Cast Boolits in H&R 22 hornet

[357Wheelgunner]

Hi All
I recently purchased a H&R single shot in 22 hornet and have been playing a bit with it with a variety of cast boolits. Unfortunately I have not had a lot of success. Yes, I have "shot in" the barrel, slugged it and all the other stuff and the bullets are properly sized and lubed. I have tried a half dozen powders, Unique, 2400, bullseye, and a couple more that I forget right now all with a several different loads starting from mild to hot. Best grouping I can get is with the 107 Lyman bullet with good old 2400 and it groops about 1-1/2" at 50 yards. No leading in the barrel regrdless of what I feed it. Anyway, I was looking down the tube the other day and noticed that there does not appear to be a lot of difference between thge lands and the grooves, very shallow riffling. I was wondering if this might be a problem with the lead bullets, that they are just not getting a grip?
Any thoughts or am I barking up the wrong tree here?
Thanks
Jim

[Shooter]

I bought one of those in the '70's, a combo pack with a 20 Ga. barrel. While it shot well enough with j-words, cast is hard.
It may not be that particular gun, just cast .22's in general. Larger boolits are easier.

[nanuk]

can you post your barrel dimensions, and your sized diameter?

I have 3 45/70 Handies and two (H&R's) are relatively loose but have well defined rifling. the third is an NEF. I have not slugged it, but the bore appears to have... well.... scratches running spiral like in the bore.... hard to call it rifleing.
No cast through it yet, but it shoots minute of moose with full length GC's

the consensus here is to use the largest diameter boolit that will fit in the fired case, and still chamber.

[CWME]

I have had about the same luck as you with mine. I can get 22cal boolit's to shoot in other rifles so I don't think that is the issue for me anyway. I gave up on it for now.

[Jim]

I recently traded a 1:9 extractor .223 barrel for a 1:12 ejector .223 barrel. Prior to obtaining the 1:12 barrel, I couldn't get any decent groups. It might behoove you to check the twist rate and match a boolit to it.

I went through several hundred rounds of different powders, charges, lubes and boolit weights before I found a coupla' loads that suited me. With all the variables that have to be explored, sometimes it takes a lot of time and shootin' to find that ideal load.

[1Shirt]

In my experiance getting cast to shoot well in a hornet beyond 50 yds is a challange, but it can be accompllished. I have played with different sizing/different lubes/different hardness/and a lot of cussing. In general however, I have found that the shorter the blt the better, and the little 225438 in a HP shoots best in my hornet and K hornet, over 2400 w/SP primers.
1Shirt!

[tacklebury]

There's a nice article here on cast boolits in .22 hornet: http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/ByCaliber/Cast%20Bullets%20in%20the%2022%20Hornet.pdf

I used his data for .223 with great success. might give you some good ideas anyway. ;) Good spot to buy some to test with:

http://www.montanabulletworks.com/224_Rifle.html

[Hank10]

I have 10" and a 21" K-Hornet Contender barrels and shoot both 225438 and 225415 bullets using 680 powder. Both bullets shoot well in either barrel. I use gas checks on both. H10

[Hal]

I had very good luck using the RCBS 55 GR mold in various guns with AA-1680. No leading and fast.

[nanuk]

...With all the variables that have to be explored, sometimes it takes a lot of time and shootin' to find that ideal load.


I hope no one takes that as a BAD thing!?!?!:roll:

[1Shirt]

Beagles article is most excellent, and recommend it to any one loading cast in hornet.
1Shirt!