.22 Hornet or .22 K-Hornet?

[leadman]

The shoulder is long and sloping on the Hornet. The K-Hornet is like an Ackley Improved cartridge with an abrupt shoulder. The brass can't flow forward much at all. Kilbourn actually came up with the K before Ackley make his.
I had a hornet and still have a K-Hornet. More speed, better accuracy, longer brass life with the K.

The brass for the Hornet is very thin, more like a 32-20 than a cartridge like the Enfield.

[HamGunner]

I have the Ruger 77/22 Hornet reamed to K-Hornet. With the 45gr. Hornady HPBEE bullet w/cannelure and light crimp, it will do 3/4" at 100 yds. with a good hot load of Lil'Gun and that load chronographs 3,050 fps. in my 22" thin barrel. Much lower pressure compared to warm accurate loads of 2400 and AA 1680 and gives more velocity than both with much longer lived primer pockets. The brass is thin and fragil. I just back the load off about a grain to grain and 1/2 and use the same bullet for fire forming. It is very accurate in the Hornet fire forming load also. I use Rem 6 1/2 primers.

Using that rifle for K-Hornet, the magazines will need a bit of filing out to the shoulder area so that it will work through the magazine as the magazine is tapered like the tapered Hornet case. Just use a small jewelers file and a bit of elbow grease and take a bit of metal off at the shoulder area till they feed well.

The K-Hornet requires much less trimming than the straight Hornet and the brass will certainly last longer as well.

[Reverend Al]

Years ago I had a custom baby Martini in .22 K-Hornet that was truly a little sweetheart. It was built on a .22 LR barrel and was absolutely deadly with Speer .223 diameter 40 and 45 grain "J word" bullets. Shot a ton of gophers out in Alberta with it and it was great to about 200 yards and those little bullets are explosive even at moderate velocities! Again, as has been said here before the improved "K" version gives MUCH longer case life than the standard Hornet ...

[altheating]

I have three Hornets. I had all three re-chambered by CPC to K hornet. All three were done with the same reamer and I can interchange rounds from to the other with no problem. All three love 11gr of 4227 and the BRP 226-47 boolit with wolf SP primers. Using the Lee Collet Neck Sizing Die. The best shooter of all is the Browning Micro A Bolt, next is the Ruger and last is the Rem 799. But even third the Remington is a dam good shooter. Last week Screwbolts and I were shooting pennies stuck in a snow bank at 40-50 yards off hand with the Browning. None of them shot worth a $#!* before being K'd.

[Newtire]

http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.p...,231528.0.html Gray Bread Forum's have reamers to rent . Looks and sounds easy to do but I haven't tried it yet.

I just finished up using the hand reamer rented from Graybeard and was pretty straightforward. Reamer is a Clymers (one I received) with a pilot. I used a little bore paste on a cotton Dremel "plug" turned in a drill motor afterwards to smooth out the chamber. It really makes those cases fireform well from factory new ppu and Winchester cases. Used an 8-point socket and a 1/4" drive ratchet to turn the reamer with and Craftsman cutting tool oil provided by one of our shooting group. Used the master case provided and cleaned and checked progress until tool just barely entered the rimmed area of the chamber and the case just went flush. Beginner's luck! 30 minutes not counting polishing.

[gnoahhh]

I shot aM1922M2 Springfield altered to centerfire and chambered for the K-Hornet for years, even though it had a nasty habit of breaking firing pins. Brass did last seemingly forever but I didn't get materially more velocity than a standard Hornet. Nowadays I play with a couple of single shot Hornets and have no desire to open any of them up to the K chamber. The reason being that cast bullets make up 98% of what I shoot through them (a wonderful avenue for experimentation) and for that the standard chamber suits me fine, and brass lasts for dozens of reloads. If I want to zap a critter with a high velocity jacketed .22 bullet I reach for the .22 Maximum Lovell or .223.

A buddy does have a dandy Model 70 Winchester .22 Hornet that has been altered to K-Hornet that shoots bug hole 10 shot groups that I have been wheedling him for. Perhaps one day I'll wear him down.

God, I love Hornet discussions, even old ones dug up and dusted off!

[Clay M]

I agree with what has been said. Lil Gun is the magic potion for the Hornets.. Good luck on finding any..

[telebasher]

LiL Gun is the powder to use with j-word bullets but cast boolits have a different window for pressure/velocity/alloy. After much shooting and testing, AA1680 is my go to powder with cast boolits and LiL Gun still gets the nod with jacketed in my guns. YMMV. BTW small pistol primers for both powders.

[.22-10-45]

For years I have heard the old saw of longer case like in the K. I think it has more to do with the particular rifle action and closeness of chambering. Back in the mid 70's, I was working with an Anschutz Hornet. This had rear locking bolt..really a centerfire version of their rimfire. I was going thru boxfulls of brass due to seperations. Years later, I had Ed Shillen ( he did the work himself in spare time) barrel & chamber a custom original panneled action Sharps Borchardt in .22 Hornet. It's been over 15 years since I first pressed a primer in that same RWS brass..still going strong. I asked Ed to chamber close and tight like the best bench-rest match chamber.

