More hornet bullets.

[223AI]

I'd be interested what quick load would make of hornady brass, 45gr Speer soft point, fed 205 primer and 11.5gr IMR 4831

[Eligus]

Boydy it would probably tell you your insurance was invalid !

[223AI]

I know but I'm dying to try it, my sensible side screams nooooooo

[sackot]

Quickload says:
1) You'll barely fit it in.
2) It's too slow for hornet, half will burn after it exits the barrel.
Won't hurt you though (unless you stick a bullet) so no harm in trying.
Would need proposed OAL to give you precise predictions, it affects available case capacity.

[223AI]

Quickload says:
1) You'll barely fit it in.
2) It's too slow for hornet, half will burn after it exits the barrel.
Won't hurt you though (unless you stick a bullet) so no harm in trying.
Would need proposed OAL to give you precise predictions, it affects available case capacity.

11.5gr compressed
COL 1.720"
Pressure 10,500 CUP (ish from memory)
Barrel 22" if that makes a difference

This is taken from published data, though it was published in the '70s, from a DuPont loading manual and base on a Hornady 45gr soft point. I can't get hold of any hornady bullets but have got a good supply of Speer soft points should it work.

Interesting what you are saying with the unburned powder as it will potentially accumulate in the mod which could cause issues

What I am trying to achieve is a quieter load for my hornet (not necessarily subsonic) for use in more noise sensitive areas. Looking around the net unique or trail boss would likely be better for my needs but I've already got IMR 4831 for loading my 6.5x55.

I'd be genuinely interested and grateful to know what quick load says, I have 10 loaded as above and 10 the same but with a 40gr HP but have been unsure of shooting them!,

[Eligus]

Boydy - I tried Red Dot and got the speed down to about1,300fps, that was with 2gr's - so no chance of it being compressed ! (40gr cast bullets). I thing Trailboss would be the better option.

[223AI]

Boydy - I tried Red Dot and got the speed down to about1,300fps, that was with 2gr's - so no chance of it being compressed ! (40gr cast bullets). I thing Trailboss would be the better option.

I want to avoid switching between cast and jacketed, I haven't got an issue with compressed lads in that least there is no risk of flashover

[Eligus]

I found that jacketed shot just fine at low loads, same as cast. I even got down to 1.7gr and they worked perfectly, I don't think there is much chance of flashover in those small Hornet cases.
The bit about compressed loads was a joke !

[sackot]

11.5gr compressed
COL 1.720"
Pressure 10,500 CUP (ish from memory)
Barrel 22" if that makes a difference

This is taken from published data, though it was published in the '70s, from a DuPont loading manual and base on a Hornady 45gr soft point. I can't get hold of any hornady bullets but have got a good supply of Speer soft points should it work.

Interesting what you are saying with the unburned powder as it will potentially accumulate in the mod which could cause issues

What I am trying to achieve is a quieter load for my hornet (not necessarily subsonic) for use in more noise sensitive areas. Looking around the net unique or trail boss would likely be better for my needs but I've already got IMR 4831 for loading my 6.5x55.

I'd be genuinely interested and grateful to know what quick load says, I have 10 loaded as above and 10 the same but with a 40gr HP but have been unsure of shooting them!,

Quickload's more considered opinion:

Max presssure 12523 piezo (not CUP)
Muzzle velocity 1482 fps
Amount of propellant burned 33.7%

That's assuming the bullet you've got is the one in QL's database called Speer SP 1023.

Trying a 40 grainer (probably not yours) the change is
Max pressure 10688
Velocity 1472
Burned 30.41

In general that doesn't look like a well balanced load but the pressure is so much lower than the max allowed (43k) that I can't imagine you will do any damage even if QL is a bit off.
Regarding the unburned powder, it certainly doesn't look ideal but bear in mind that more conventional loads often only come in at 85-95% burned, so if accumulation in the mod is really a problem the only difference would only be that you would have to fire six times as many shots before the mod blew up. I've not heard of this, so assume that maybe after the first few shots as much gets disturbed and blasted out with each shot as accumulates. Just a surmise, I certainly don't know the answer.

[223AI]

Sackot thanks very much you're a Gent!


Incidentally it is the 1023 and the 40gr is the Nosler FBHP17225.

At least I can try the loads now, I am only after a 50 yard rabbit gun as that is all that is really needed in the noise sensitive fields. Hopefully 1 or other of the bullets will stabilise and be accurate at these velocities. I realise that expansion won't be great but a .177 air rifle pellet kills humanely with the right shot placement.

I suppose it will come down to 2 things, accuracy and noise reduction, once I get around to testing I'll update the thread. My RFD for one thinks the noise reduction will be negligible until I get down to the 8-900 fps bracket so may be a futile exercise in the end! The other option I think will be to buy a tub of Unique and experiment with that with loads from 3 - 5 grains between a 35gr V-max, and the other 2 bullets.

As for the mod build, that's good to know, its an early DM80 and easily strippable so it will be easy enough to remove any build up after a night out.

[angrybear]

Well as the weather was nice, and my idiot neighbour's horses were not in my field for a change I was able to have a play with the Sierra 40gn's this afternoon.

