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22k Hornet

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Sir Henry
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Re: 22k Hornet

Post by Sir Henry » Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:21 am

Shakey Jake wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:16 am
I got a Ruger M77 22 Hornet from a friend last December. It shoots really well and doesn't take a lot of powder to reload. My is very accurate at 50 yards. I've not pushed it past that on the shooting range. It's fun gun to shoot.
Jake
What scope do you have on it?
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Sir Henry
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Re: 22k Hornet

Post by Sir Henry » Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:23 am

My friend is now hinting he may loan me the rifle long term. Like for the rest of my life and he gets it back when I’m pushing up daises.
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Re: 22k Hornet

Post by cooperhawk » Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:23 am

Sir Henry wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:17 am
When you reload the bullet do you have trouble seating it straight?
Hornets like any small cartridge can be troublesome seating the bullet. I do carefully bell out the mouth so that the bullet
sets down in the opening just a bit. That seems to work. The downside to that is expanding and contracting the brass wears it out sooner.
They will eventually crack at the mouth. I sometimes anneal them to prolong their life.

I am speaking from past experience as the last couple of years I have not had the time to play around with it.
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Re: 22k Hornet

Post by cooperhawk » Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:24 am

Sir Henry wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:20 am
cooperhawk wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:30 am
Sorry about that double post. I only wanted to add to my first one.
You hit quote not edit. I deleted it which you can also do yourself. I’ve hit quote instead of edit dozens of time myself.
Thank you.
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Re: 22k Hornet

Post by BigAl52 » Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:43 am

Let me know if you get the 22 Hornet Gene. I have a set of Lyman 22 Hornet dies in new condition I will send you. I have no use for them. I played with both the Hornet and the K Hornet at one time. patience is key when loading for either as like Bandit says the brass is thin.
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North Country Gal
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Re: 22k Hornet

Post by North Country Gal » Tue Sep 22, 2020 11:28 am

Gene, I love the 22 Hornet and have owned a 22 Hornet in a variety of guns, including both the CZ and the Ruger and, of course, the Contender. The 22 Hornet has sometimes been called the reloadable 22 mag based on its approximate power level, but I think that underrates the cartridge in terms of its power and when it comes to accuracy, no way will the typical 22 mag keep up with the Hornet.

I would caution you, though, that the 22 Hornet is a reloader's cartridge, these days. Factory ammo is expensive and the higher grade 22 Hornet varmint ammo, extremely so. And that's when you can find it. Even in the best of times, availability has been spotty and with the current ammo shortages, even more so.

If you don't want to reload, the 223 is still your most practical choice in a 22 centerfire. It's the cheapest centerfire cartridge if you go with factory ammo and any place that sells ammo will have some, at least in normal times. Accuracy in a CZ, even with the cheap bulk stuff, is very good. I personally see no reason to go K on the 22 Hornet to up its velocity when you can save yourself a lot of headaches and just go with the 223 or even the 222. (Love the little 222, but the 223 has really put the hurt on its popularity. Very soft shooting round, though with superb accuracy.)

When we got out of reloading for lack of time, some years back, I sold off both the Ruger and CZ in 22 Hornet because factory ammo was just too expensive. A 223 in CZ 527 and a 223 in Low Wall single shot take care of my 22 centerfire shooting, now.

The comments on the CZ and Ruger are spot on. It took a lot of work on my Ruger 77/22 Hornet to get it up to speed. Not that I minded, because it really is a nice rifle with a lot of character. I had to shim the two-piece bolt to improve the lockup, I had to do a trigger job and, especially, I had to play with the torque setting on the action bolt, which is very typical of all Ruger bolt guns. Even then, the gun was a bit fussy as to how it was rested on the bag.

The CZ was good to go, out of the box, with nothing more than adjusting the factory trigger to my preferences. By the way, on the CZ 527 set trigger, you can adjust the standard trigger to be superb, though it will require you to take the gun apart. If you do, there is definitely a trick for getting it back together at times, but jut holler if you run into problems.

Given the going price on the 77/22 Hornet versus the CZ, my vote is the CZ in terms of features. For what you will spend, it's the better value. I like both rifles, but you will absolutely have to do a trigger job on the Ruger (I added a Jard) to keep up with the CZ factory trigger. On the other hand, the Ruger 77/22 Hornet, as noted, is US made and a very nice gun. Much prefer that rotary mag to the CZ 527 mag setup.
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Re: 22k Hornet

Post by Sir Henry » Tue Sep 22, 2020 1:51 pm

Thanks Joanie, I was eagerly waiting your thoughts. I want the CZ however if my friend loans his Ruger to me I’ll go with that. He also reloads and he said he already has 500 loaded or will by the time I hit Texas.

He has also done a lot to it as he is a gunsmith and was trained by the Army to be small arms repair. He is still in and is an E7 so he no longer does it but instead is in charge of brigade supplies which includes firearms. Only difference is he is in charge of about 50 men who does the actual repairs.
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Re: 22k Hornet

Post by Sir Henry » Tue Sep 22, 2020 1:52 pm

BigAl52 wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:43 am
Let me know if you get the 22 Hornet Gene. I have a set of Lyman 22 Hornet dies in new condition I will send you. I have no use for them. I played with both the Hornet and the K Hornet at one time. patience is key when loading for either as like Bandit says the brass is thin.
I’m thinking I’m not going to reload these but thanks for the offer.
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North Country Gal
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Re: 22k Hornet

Post by North Country Gal » Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:13 pm

Gene, that is too good an offer to pass up. That's quite a friend. You'll love that Ruger and that's a lot of ammo, to boot. Congrats.
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Re: 22k Hornet

Post by Sir Henry » Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:52 pm

North Country Gal wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:13 pm
Gene, that is too good an offer to pass up. That's quite a friend. You'll love that Ruger and that's a lot of ammo, to boot. Congrats.
Thanks Joanie, he will end up with all my firearms.

I shot it the same day as my .17HMR CZ American and was impressed with the trigger so that is saying something. My CZ outshot it but it had a much better scope on it. I felt the Ruger shot straighter but wasn’t aimed as good. Accuracy wasn’t a fair comparison however the trigger assessment was.

On a side note I stopped at the lgs near the range and the only ammo he had was the 17 and some 22 longs. No centerfire at all.
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