Canadian Airgun Forum

It has been years since I have done any handloading, and even longer since I have done any rifle cartridge reloading. I plum forgot just how long it can take to clean, sort, repair (old cases with lots of dings in the rims), size, and then finally reload them. Having to lube each case, run them through a sizing die (and carefully do that) is a very tedious process. What makes it particularily tough, is that these are some of the smallest cases out there, the .22 Hornet (22 WCF), and it takes only a tiny amount of excess lube to put a dent (aka oil canning) in the shoulder of the case. Or so I thought. As it turned out, it was the neck expander that pulled residue out of the case and deposited it in the die, awaiting the next case. Once I had that figured out, the dents just about disappeared, but now it adds an additional step as it is also the neck expander that holds the decapping pin. ARRRGHHH. Three long afternoons later, 230 cases were ready, or so I thought.

Lost 4 right off the bat to splits in the neck, and as the loading progressed, lost another 5 to splits that showed up after they had been through the sizing process and were being trimmed to length. Apparently, the Hornet is notorious for growing as the case has a very shallow taper, and since it is headspaced on the rim, the case is nearly free to flow forward upon firing. I told my dad about how long it took, and he said "Done so soon?" (just what I needed). The actual refilling of the case is very, very fast and in some ways, a let down to the whole process. At least they could have taken longer to load !!!!! Filling the case with my dads receipe leaves just a bit of space at the top, which nicely comes up to the bottom of the bullet and is slightly compressed. This is the very first time I loaded them with my equipement, as I used to load them all the time, when I was younger, for my dad. It was a learning experience and I have had to take a die that I was going to sell and use it as the neck expander/decapper die. Having the powder that close to the top of the case, makes seating the bullet a careful part of the process. If I drive it in too fast, the bullet does not compress the powder and it is like hitting a wall. What happens is the case can actually buckle under the force created by the press.

Even though I have a four station press, that is more of a formality for holding the dies as you cannot use it like a press you would use for .45 ACP or 9mm. With those, it is from the tumbler, right onto the shell holder, then four turns later, a finished cartridge comes off. With my Dillon Square Deal press, it is even faster as the press is indexed with each pull of the handle. Call it a four station "Single Stage" press. I have had one of the larger Dillon presses when I had my shop, and the amazing thing is, I don't miss it. I was able to crank out rounds so fast, it became boring, until one day and entire tube of primers went off. That was a bang you don't forget very quickly, and reinforces the need for glasses when reloading. Here is my tiny tack driver at only 41 inches long (the barrel is 22 3/4" of that length, lol).

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Keyrigger
CAFTA Governor

When you are long winded, is that a sign of Wisdom or Old Age?

I had a Martini action in 22 Hornet...very nice cartridge except for case separations....what a pain in the neck!!!

Nice looking gun.

Doing some research about the rifle and the cartridge, seems that the American chambers are much larger than their European counterparts. Comments were made as to how fast cases self destructed in a Ruger 10/77 and others with newer Savages said the same thing. Some of my dads cases are better than 35 years old ! We lost over 200 at the club about 4 years ago. We left them on the bench behind the shooting line, and when I came back to the club to get them, they had been removed and even with a notice on the board, were never returned. Was yours originally chambered in Hornet, or was it a conversion from a rimfire rifle, as I know that was done by some smiths?

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Keyrigger
CAFTA Governor

When you are long winded, is that a sign of Wisdom or Old Age?

Best advice for loading the hornet is this: A: Use federal brass (or more accurately, but factory federal ammo...and use that for 200 rounds) then buy a neck sizing die. You shouldn't need to resize the brass if you have only one hornet (and the brass is fire-formed into that chamber) and you should only need to trim every 5-6 loadings.

It's less work, and you should see an impovement in accuracy over case-sized brass.

The WORST case to load has got to be the .204 ruger....I thought the
.17 rem was a PITA, but these things are aweful!