As I expected my chrono figures knock spots off the book figures, but while they use lil-gun in the std case, there are no Sierra figures for it in the K Hornet case (only Hodgson's), so in a std case they quote 2800fps with 10.6gn lil-gun, that load gave me an ave 2940fps & a nice even 1" group, I also tried 11/11.2/11.5gn but these all opened out a bit although velocity went up to a max of 3200fps ( book stops at 2950fps) so I'll try a few in steps down to 10gn see if they tighten up as they slow down around 2800fps.

I found it quite interesting that my control group (30gn barns @13.7gn) shot a nice ragged single hole 1/2" but had by far the worst consistency with an extreme spread of 179fps also recorded the highest yet individual at 3546fps with an average of 3430fps

[Eligus]

Boydy - I didn't achieve subsonic but at around 1,300fps the noise reduction was significant

[dickthomas]

I'd be interested what quick load would make of hornady brass, 45gr Speer soft point, fed 205 primer and 11.5gr IMR 4831

Cartridge : .22 Hornet(.224 groove=custom)
Bullet : .224, 45, Speer SP 1023
Useable Case Capaci: 11.969 grain H2O = 0.777 cm³
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 1.720 inch = 43.69 mm
Barrel Length : 22.0 inch = 558.8 mm
Powder : IMR 4831

Predicted data by increasing and decreasing the given charge,
incremented in steps of 2.0% of nominal charge.
CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step Fill. Charge Vel. Energy Pmax Pmuz Prop.Burnt B_Time
% % Grains fps ft.lbs psi psi % ms

-20.0 87 9.20 1226 150 8053 825 27.5 2.148
-18.0 89 9.43 1249 156 8382 861 28.1 2.109
-16.0 91 9.66 1273 162 8732 898 28.6 2.071
-14.0 94 9.89 1297 168 9104 936 29.2 2.033
-12.0 96 10.12 1321 174 9503 976 29.8 1.996
-10.0 98 10.35 1347 181 9927 1017 30.4 1.959
-08.0 100 10.58 1372 188 10380 1059 31.0 1.922
-06.0 102 10.81 1399 196 10864 1103 31.7 1.886
-04.0 104 11.04 1426 203 11382 1149 32.3 1.849
-02.0 107 11.27 1454 211 11937 1196 33.1 1.814
+00.0 109 11.50 1482 219 12532 1245 33.8 1.778
+02.0 111 11.73 1511 228 13170 1296 34.6 1.742
+04.0 113 11.96 1541 237 13856 1348 35.4 1.707
+06.0 115 12.19 1571 247 14595 1402 36.2 1.672
+08.0 118 12.42 1603 257 15392 1459 37.0 1.637
+10.0 120 12.65 1635 267 16253 1517 37.9 1.602

[223AI]

Cartridge : .22 Hornet(.224 groove=custom)
Bullet : .224, 45, Speer SP 1023
Useable Case Capaci: 11.969 grain H2O = 0.777 cm³
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 1.720 inch = 43.69 mm
Barrel Length : 22.0 inch = 558.8 mm
Powder : IMR 4831

Predicted data by increasing and decreasing the given charge,
incremented in steps of 2.0% of nominal charge.
CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step Fill. Charge Vel. Energy Pmax Pmuz Prop.Burnt B_Time
% % Grains fps ft.lbs psi psi % ms

-20.0 87 9.20 1226 150 8053 825 27.5 2.148
-18.0 89 9.43 1249 156 8382 861 28.1 2.109
-16.0 91 9.66 1273 162 8732 898 28.6 2.071
-14.0 94 9.89 1297 168 9104 936 29.2 2.033
-12.0 96 10.12 1321 174 9503 976 29.8 1.996
-10.0 98 10.35 1347 181 9927 1017 30.4 1.959
-08.0 100 10.58 1372 188 10380 1059 31.0 1.922
-06.0 102 10.81 1399 196 10864 1103 31.7 1.886
-04.0 104 11.04 1426 203 11382 1149 32.3 1.849
-02.0 107 11.27 1454 211 11937 1196 33.1 1.814
+00.0 109 11.50 1482 219 12532 1245 33.8 1.778
+02.0 111 11.73 1511 228 13170 1296 34.6 1.742
+04.0 113 11.96 1541 237 13856 1348 35.4 1.707
+06.0 115 12.19 1571 247 14595 1402 36.2 1.672
+08.0 118 12.42 1603 257 15392 1459 37.0 1.637
+10.0 120 12.65 1635 267 16253 1517 37.9 1.602

Lovely job, thanks very much

[angrybear]

Well it's been a while due to inclement weather &/or stock in my range field but I got out to test some 40gn sierra loads this afternoon.

By my book Hodgdon say 12.5 gn lil-gun for 2891fps, in a K yet I've had over 3000fps from 11gn while std case they say 12gn for 2667fps (both starting loads)

Going to the Sierra page for the bullet, they say 10.6gn for 2800fps in a std case, but no lil-gun info for the K.

Anyway having had the results from post #41 I tried lighter loads, from 10.5gn down to 10gn & found 10.2gn to give a nice 5/8" group at my primary (68yd) zero at 2820fps average, so I'll do another batch to try at secondary 140yd.

So to go back to Eligus's OP I'd say try some lighter loads, ignore Hodgdon data & stick around what the bullet manufacturer says.