.22 Hornet...

I love mine...Contender and it is fun. Matter of fact, I have replaced my .22mag with the Hornet...cheaper and better choice of bullets.

It is only a good round, if you reload. IMHO

My dad loves his. Only gun he really shoots anymore.

Cannibul;

If you like the concept of the Hornet, check out the K-Hornet. A quick read of the reloading manuals that have the two rounds side by side, will make the case.

900F

Be advised that not all hornets are created equal. Rutgers are notorious for poor accuracy. I had one. That's why I had, not have one.

They are not a lot louder than a .22. Takes 40% of the powder of a .223 but gives 90% of the velocity (with a lighter bullet).

I'd personally look at CZ's, though there are other accurate ones.

Also consider .222 Remington.

Talk about a SWEET shooter, that triple duece is sure to please!!

I have a savage 342, it's unbelievably accurate. It's a fun shooter but unless you reload a little expensive. I've killed a couple of deer with it but you'd better neck shoot one because it's really too light IMHO.

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The 22 Hornet is a sweetheart little round. There's nothing not to love about it. If you're looking at the Hornet, the CZ 527 should be your only option. Ruger has a history of poor accuracy and they recently discontinued that model altogether. I've never seen much on the Savage models.

The Hornet fits the gap between the 22Mag and 223 perfectly. I've never bothered with the K-Hornet. My regular Hornet is a laser.

I have 2 Hornets. A CZ 527 and a Stevens 340 with a butter-knife bolt. I absolutely love both. Hornets are finicky when it comes to accuracy, so hand-loading really helps. The CZ is scoped and is consistently sub-moa at 100 yds. Best so far is 0.55" with 40 gr. V-Max and Lil' Gun powder. I have a Williams aperture sight on the Stevens, and I cast bullets for that. Averages about a bit under 1" at 50 yds, and I think I can get it to do better (with open sights, mind you). Using a few grains of Green Dot, it gets between 22 LR and 22 Mag velocities, and is super economical. I think I'm loading for well under 5 cents per round. Cheaper that most 22 LR and with better performance.

Both rifles are a joy to shoot. The 40 gr V-Max's will really rip things up; very explosive.

People say the casings are fragile and easily crushed when seating bullets. I think I've loaded over a thousand rounds and never had that happen.

Quick note on the CZ. It would group 3 tightly but throw 1 or 2 fliers. This apparently is not uncommon with the Hornet, until you find the right load. Anyway, I suspected the crown, and contacted CZ. They said "send it back", and they paid shipping. In a couple of weeks, a package from CZ arrived. They sent me a brand new rifle; it shoots well, and has gorgeous wood! Anyway,TERRIFIC customer service from CZ.

Anyway, I highly recommend the Hornet.

P51D

P.S. - I just saw Olympus' post. Similar accuracy with the CZ, and the wood is just as beautiful as his. Great job, Olympus!

Thank you sir! I found that the factory Hornady 45gr SP Match ammo shoots amazing in my gun. I'm waiting on some Prvi brass to come in stock before I start reloading.

I have a Savage Model 25. The first one would not load from the magazine and it is very hard to shoot as a single shot. I returned it and Savage sent a new one that works perfectly. I load Li'L Gun and Hornady 35 gr bullets. Reloading the 22 Hornet is a bit tedious. The long neck can be easily squashed if not aligned just right. But, I've loaded several hundred rounds and only ruined a few. It is very accurate, shooting quarter size groups at 100 yards. I think it will shoot better if the trigger was better. I don't like the Accutrigger. It's just fair in my opinion. But, the round itself is a blast to shoot. I'd like to find an Anschutz. They used to make them.

The Hornet is kind of a niche round, but I doubt you'll ever meet someone who has owned one and didn't like it. They bark more than a rimfire, but much lighter report than .223 class rounds, including the .222 mentioned above (still has a following, but is just a 2mm shorter, 100 FPS slower version of the .223, and just this side of obsolete).

The only thing I can think of to dislike about the hornet is paper thin case necks that crush easily if you're not careful when loading. Really not an issue with boat tail bullets, though, like the 40 gr. Vmax.

