COTW - .22 Hornet

[AJ]

The .22 Hornet's history goes back to about 1885 with the .22 WCF (Winchester Centerfire). It looked just like the later Hornet and with its black-powder load it drove a 45-grain bullet to about 1500 feet per second. Introduced by Winchester in 1930, the .22 Hornet was the first commercial varmint cartridge adopted by a U.S. manufacturer. The Hornet was developed during the 1920's by a group of experimenters at Springfield Armory named Col. Townsend Whelen, Captain G. L. Wotkyns, Captain G. A. Woody, and Mr. A. L. Woodworth. Winchester produced the first commercial ammunition in 1930. Within a few years, the Hornet had been standardized by all American manufacturers.

The original rifles were based on the Springfield M1903 military and Martini single shot actions. Winchester announced its Model 54 bolt action rifle, chambered in .22 Hornet in 1932, but rifles did not actually reach the market until early 1933. Savage Model 23-D bolt action rifles were available in 22 Hornet by August 1932. Stevens single shot Model 417 "Walnut Hill" target and 417-1/2 sporting rifles were advertised in .22 Hornet in 1933. During WWII, military survival rifles were made for the Hornet.

When the cartridge was introduced, the most popular rifle for converting to a .22 Hornet was the 1922 Springfield. Since the Springfield was originally chambered in .22 Long Rifle, the Hornet was loaded with the bullets of .223" diameter to match it's grove diameter. Later, various commercial rifles were built with barrels of .224" groove diameter. This is the reason some of our bullet makers still offer Hornet bullets in two diameters. Later rifles such as the Sako L46 and the Kimber Model 82 have barrels with .224" groove diameters. At the present time, Anschutz, Ruger, and Ultra Light Arms, chamber rifles for the .22 Hornet. Thompson/Center had their TCR and Contender in the caliber. In Europe, the Hornet is known by the metric designation 5.6x35Rmm.

Best bullets for shooting varmints with the Hornet are those weighing from 35 grains to 45 grains. It's relatively small powder capacity will not allow this cartridge to push heavier bullets fast enough for the explosive expansion needed for humane kills on larger varmints, especially when the range is extended beyond 100 paces or so. Factory ammo is offered by Remington uses a 45 grain hollow point or a pointed soft point. The velocity of both selections is 2690 fps. Winchester offers a 34 grain Supreme load with velocity of 3050 fps. Winchester also offers a 45 grain, soft point load and a 46 grain hollow point load. Both of these are traveling the same as the Remington loads of 2690 fps. When the 45 grain loads are zeroed at 100 yards, they will be 2 ½” low at 150 yards.

Handloading the little Hornet cartridge can be tricky. The Hornet has been called the 20-year cartridge by some. This distinction comes from it being so hard to find a handload the gun would shoot well. The old saying goes “I am too old to have a Hornet. It takes 20 years to find a good load for the gun. I will be dead first.” The handloader must have the equipment properly setup to avoid seating a cockeyed bullet. This leads to terrible accuracy. When the bullets go in straight, the accuracy is just fine. The super thin brass casings can crumple easily when the bullet is not aligned well enough prior to the attempt to seat it. Another thing about the cases is the fact that they tend to have a very short life span. Due to the design of the cartridge, the brass flows forward during each loading and firing. This makes case head separation a popular problem. If cases are inspected properly and the stretched cases are discarded as soon as possible, the problem can be minimized.

If you shoot varmints in a populated area and do not like the neighbors complaining about the booming 22-250 or 243 varmint guns, give the 22 Hornet a try. It works pretty well out to 150 yards or so. This cartridge has almost no recoil and can be more than accurate enough for a 150 yard shot on a varmint

[xjhunter]

Hi,

in Europe we say .22 Hornet, its the most popular cartridge for Fox Hunting and some Birds.

[David_218]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi,

in Europe we say .22 Hornet, its the most popular cartridge for Fox Hunting and some Birds.

[/ QUOTE ]

I load down my Kimber Hornet using SR-4759 powder + 50 grain bullet. Very good Squirrel load and far less destructive than a .22 Magnum.

[Doc]

I am in the process of working up a satisfactory load for my Winchester Hornet right now. I am relatively green at re-loading, so this is quite a challenge for a green-horn. I have noticed the problem spoken of in the first message of case head separation. In order to try to alleviate that excessive working of the brass, I have ordered a neck sizer die and will try neck sizing only to see if that helps.

Doc

[David_218]

[ QUOTE ]
I am in the process of working up a satisfactory load for my Winchester Hornet right now. I am relatively green at re-loading, so this is quite a challenge for a green-horn. I have noticed the problem spoken of in the first message of case head separation. In order to try to alleviate that excessive working of the brass, I have ordered a neck sizer die and will try neck sizing only to see if that helps.

Doc

[/ QUOTE ]

Doc,

If your Winchester .22 Hornet rifle happens to be a Model 43 or Model 70 then you'll need to use 45 grain High Velocity type bullets if you want to develop a small game load. I would use 6.0 grains of SR-4759 powder in Rem. cases and a 7 1/2 SR primer. For full loads I'd start with 296 powder or (if you can find) WW-680 powder and bullet weights from 35 grains to 46 grains. You'll need to work up slowly to your best load.

[AJ]

Try a case full (13.0 gr) of Hodgdon's Lil'Gun in the Hornet. It comes alive with the 45 gr bullets.

I opened my Hornet up to 22K-Hornet. It gets rid of a lot of the brass problems of the original Hornet. The extra velocity is also nice.

[too_pointer]

My family had a Savage ( I think ) 22 hornet for years. I can't remember how many deer was killed by that little gun although definetely not a deer calibur.
too_