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Thread: .22 Hornet and Herco Powder

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
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    .22 Hornet and Herco Powder

    I'm new to the .22 Hornet and I have loaded some with W296, which I can find published data for. In doing research, I see in the past that Herco has been used for .22 Hornet. I have looked to no avail in finding any data for it. Currently I am shooting j-words, Speer 33 gr and a Sierra 40 gr. Any one have experience with Herco. Could it just have been for cast? Thanks for the help.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
    farmerjim's Avatar
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    I have used herco in 223, 308, and 7.62 X 54r , all cast and powder coated. I have not tried it in the 22 hornet (yet) . Some of my loads were found in old manuals, others were Unique load data. Unique is only a little bit slower than herco and where I have seen them both in the same tables they are the same or within .1 grains.
    If you use unique data for herco, do so at your own risk, but it has worked for me.
    Let others with more experience than me comment on this.
    You will probably get comments both against and for this.
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master 15meter's Avatar
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    Having never used Herco in anything, I always thought Herco was more shotgun powder than anything else.

    I'll have to dig through my old manuals to see if I can find any listed loads.

    As to the safety, with that tiny a case, I'm not sure anything you could put in a Hornet would be truly dangerous, although my Hornet is a Ruger #1. 12.6 grains of 296 for me works pretty well. Don't think I can get anymore in the case without a drop tube. It's out of an older Hornady manual in a separate listing for #1's and #3's.

    I'd be curious if there are any truly dangerous loads for the Hornet.

    Split the case yes, disassemble the rifle?

  4. #4
    Boolit Master


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    farmerjim:
    I think what you meant to say about the burning rate of Unique powder vs Herco, is that the "Herco" powder is a little bit slower than the Unique.
    Spoon
    You stated in your post that, In the past you have seen where Herco has been used in the 22 Hornet. Probably, a lot of powders have been experimented with in the past. I checked my Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook with a copyright date of 1958, and the closest powder to Herco is Unique. If it were me, I would start with "starting" load for Unique, with the Herco powder, Herco being a slower burning powder. But that just me. Personally, I would think that neither Herco or Unique would be ideal powders for the Hornet case. For me, the rub would be having to trickle those particular powders in the small .22 calibre hole. I would definitely not try to use powder measure to feed the case. I do believe you would definitely get powder bridging with either one of those powders. JMHO.
    Regards
    Last edited by littlejack; 10-01-2021 at 12:53 PM.
    If a 41 won't stop it, I wouldn't bet my life on a 44.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master



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    Sorry, no experience with Herco, but Hodgdon Lil'Gun is by far the best powder for the .22 Hornet or .22 K-Hornet. Easy on primer pockets even at max. pressures. The primer pockets you will find are very easy to stretch with healthy charges of most powders. I love the Hornady 45 gr. HP BEE with cannelure for my Hornets if using jacketed bullets. A slight crimp helps to give more uniform pressures. Another helpful hint is to use small pistol primers. They seem to help with uniformity as well.
    73 de n0ubx, Rick
    NRA Benefactor Life Member/VFW Life Member

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    Herco is really a bit too fast for the Hornet, except for cast bullets at very moderate velocity. Lil'Gun is hands down the best for full power loads with jacketed bullets. Lower peak pressure for any given velocity. I've used 6 grains of Blue Dot with a 45 gr. GC bullet in my old Contender with mixed results. Four grains of Unique was better. Five grains of Herco would be safe enough. Six would be marginal IMHO.

    If Herco's all you can get, use it, but you'll never get beyond 2000 fps without exceeding pressure limits. Fast powders burn quick, build up a lot of pressure, but the pressure tails off fast as the bullet moves down the barrel. Lil'Gun is just the opposite. It has a "fat tail" to the pressure curve.
    Cognitive Dissident

  7. #7
    Boolit Master 15meter's Avatar
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    Rooted through a stack of old reloading data manuals:

    Lyman #42, #44, #45, what I suspect is ~ #40(no cover) but guess publication date is 1956ish, 458 Win Mag has a notation that no data is available but that data would be available later in 1957.

    Lyman Handbook of Cast Bullets

    Hodgdon #20

    Speer #5, #7

    Hornady, Copyright 1967

    Not a single reference to Herco in the 22 Hornet.


    (I've got too many reloading books)

    My guess is that there isn't any data for the Hornet using Herco.

    But I've been wrong before, in the old days I would have said to ask my M-I-L if I've ever been right about ANY thing, but she died in August. So I guess you'll just have to ask my F-I-L, in 39 years, he's figured I haven't been right about much either.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check