Cannibul: I shoot a CZ 527 American just like ((( Olympus ))). I have had it for several years and it is one of my favorite and most used rifles. My Son shoots a CZ 527 FS 22 Hornet also. I reload for both and use IMR4227 and Hornady 35gr V-Max bullets. Shoots under a 1/2 inch in both our rifles. I use my 22 Hornet rather than shoot my 22Lr`s, 22Mag`s, or 17Hmr`s. I think it is more accurate, more powerful, and a lot more fun. We have shot a lot of Coyotes, PD`s, Ground Hogs, Rock Chucks, and Jackrabbits with our 22 Hornets thru the years. I also have been shooting and reloading for a Win Model 43 in 218 Bee, since 1963. But We are real dyed in the wool CZ fan`s. So I can`t recommend a CZ 527 22 Hornet to highly.
ken

I have a soft spot for a 25/20. Would love to get my hands on one of those.

13 grains of lilgun and a federal spp did wonders for my 22 hornet.

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20K

Winchester manufactured 20,000 Model 70 Standard Grades in .22 Hornet.

Fella's;

Only twenty thousand? That's not even close to one apiece!

900F

I have a Browning "A-Bolt Micro", chambered in .22Hornet that I bought new in 1995. Topped with a Burris "Compact" 2X7 scope, it makes for a fine "walk-around" groundhog rifle. Plenty accurate and the relatively light report makes it a good choice for hunting varmints in Ohio pastures with farms nearby.

My Hornet is a Kimber M82, and if I told you how accurate it is, you'd call me a liar.

It took a lot of work to get that accuracy, though. The Hornet is actually an old black powder cartridge, the .22 WCF. To deal with the black powder fouling, Winchester made the round quite tapered, and the chambers over large. The Hornet, therefore is a handloading proposition. Here's what I've learned about handloading the Hornet:

1. Fire form your brass. New brass is a sloppy fit in the chamber, but once fired, it will fit YOUR chamber nearly perfectly.

2. Disturb the brass as little as possible during reloading. I use a Lee Collet Die, which radially squeezes the neck -- which is all the resizing you need.

3. Only resize PART of the neck. I put a couple of washers on the shell holder to cause the collet to activate early. The sized front part of the neck holds the bullet, the unsized rear part fills the chamber neck and acts as a pilot to center the bullet in the throat.

4. Use Hodgdon't Li'l Gun. I hold the case in a pair of small pliers and dip the powder from a bowl, filling the case. Then I tap the case to settle the powder, then put it in the loading block. I do a flash light check to be sure all cases are filled to the same level.

5. Load the bullet so it almost kisses the origin of the rifling (some people like to load it so it actually touches the rifling.)

6. Use the Hornady 35-grain V-Max bullet. This bullet has a short nose, so you can load it as in 5 above, and still get an OAL that will feed through the magazine. And you Will get 3,000+ fps with this bullet.

They seem to be more "picky" than other rounds (see Vern's post above), some say more difficult to load for because of the thin necks. I haven't had any problems but I chamfer inside the neck.

I found a good load for my contender after a few attempts.



OAL will be limited with a mag fed rifle and might be harder to find a load it likes.

I managed to get a Ruger M77-22 Hornet to shoot pretty good by glass bedding the action and tightening the two piece bolt with a shim washer. The 22 Hornet does not use much powder and it is VERY quiet for how much velocity and power it produces. And yes that is five shots at 100 yards.

I haven't looked at the manual yet but couldn't you just load a .223 down a bit with 55 grn bullets to duplicate the performance of the Hornet? My biggest complaint with the Hornet and 218 Bee is the cost of brass. By the time you secure enough brass to reload a hornet you have paid for the powder difference for a large number of 223 rnds. I used to have a 218 mashburn about 20 years ago and brass was almost non-existant. Price the brass for a hornet before you get real excited about. You can't find it laying around at the range.

Yes, you can download a 223 to get reasonably close to a 22 Hornet. But switching back and forth between full power loads will require a re-zero of the scope. Some see that as a down side or simply don't have access to a range to get back and forth to.