Who uses Speer 33gr TNT in their HORNET....

[coyotehunter223]

I've always been a V-MAX man myself but was trying to work up an accurate load using the Speer 33gr and lil gun. I get less than an inch using 40-55gr vmax's and Lil Gun in my Hornet but I'm intrigued by the little 33gr from Speer. A lot of people says lil gun and bullets lighter than 40gr just do not work well together. I was loading them to 3060 fps with Lil Gun but the best group was just under 2" at 100yrds. I bought some H110 to see how it does. According to Speer, 12.8gr would put you just over 3200 fps. I know the B.C. of this bullet is only .080 but using out to 100 yrds or so should be pretty fun. By the way, my Hornet is a H&R with the 1:12 twist. Anyone successfully loading this little bullet? Do you think the twist might be too fast? Thanks and Happy New Year!

[quickdtoo]

FWIW, I shoot the 35gr Vmax with 12.5gr Lil'gun, a 10 shot group measures less than 1" with most of em in half that. :wink:

[mitchell]

i too used the 35 V-max . so i guess the a 33 grain bullet would stabilize. but i've never tried it.

[jim62]

I have experimented with both the 33g TNT and the 35g Vmax slugs in a Hornet. IMHO, comparing 33 grainers to 40g + bullets in Hornets is like comparing CCI Stingers to good 36 and 40g .22LR loads..The light slugs are great up close but as the distance from the muzzle increases they start to give up too much ground...

The accuracy is generally not quite as good as equivelent loads using 40 grain slugs and the wind drift is much worse..Why? Well, look at it this way, a good 40g .22 cal slug does not expactly have a great Ballistic co-efficient to begin with, but when you put a blunt tip on it and shorten the slug about 20% (as with the 33g TNT) you wind up with a slug having the BC of an out of round stream pebble!

Seriously, I think the 33 and 35g slugs are GREAT for "splat factor "up close 150 yards or less in the Hornet.In settled areas where one will not shoot much further than that they perform fine.My problem is I have access to a range that I can sit and compare wind drift and drop of loads on big berms shooting at steel plates.From my observations/direct comparisons,past 150 yards, the light 33 and 35 grain slugs REALLY give up ground to the point that past 150 yards, they are really no better than 45 factory stuff.


I have also taken small varmints out to 300 yards with Hornets loaded with 40g Vmax slugs.Due to their efficient ballistic shape, they make a Hornet perform much closer to a factory loaded .221 Fireball or .222 past 200 yards..


The VERY best Hornet bullet may in fact be Sierras 40g Blitz king.That is not beuase it is a better made bullet in terms of qualtiy, but due to it's design.The 40g weight is about perfect for a plastic tipped Hornet slug- it's the best balance of BC and velocity.The Sierras have another advatage over the 40g Nosler and Horany designs in that is is a FLAT BASED slug.Not only will these shoot better in many .22 rifles but they have more shank at the base to keep the bullet in the neck when seating slugs out to touch the lands or just off them.

I love the Hornady Vmax bullets, but until they make their 40 grainer with a flat base, the Sierra 40g Blitz King is now my first choice to work with in a Hornet simply due to the base design.Hornady makes their 55g grain Vmax in a flat base design-which is really not even needed on it as it's shank is long enough already.They could easily make a 40g Flat base for us Hornet and other small cased 22cal fans..