Thread: Reloading 22 Hornet (The Original) – Optimal Canada Goose Load

So like I said earlier, perfect weather for reloading!
So I set myself the objective of cleaning, tumbling, FL resizing and depriming all the 22 Hornet cases I had lying around.
In total I've processed 737 cases; 146 Winchester, 240 Remington, 69 Norma, 282 Hornady.
Part of the motivation was to answer the question, "How many split or head separation case do you get?" This follows on from the above thread.
The answer is, out 737 cases I found SIX with neck splits and ZERO head separation (I didn't check inside any cases with the bent paper clip).
Brand of the six split case: 5 Remington, 1 Winchester.
I expected the Winchester to be the split, and only split, because some of that brass dates back to 1988 when I bought my first Hornet.
I've said this before, I don't chase the holy grail of 3000 plus feet per second. I don't load to maximum.
My only grail is a thumb sized group at 150m and instantaneous clean kills. I don't want to unzip a rabbit from it's arse to it's brisket, because I want to be able to eat the livers and kidneys, so I don't want to cover those in shit! To me a good projectile/load combination makes a neat entry hole and an exit hole about the size of your thumb or a golf ball.
If you fellas are getting a lot of splits and head separation, you need to revist you processes, check that your rifle chamber isn't stuffed, and stop chasing maximum.
On process. This weekend I started washing fired cases in boiling water, with a dollop of dish washing liquid. I don't wash each individual case, just slosh them around in a bowl. Reason being, I read, perhaps on this forum, that the troops used boiling water pouring down the barrel to remove powder foiling. I now know from experience that the water in the bowl turns dark grey, so it is obviously dissolve powder residual. Then I stand them in a grate, vertically to drain and dry over the fan heater. Once dry they going into the walnut tumbler. Interestingly the cases cleaned with boiling water, go through the FL resizing die more smoothly and easier. Perhaps with the neck clean of powder residual the neck sizing ball isn't getting stuck.
Some people say cleanliness is next to Godliness, but I reckon cleanliness is next to accuracy.