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Old 03-12-2010, 12:33 PM
csterner csterner is offline
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Default hornet brass

Been reading some of the recent posts RE the 22 Hornet and 17AH, Minks, squirrels, etc and it seems every time you read a thread, usually someone mentions differences in hornet brass. "Use this, no, use this" or "this brass is thinner" or "this one holds more powder", etc.

You always here about Rem and Win. Sometimes somebody mentions RWS brass, but it's hard to get. Lately I've been hearing the PRVI brass is pretty good but haven't tried any. The one thing I hardly EVER hear about is Hornady (Frontier) Hornet brass. Why is that? How does it compare to the others?

I found out a long time ago shooting my Ruger 77/22 hornet, that my rifle doesn't like Rem or Win factory loads. Then Hornady came out with the 35 vmax loading. It shot them pretty well, so that's all I bought until I learned to reload. Now I have a bunch of the Hornady brass and with handloads, the gun is incredibly accurate. I busted a few eggs at 200 yds with it at the Eastern Saubier shoot last year. (Yes, I know Ruger Hornets aren't supposed to be accurate. I did have to shim the bolt and put in a Timney trigger, but it never really shot all that bad to begin with, certainly no 'mater stake.)

Been using my Hornady brass in the 22 hornet for over 10 years now, and never lost a case due to splits. I use the "standard" recipe for the 22H, 12.x gr Lil'gun and a 35-40 gr bullet, pistol primers and lee factory crimp. As I worked up to my loads, I quickly found out that my Hornady brass doesn't hold more than about 12.8 gr. lil'gun, even when I swirl it through the funnel and tap the case to settle it. But chrony readings around 3k fps, tell me I'm right where I should be. (I have seen reports of guys using up to 14 gr Lil'gun in their hornet loads! I have absolutely no idea how they get that much in the case.)

When I started loading for the 17AH, I just grabbed a bag of Win brass off the rack, and figured I'd use different brass, for the different calibers. Haven't really shot it enough to start getting to the point where I should be noticing splits. I did crush a few during forming though. So far I'm happy with the Win stuff in the 17AH, but I wouldn't be afraid to try the Hornady.

So, you hornet gurus, what do you guys have to say about Hornady Hornet brass?

Charlie
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Old 03-12-2010, 01:22 PM
Furhunter Furhunter is offline
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The biggest problem I see and the reason you dont hear much about it is...

Its not available in bulk brass as a component like the winny or remington brass. I am sure if it was, there would be a lot more opinions on it.
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Old 03-12-2010, 01:25 PM
TinMan TinMan is offline
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Bought a couple of boxes of the Hornady 35VMAX factory ammo, but they blew around in the wind too much for me. Haven't reloaded it, since I standardized on Win brass before that. At 12.x gr, it sounds more like Win internal volume than Rem volume, if that is a near full load. The Rem will hold 13.x, if I remember right. Measure water or powder capacity if you really need to know. Funny you mention the PPY, just saw that for the first time in Hornet a couple of weeks ago. A dealer at a show here had loaded factory ammo for $22/50rds. The RWS brass is supposed to be very good, but the last brass I saw advertised were priced with Lapua brass or higher. S&B Hornet brass is heavier than Win and has a smaller flash hole. The S&B ammo shot really well out of a buddy's CZ.

Regarding neck cracking, from my experience it is really a function of how big the neck diameter of the chamber is. With segregated Win brass, I have gotten 15 reloads in my Kimber M82, but only 5 or 6 in the Ruger No. 3. When they start to crack, just anneal them and all is good again. My reloading procedure is to neck-size only, and only about 3/4 of the neck length.

Last edited by TinMan; 03-12-2010 at 11:31 PM. Reason: correct spelling
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Old 03-12-2010, 04:14 PM
Daryl Daryl is offline
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I haven't seen any Hornet ammo by Hornady locally. WW and RP ammo runs $65.00 per 50 - that's a bit steep for 'brass', even if Hornady ammo ws sold here.

Furhunter hit it when he said it wasn't available in bulk.

RP lasts longer than WW before annealing is necessary - perhaps it's worked less by the dies, due to being thinner?

Some guys don't like RP because of predudice dveloped in other calibres.

RWS brass has slightly less capacity than WW brass.
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Old 03-12-2010, 05:00 PM
csterner csterner is offline
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Default differing case capacities

I guess I shouldn't have to say this, but those differing case capacities should be taken under consideration when starting to work up loads with anything using hornet brass. Sure makes it interesting when you're dealing with cartridges that only have about 10-12 grains of powder to start with. A grain difference is about 10%. Start low and work up, and use a chrony if possible.

I guess I never thought of Hornady not being commercially made. I just used it because I had a couple boxes of it from factory ammo. It's good stuff, in my book. I always liked hornady 22-250 brass too. Used to get 1x fired stuff cheap from a gunshop down near Philly after the guy blasted cases upon cases of it on his PD hunts. It was great to get 5-10 boxes of 1x fired brass, all the same lot.

Charlie
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Old 03-12-2010, 05:17 PM
ab_bentley ab_bentley is offline
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The RWS has less capacity but at the same time produces the same velocities. Thier production methods produce a thicker walled case but inturn can handle better PSI. The PRVI brass can be had for 196$ per 2000 cases, thicker brass and well made. I would give my big left toe for 2000 cases of RWS.
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Old 03-12-2010, 06:39 PM
montdoug montdoug is offline
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I would imagine that the Hornady is contracted with someone for that brass, I'm not sure who makes it for em but I'd bet someone does with their headstamp.
Brass is another of those things that sometimes the rifle actually makes the choice for ya.
When I first started going "small" my first acquisition was a 1730 Anschutz Meister Grade Hornet. At that time Lil'Gun had just come out and was all the rage. I bought 100 each of what they had in the store for brass which was Remington and Winchester. I weight segregated both into heavier and lighter in MTM 50 boxes and started load development. That Anschutz quickly showed a serious affinity to the Winchester brass. It's an amazingly accurate rifle anyway but there is a real and distinct accuracy advantage with the WW cases with several differently worked up loads.
Rem does have a bit more capacity but who cares? That Hornet with Lil'Gun and and 40 V-Max's in WW cases with WSR primers gets phenomenal accuracy and velocities in the 3,000ish FPS range which is 200FPS faster than the Hornet was designed for anyway. Cases last near forever (I neck size only after first firing) and it just tickles me pink!
I've never tried to stretch the Hornet beyond what I consider reasonable bounds any way. It is what it is, a great old round. Besides, that's why I have a K-Hornet, a .221, a .223 and .22-250's. It's like a ladder with all the rungs intact.
I'd use what ever brass that works best for ya.
P.S.
I picked up an Anschutz Exemplar handgun in Hornet and it felt the same way about the Winchester over the Remington. Maybe something to do with their chambers .
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