Cast in 22 Hornet

[William Yanda]

Does anyone have experience shooting cast boolets in 22 Hornet? Has anyone seen a .224, 35-45 grain spire pointed mold? I'm thinking this might be a good place to use powder coat.

[Iowa Fox]

I shoot quite a few cast bullets out of the hornet. My favorite bullet out of the molds that I own are NOE copies of the 225107 from group buys years ago. On the NOE's he offered them both gas check and plain base so I got both. I thought about powder coating but alox works well so I haven't messed with it. I have lube sized using white label but alox is all I need. I mostly shoot 2 grains of Bullseye, Red Dot, or 700x and I've still got a good supply of half cent primers. I use a Lee collet neck sizer, a Lyman M die, and a Lyman seating die because I have a seating plug for the 225107 in 22Hornet.

The problem I see with the Hornet whether using cast or jacketed bullets the guys are always trying to push it to hard trying to make it something its not. If you need upper end Hornet performance buy a 223 and load it down.

The pointed cast bullet that you speak of is probably the Lyman 225487 plain base at 43 grains. They also made a 225450 gas check at 48 grains. I have never seen either one of those molds come up for sale ever.

[farmerjim]

It is hard to cast those little 40- grain boolits and the hornet does not like 50+ grain.

[CWME]

NOE made a .225 45gr wide flat nose gas checked bullet mold years ago now. That is my favorite bullet when loaded around 22LR velocity for squirrels. Absolutely anchors critters.

[quilbilly]

My Hornet is a T/C carbine and it loves boolits cast from the original version of Lee's soup can blunt nose mold that drop at about 53 gr. For some reason, it doesn't like the pointier boolits. It's favorite MV is about 1650 fps using either 4198 or 2400 powders.

[pworley1]

The 225107, 225438, and the 225415 all work for me. Red Dot, Green Dot and Unique all work for me.

[marshall623]

Lee 55gr FN in a 10" Contender , 4.5gr Unique lit with WSP primers .

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[MT Gianni]

I find I do much better with cast when I spank it out of the bbl. 10 gr WC820, 10 gr 4227 and a 40-50 gr bullet work great for me. TC contender with an MGM 16 twist bbl. Powder coated and dropped out of the oven into the water.

[Rapier]

Most Hornet barrels are 1-16 twist, the spire point increases the length for weight, so the RN is a more compact design for stability with the 16 twist. I have a couple and the 40 grain J bullet RN is called the Hornet bullet for a reason.

[Nobade]

This is a timely thread. I just recently got out my 14" Hornet Contender to mess with. And indeed, 2 grains which is conveniently also a Lee .3cc scoop of Green Dot and the Ranch Dog 50gr flat point with Lar's tumble lube are super accurate and quiet enough to shoot without ear muffs for hunting. Thanks for the good suggestions! I'm not sure how fast they are going but I think it will be plenty for the squirrels around here.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I used the Lyman 225415 in my Savage 219 .22 Hornet for excellent accuracy with IMR 4227.

[Bigslug]

Did some work to that effect here: https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?436448-Seeking-Hornet-K-Hornet-Propellant-Nirvana

[dale2242]

My #3 Ruger loves 225438 cast of Linotype, lubed with 50/50, gas checked and pushed with Unique.

[Nobade]

Another good load found today. 2.6 grains (.3cc Lee dipper) of Bullseye and the Ranch Dog 50. Easy nickel size groups at 50 yards with the 14" Contender. Should be around 1200 fps. Getting ready for squirrel season here, this should work. an 8lb jug of powder should last a while I'd think.

[muskeg13]

My #3 Ruger loves 225438 cast of Linotype, lubed with 50/50, gas checked and pushed with Unique.

Ditto in my CZ 527, except the alloy is softer, using AC WW w/2% tin. Easy to cast and work up loads for.

[MarkP]

The NOE version of the 225107 in FN and HP shoots well in my 22 Hornet and 221 Fireballs.

[Charlie Horse]

Yes. It's been a while, but I used Unique and gas checks.315337315338

[GooseGestapo]

I’ve used an ancient Lyman 22415 mold. 5-digits. It was new old stock when I bought it in the mid’90’s. I size .225” using w/w with added 95/5 leadfree solder.

I started out with no gas checks or sizer dies. Used 2-2.5 gr of Bullseye. Got gratifying groups at 25yds. I progressed to develop loads using Unique, Blue Dot and #2400. Best is #2400 with a tuft of Dacron over 6.2gr of #2400. The 50gr bullet at 2,000fps trumps a .22wmr by a noticeable margin. Over the years I’ve taken “A” ground hog, several deer, and pigs. Nothing over 60yds, but everything dropped due to shot placement. Can’t mention other species besides armadillos, a coyote, several domesticated species, and others… It’s a very useful cartridge.
I’ve got other molds but it’s my favorite. The Lee 50gr “soup can” is undersized. I haven’t had time or inclination to work with the Lee .225” 55gr FNGC. But preliminary results are promising. In a .223 case with 7.5 gr of Unique it’s great. (Remington M-7).