Primers for 22 Hornet?

[Bob A]

Just bought a Hornet and I'm getting ready to start loading.I notice quite a few people have posted their fav loads, including Small Pistol Primers. All of the loads I've found from Powder or Bullet companies call for Small Rifle Primers.

Can someone please explain. I expect to try out several loads in the next few weeks but I don't really want to keep track of special primer requirements for different loads.

Thanks,

Bob A

[Inrut24/7]

I loaded up 10 rounds for my nef hornet using cci small pistol primers and 10 rounds using cci small rifle primers I noticed no accuracy difference what so ever,but as they say, your mileage may vary.

[HL]

Even though you probably don't really have anything to worry about, the safest thing is to use what the reloading books tell you to.

Every time you change components , you really need to reduce the load and work back up. Each component has a different affect on the performance of the round you load.

I hope you have as much fun with your hornet as I do with mine

Good shooting,

HL

[PlacitasSlim]

No one has mentioned that rifle primer are a little deeper than pistol primer that can cause a problem if the firing pin doesn't go far enough to set off the smaller pistol primers

[Reed1911]

Small pistol and small rifle primers are the same size, only large pistol and large rifle primers differ in height.

[Catfish]

The reason for using pistol primer is to reduce the chances of the primer blowing the bullet out of the case before it ignites the powder. I have heard that some people ran into problems when using mag. primers because the primer would push the bullet out of the case and then when the powder started to burn the bullet was jammed in the rifleings and some very high pressures resulted in guns being destroyed. I`ve never heard of anyone having problems with standard SR primers, only SR mags.

[LaOtto222]

I think when people use small pistol primers, they have experimented with small rifle primers and were getting erratic results. They then try small pistol primers to get a more consistent ignition. I have heard of this with powders that do not develop as much pressure like Lil'Gun in the 22 Hornet. I would try the recommended primers and if you do not get satisfactory results; try the small pistol primers. As always back off your powder charges and work back up. A primer change can give surprising (aka unpleasant) results.

[Bullseye]

I use Small Rifle in mine, but I use Magnums.  With IMR 4227 I get much better groups with the magnum primers.