Load Testing | 22 Hornet

[223AI]

The hornet case is shaped like a cylindrical wedge, it head spaces off of the rim not the 'shoulder' as it doesn't have a shoulder, if it was as simple as sizing to a crush fit then the good folk at saubier.com wouldn't go to the effort of group ordering RWS brass as it has a thicker rim and more consistent rim and therefore headspaces better, they'd just size for a crush fit.

Generally the european brass has a thicker rim so head spaces more reliably. you have to decide whether you want to push for maximum velocity in which case use american head stamps (REM/Win/Hornady in that order) as these cases are thinner walled and therefore allow more powder capacity but they do fail quicker, or potentially better headpsace due to thicker rim but lower velocities due to less case capacity of european brass but greater longevity, PPU being the obvious and most easily obtainable. There is about 1.5 gr difference in capacity of lilgun between Rem and PPU brass, Rem brass is very hard to get hold of over here unless you want to shoot factory ammo to obtain it. S&B is okay but the primer pockets are punched so need widening and cleaning up in a lot of cases.

In terms of dies I'd go for the lee 4 die set, this gives you the option to FL size, even if you neck size your own brass you will need this if you buy once fired brass and the more people that are loading hornet the harder hornet brass is to get hold of. It also contains a collet neck sizing die, which will allow you to increase the longevity of the brass, work it less and no lube / dry lube only. The 4 die set also contains a factory crimp die which, if you look around the forums, a lot of hornet reloaders swear by.

A chrono is very useful but provided you stick to published data its definitely not an essential, for hornet you are loading for a functional round that shoots < MOA out to 200 yards, you don't need a chrono to achieve this. Hornet is a doddle to load but as has been said know what you are looking out for in terms of pressure, you only get one face.

Lilgun is the best powder to start with and unlike many Hodgdon powders is not REACH affected