet. Same rifle as yours but rebarreled. Way more consistent and better velocity than the lil gun loads I used to use for around about the same amount of powder or less depending on projectile.




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Originally Posted by mimms2

Yeah. lilgun was pretty much produced specifically for the horny so will give max velo over range of projectile weights.
h110 second best.,

If you can get someone to run a k-hornet or ackley die up it, you get that much more out of it, and can still fire factory if you need to.

Projectile will depend what your game is. The 55gn sp (cheap and cheerful) will sacrifice a bit of velo but give you more twack. Otherwise 33-34gn is what the round was designed for.

Cheers heaps for that. Yeah I’ve seen a bit about the k-hornet. Do you only have to resize the brass to k-hornet and can still shoot without having to modify the rifle?
Currently have a box of old hornady 45 gr soft points. I only really use it for fun but wanting to try knock a fallow yearling at the block I manage and for the odd pig control when I get bored of using my wsm

Originally Posted by Walker

If its a true hornet the bore is .223. If you run .224 bullets you will run into pressure problems early. CHECK first. Minor edit the new cz use 224 bores but it would pay to check

Yeah I’ve been told to only run .223 projectiles in the old Brno. I have some old hornady .223 45gr soft points to use but also a big supply of factory Winchester ammo for just mucking around with to save the handloads

im trying lil gun and win 296 in mine with 45gn sp speers lockdown kinda put kibosh on that atm
however it shoots 45gn hornet match ammo(50rd box stuff) by hornady very well tho
mine a browning abolt 22 hornet😎

If you want the best info from people who are devoted to developing and using small cartridges like the hornet, go to saubier.com. I'm using Lil' Gun, Rem brass, Win SPP, and Sierra 40gn HP. Seems very accurate and fast and consistent in a Martini (with a 0.222 bore barrel, 1:16 twist) at about 3,200ft/sec. I can reload the same case over 20 times with this load and there is still life in the case. Same load in a BRNO ZKW465 is just as accurate and fast. Need to be careful with Lil' Gun because different lots may develop different pressures/speeds. I'm going to try CFE BLK for more consistent velocities. It is getting love on saubier for the hornet.

New a guy when I was meat shooting who shot all his deer with a hornet using Winchester factory ammo. He did alright as well.
I assumed he was neck or head shooting them as it fetched the highest pay out on feral venison.
I was working in an area and seen his vehicle and a bit further on seen him waving me down and he had 3 massive carcasses so I landed to give him a hand.
Flew them back to his wagon. When I got out to grab the strop back I noticed all them were body shot. Talking to him he reckoned he would normally clean shoot his deer but his rifle was getting tired so he started rib shooting them especially if he wants to clean up a wee group.

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yep its all about that shot placement

Originally Posted by mimms2

The 45gn will do it for both deer and pigs if you're at sensible range and good with shot placement. You're not going to get much more terminal ballistics than that. (You will get more, but not MUCH more) The hornet is what it is.

Other way around unfortunately: you modify the gun. You can still shoot factory, and it will fire-form the brass to be reloaded. Steeper shoulder gives longer case life on reloads.

Sweet cheers. Yeah well luckily at this block I manage I know exactly where I will find them so can get into 20-50 yards so range wont be a problem. Will stick with the standard hornet as this BRNO has been in the family for over 50 years so don’t want to change it. Cheers for the help.

The standard hornet will be fine got a pic

Originally Posted by northdude

The standard hornet will be fine got a pic

I have a vx3i on top but might put a older retro leupold on one day

nice