45 grain Hornady Hornet bullet in 223 Remington case?

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Nicola Pilla

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Has anyone loaded 223 Remington with the Hornady 45 grain .224 diameter Hornet bullet? I was thinking a COL of 2.130” (SAAMI minimum is 2.125”) might work, using Hodgdon H335 powder. I have a couple hundred of these bullets that need to be put to use. Any insight will be appreciated. 224 Hornet 01.jpg
 
Yes. Not Hornady specifically, but Sierra's. I load them for my son's bolt rifle which is a little slower twist and prefers the lighter (shorter) pills. They shoot well, however he doesn't reach too far with them. 250-ish or 300 on the longer end for him.
 
Thanks MDof2. Range is not an issue. The times being what they are I've re-zeroed optics for urban short-range work!
 
Has anyone loaded 223 Remington with the Hornady 45 grain .224 diameter Hornet bullet?

No, but my Hornady #9 manual for that same bullet used in 223 was tested with the COL @ 2.200.

H335 loads listed ~as low as~ 23.0 gr/3100 fps to a MAX load of 27.1 gr/3500 fps.

(THR not responsible, start low and work up, etc)
 
Has anyone loaded 223 Remington with the Hornady 45 grain .224 diameter Hornet bullet?

No, but my Hornady #9 manual for that same bullet used in 223 was tested with the COL @ 2.200.

H335 loads listed ~as low as~ 23.0 gr/3100 fps to a MAX load of 27.1 gr/3500 fps.

(THR not responsible, start low and work up, etc)

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing the data. I have an "economy" 223 load that I use with 55 grain FMJ with COL of 2.200", using 23.1 grains of H335. I can squeeze out 300 rounds per pound of H335 with this and it is accurate. In the attached photo you can see one of those 2.200" rounds and the relative seating of the two bullets. If I loaded the Hornet at 2.200" it wouldn't take advantage of the full case throat and the case volume is quite a bit larger. This will be an interesting project, but I won't be able to test it because of "shelter in place"! Maybe next month. I think the 2.130" or 2.125" COL testing from 24.0 to 25.0 grains might be what I try first. I will report back.

224 Hornet 02.jpg
 
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Be sure to seat at least .224 in the case neck. Having that much makes sure you have neck tension and increases accuracy.
I have loaded quite a few bullets intended for the 22 hornet in 223.
I use CFE224 with 40 gr bullets. H335 should have similar results.
I prefer benchmark, but I'm dealing with a huge stash of CFE and it works.
 
I wonder if you can seat them that long with the ogive profile they have. They may need to be seated deeply to avoid lands contact.

What about loading up a dummy case for us, Nicola, while we wait for the world to stop ending. See if it chambers in your rifle.
Snap us a picture and I'll trade you a pic of a range outing.
I can hit the range, and will need to before my children give me a stroke...:)
 
My outdoor range was opened for members only, so I was able to get out to test the 45 grain Hornady load. I did not check velocity, just because setting up my gear can delay others. As it turned out there were few brave souls out there... will check velocity next time. The test rounds performed well with no problems. I settled on COL of 2.130" and 25.0 grains of H335, with a light crimp. Runs well in my Ruger Mini-14. I'm attaching a photo of the new round next to one of my 2.200" 55 grain loads for comparison.

223 comparison.jpg
 
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