Cheers,

Ryan

Been doing some reading about case sizing and prep. Aside from full length sizing the cases, which as you pointed out is not really needed for one rifle (I do have two, but only one gets any use), I am not too far off good case prep proceedures. One fellow is really against tumbling cases as there is a good chance on dinging up the case mouth (really anal about that, it seems) but for me, having the cases very clean will help to reduce dirt in the chamber, reduce roughness that can scratch the chamber, and lastly, they just look good. Seems I will be doing some neck cleaning the next time I do loading, as that will reduce trouble with uneven bullet tension and will keep the bullets from being marked as they leave the case. Man, there is a lot more information about accuracy loading posted than I ever thought. Good stuff. Thanks.

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Keyrigger
CAFTA Governor

When you are long winded, is that a sign of Wisdom or Old Age?

Nope, you're not far off at all. When loading strictly for accuracy, I never...and I mean never....resize the case. Neck only.
Once the brass has been fired, it literally expands to the exact dimensions of the chamber of the rifle it's shot from. This means that if you use the brass neck-sized only, you have a match fit between the chamber and the brass. Another tip is to load one dummy round with the neck a little loose, and the bullet just barely in place (sticking out way too far). carefully chamber this rounnd, and the bullet will seat itself when the bullet hits the rifling. Carefully remove the cartridge, measure, and load the rest of your shells to that length, minus a couple of thous. This will seat the bullet just a couple of thous off the rifling, and should increase accuracy. One note: Make sure they still fit in the mag at that length.

fun fun fun.....

Is that gun a 22 Hornet or a 22 K Hornet? I don't remember the exact difference.

The K hornet is a wildcat gone legit....Along a similar vein as the "ackley improved" and "Epps improved", all it is is a .22 hornet with the shoulders blown out at a steeper angle. This gives more case capacity, and therefore potential for higher #'s.

The downside is that most guys fireform there own brass by shooting non-K shells in their K's. While this is perfectly safe, it can cause too much fatigue in the brass and cause pre-mature splitting (4 loadings or so)

Ryan

If you don't like the ka-booms from priming on the press, the Lee Auto- Prime is the way to go.

I can prime 20 rds in less than 3 min. with it. Great tool at a great price.

Craig

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B4-2
M2004

That was a freak accident that never repeated itself. Honestly, I hate auto feeding systems and prefer to load one primer at a time.

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Keyrigger
CAFTA Governor

When you are long winded, is that a sign of Wisdom or Old Age?

Hey Keyrigger , is your rifle a Brno??? and the scope a Lyman with external ajustments ???
Just wondering
Bob

Bob:

You nailed it. It is a 1949 Brno ZKW 465 that my dad bought brand new in 1950. The scope is a Lyman Junior Targetspot 10x and the crosshair is extremely fine compared to most scopes today, with the exception of high cost target and benchrest scopes. I remember him telling me that the scope he really wanted cost over 350 dollars back then, so he had to settle for the Lyman, and that was close to 200, not including the custom mounts needed to put it on the rifle. The work was originally done by Holman and Hickey on Dawes Rd. in Scarborough. Even back then, the cost of top end glass was more than the rifle it sat upon. He said that he could have bought two Winchester 94's for the price he paid for that rifle. He never regretted it, and I don't either. Going out to put a few more rounds through it and taking my dad with me. Might even bring his S&W 41 so he can bang a few rounds through it, too.

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Keyrigger
CAFTA Governor

When you are long winded, is that a sign of Wisdom or Old Age?

if can get carbide dies you don't need to lube them, also case tumbler helps a lot

(haven't read the entire post so maybe you allready got those )

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member number 65

No carbide dies are available for that cartridge, sigh. It's not that big a deal, but I am going to look into the collet dies from Lee, as they only resize the neck portion of the case. The full length dies that I have will also work for that purpose. It is just a matter of setting the die higher so that only the neck is resized. A lot less stress on the case, die, and my arms, lol.

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Keyrigger
CAFTA Governor

When you are long winded, is that a sign of Wisdom or Old Age?