More hornet bullets.

[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

[223AI]

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!,

Finally managed to get out and test these loads last night, results were reduced noise but still a crack, somewhere between HV .22 and HMR so not as good as I'd hoped.

Accuracy wise at 40 yards the 40gr HP were rubbish, the 45 Speer SP grouped but formed 2 distinct groups with one about 1" higher than the other. I think this is possibly due to some shots leaving unburned propellant in the bore, causing higher pressure and therefore higher velocity for the next shot.

Not a load I'm going to take any further but may give unique and red dot a go to see what they do!

[Eligus]

Finally managed to get out and test these loads last night, results were reduced noise but still a crack, somewhere between HV .22 and HMR so not as good as I'd hoped.

Accuracy wise at 40 yards the 40gr HP were rubbish, the 45 Speer SP grouped but formed 2 distinct groups with one about 1" higher than the other. I think this is possibly due to some shots leaving unburned propellant in the bore, causing higher pressure and therefore higher velocity for the next shot.

Not a load I'm going to take any further but may give unique and red dot a go to see what they do!

I tried Red Dot between 3 and 1.7gr's, got the speed down to about 1,300fps. No problems with unburnt powder.