[kopperl]

Yes the 77 can be done. Had one that is a shooter. If you reload K is the only way to go. The difference in case life alone makes it worth while.

[.30-06 fan]

i would probably stick with 22 hornet and neck re-size for case longevity.

[303Guy]

As you folks have probably deduced, I tend to go off on weird and strange side paths. I load my hornet up to outperform the k-hornet. The k-hornet cannot be loaded as high as the standard hornet as counter intuitive as that sounds. The k-hornet has too much capacity for that type of loading. The secret lies in the use of Lil'Gun and heavy bullets. For cast, well I guess the k-hornet trumps but I don't know for sure. Oh yes, I get indefinite case life with my loading technique. Mine head spaces on the case mouth! Yup, I do things differently.

Having said that I would lean toward the k-hornet - much easier to load than my method and head spacing on a shoulder is way better than on the mouth. That takes not sizing the neck which leaves the problem of holding a bullet/boolit when there is actually a clearance fit (but I found a way).

[M-Tecs]

In my 22 Hornets I can get 12.7 to 13 grains of Lil'Gun in my cases. 90% are Winchester. With my K-Hornet I can get 3/4 of grain more with a slight increase (100 to 150 fps) in velocity in the K-Hornet. Not sure what you are referring to when you state the K-Hornet has too much capacity for that type of loading. I am loading 40, 45, and 50 grain jacketed. The 40 grain V-Max are working the best for me on prairie dogs.

[gnoahhh]

LiL Gun is the powder to use with j-word bullets but cast boolits have a different window for pressure/velocity/alloy. After much shooting and testing, AA1680 is my go to powder with cast boolits and LiL Gun still gets the nod with jacketed in my guns. YMMV. BTW small pistol primers for both powders.

What loads of AA1680 are you using? I picked up a pound of it but haven't tried any yet, not knowing what to shoot for with reduced velocity cast bullet loads.

[telebasher]

Start at 11 grains and work up. Have not run into pressure problems but look for your accuracy window. My guns are 12 and 14 twist and 11.5 to 12 grains work for me. Can't remember specific chrono results but these loads will do anything I ask of a Hornet, especially with my hollowpoints.

[gunwonk]

The shoulder is long and sloping on the Hornet. The K-Hornet is like an Ackley Improved cartridge with an abrupt shoulder. The brass can't flow forward much at all.

I'm using an RCBS X-die on my Euro-Hornet. No more trimming.

It's too soon to tell for sure, but I also suspect that when my brass flows forward, the X-die pushes it back.

[303Guy]

In my 22 Hornets I can get 12.7 to 13 grains of Lil'Gun in my cases. 90% are Winchester. With my K-Hornet I can get 3/4 of grain more with a slight increase (100 to 150 fps) in velocity in the K-Hornet. Not sure what you are referring to when you state the K-Hornet has too much capacity for that type of loading. I am loading 40, 45, and 50 grain jacketed. The 40 grain V-Max are working the best for me on prairie dogs.

The K-Hornet capacity and possibly the case shape makes it unsuitable for Lil'Gun with heavier bullets. It's not even listed for a 55gr bullet. Less powder produces higher pressure in the K. I get 2740fps with 55gr bullets but my pressures are up there near the limits of the case. The K Hornet will overpressure with my loads but for other powders, the K-Hornet trumps. I loaded and shot 60gr Hornady spire points with great accuracy, something I seriously doubt can be done in a 16 twist K-Hornet (my hornet is 16 twist).

[303Guy]

I was working with an Anschutz Hornet. This had rear locking bolt..really a centerfire version of their rimfire.

Mine is an Anschutz Hornet but is the Hornet version of the Anschutz 222 Remington.

[M-Tecs]

303Guy

Thanks. Makes sense now. I have a CZ 527 in a 16 twist that is used mainly for prairie dogs. I am looking for a very explosive bullet that will not ricochet. The 40's shoot outstanding for me. I have some of the Hornady 224 Hornet bullets but they are not as accurate or explosive as the 40's. When they are gone I won't purchase anymore. Played with a couple of different 50's but accuracy was just average in my rifle. What do you hunt with the 60's? Do you have it suppressed?

[1Shirt]

Have a #3 Ruger in K Hornet, and a Sav M40 (single shot bolt) in Hornet. Keep thinking about having the Sav K'd. Both shoot cast well with blts under 45 grain, and since 33 & 35 gr. jacketed came out, that is all I shoot in both of them. No problem getting 3000 and above with the little ones, and they are deadly on p-dogs out to 200 yds w/either Lil Gun or H110.
1Shirt!