22 hornet bator loads...still playing

[NVScouter]

OK so if you have a 22 hornet that like the 22 Bator projectile please chime in.

I've only been casting a short time and the Bator was the first mould that came in that wasnt a black powder mould for me. So after about 2-300 casts I saw I needed to Leement it. Overall my other Lee moulds that came in are better quality in manufacture then the Bator. My sprue plate wasnt very tights and the top of the machined block had a lip on it I had to file down.

All that being said it drops a nice 51gr .225 cast that barely gets sized when I size/GC it in my Lee sizing die with Liquid Alox lube. I do have to keep that mould hot or I get cool spots and wrinkels in the bullets.

So I have played with H110, Green Dot, Blue Dot, Lil'Gun, Clays, and FFFg95 rounds for grins) with this load in my CZ527 American. This rifle with most jacketed rounds under 52g shoots about .40" at 100 yards and under 60g .75" at 100 yards all in the 2300-300fps range.

however I have yet to get this rifle to like the 22 Bator cast. I loaded up some Herco 2400 loads with various seating to go out this AM and I will pick up a pound of Red Dot if I can find it too. So far the best I have gotten is 4" at 100 yards over 11g of Lil'Gun.

So if you have sucess please post up your load data and seating depth!

[johnly]

For a low velocity load, I use 2.7 grains of Trail Boss. It's about like a 22 rimfire load. For more speed, I use 8 grains of 4227 and I get sub-1.5MOA accuracy with this load with the bullet sized at .225". If the bullets are sized at .224", the accuracy drops way off. I use Federal 100 small pistol primers for all my 22 Hornet loads.

John

[rhead]

5.5 grains of 2400, or 12.8 grains of lil'gun. both go .9 to 1.1 in @ 100 depending on my mood, the weather or maybe the phase of the moon. I heat treat mine 1 hr at 430* standing in a wire rack to insure even cooling when I quench. I want all sides to be the same hardness. I lube with bees wax and moly based bearing grease. I shoot mine in a Handi Rifle. It doesn't like factory ammo and REALLY likes 45 gr serria blitz kings.

[trevj]

Word around the web says that the CZ barrels are usually a .223 bore.

Worth slugging it to see, unless you have a .224 sizer on hand to try a few through.

Just sayin'.

I'm gradually gathering things together to get casting for a Hornet and a .223.

Gotta finish my gas check forming tool!

Cheers
Trev

[NHlever]

Hmm, that makes me a bit curious about my .223 Remington CZ 527's bore. I'm shooting cast in both that, and my Ruger 77/22H Hornet, but not the bator boolit.

[trevj]

Dunno what bore CZ are using on their .223 Remington chambered guns (which should be .224 bore), but supposedly (guy on another forum claims to have it from the importer/factory rep, as well as comments on other sites) the Euro's are still pretty good with a .223 bore on a Hornet, while the North Americans are pretty much standardized on a .224 bore for all the centerfire .22's these days.

Cheers
Trev

[NVScouter]

Called CZ and no answer. The scuttlebutt is that CZs have a .223 bore for Euros but the Americans have American standard .224 bores. Of course I have other sites that say .223 and .224. Well it shoots the dickens out of jacketed .224s and has never had a .223 through it from me.

I shot the 2400 loads seated in the middle of the formost driving band and found them minute of squirrel at 50 yards very very explosive results. I was very surprised at that gutpile!

The wind made serious testing worthless but the shot when it quit was promising.

[Single Shot]

I have had a lot of fun shooting this great bullet out of a Handi Rifle 223.

I came across a new mold at an estate sale and just posted it on e-bay for you guys.

[telebasher]

I have used the 22 Bator in my 12 twist Handi Hornet for over a year now with so so success. I love LiL Gun with j-bullets in my Savage 40 , but have limited success with LiL Gun and cast bullets. I tried 2400, H-4227,RX-7, Unique, and LiL Gun with mediocre results at best. I was reading Paco Kelleys write up on the Hornet and noticed he is pretty sold on Win 680 now available as AA1680. Tried it and was rewarded with the best groups ever! The neatest thing from my testing was that all five of the different 22 bullets that I cast shoot to the same POI at my 75 yd. zero with 11.5 to 12 gr AA1680.