22 Mag. vs. 22 Hornet

[memphis]

How's everybody doin?  I just bought my first gun a little while back (22 lr), so I'm kind of in the dark about a few things. Just wondering if anyone could tell me the difference between a 22 magnum and a 22 Hornet.  I'm interested in buying one of the two, and any help would be greatly appreciated.  

                                               Thanks!

[taxmiser]

Regarding your guery, the 22 Hornet is a centerfire cartridge while the .22 magnum is a rimfire like your 22LR but with a considerable increase in power and of course, expense!

I've used a .22 Hornet for more years than I would care to relate and consider it a terrific mild varmit cartridge.  I was given a 22 magnum as a gift and after using the Hornet for so many years I could not warm up to it period.

If one reloads the Hornets ammunition cost are greatly reduced and considerably less then that of the .22 magnum.  Reloading provides a degree of satisfaction unavailable with over-the-counter ammo.

Just my .02 worth.

tax

[jh45gun]

It all depends on what you want and also where you shoot and what for. The 22 Hornet is a excellent cartridge and is a good varminter. That said If I was going to get a centerfire 22 the 223 has more power and is mild to shoot and military surplus ammo is cheap to shoot for most applications. A lot cheaper than the 22 Hornet. If you shoot on  a budget the 223 would get the nod over the hornet as cheaper to shoot. (even reloading). The powder might be less with the hornet and the bullet cost the same but the brass on the hornet is more expensive and not as robust as the 223 is. ( atleast that is what I have always heard) I have never reloaded for the hornet and never have owned one so I am not the expert on that just going on what I have read on the cartridge. I have owned a 223 though and it is a good cartridge.  Now to the 22 mag. I have a 22 mag and like it. In fact I like it a lot and I did not fall on the 17 bandwagon and just bought it. I have had 22 mag in pistols before including a striker by Savage but this is my first rifle. The 22 mag is considered good enough for shooting coyote and smaller and is fairly cheap to shoot at an average of around $6.50 a box. Most ammo is priced around 7. 50 abox some a bit more and the PMC preditors I can get for $5.30 a box. (which my gun shoots well) If you are looking for a Varmint gun than I would get the Hornet or the 223 if you are looking for a small game gun and sometimes varmint gun than get the 22 mag. You could also consider the 17 HMR I did not because I wanted a gun that would anchor a coyote which the 22 mag is said to be able to. The 17 HMR is out of the running on that but should be good on smaller critters. Jim

[memphis]

Just wanted to thank both of you guys for helping me out.  I learned a lot and I believe my decision will be much easier now.  Thanks Again!

[jh45gun]

You are welcome I have to clarify something I stated in my first post. I am sure that reloading the hornet is cheaper once you have the brass but as it is not as popular as it once was and most guys that shoot it keep their brass, the brass is the expensive part of reloading the cartridge. as far as ammo goes look at factory ammo hornet and then look at 22 mag ammo. If you do do not plan to reload you can shoot a lot more 22 mag ammo for the price of a box of hornet ammo. Like I said before just depends on what you want to do. The guys that shoot the hornet love them and in no way am I badmouthing the cartridge, but it does have some drawbacks like expensive ammo to start out with. Jim

[Majic]

If you reload or plan to remember that the Hornet can be down loaded to take the place of the .22mag and the .22lr, but neither of them can match the Hornet.
The Hornet is a mild natured cartridge. The low recoil and mild muzzle blast makes for a nice cartridge with power in a .22mag size rifle. One of todays popular Hornet rifle is the Ruger 77/22. I have been looking for a decent deal on one myself, but most Hornet owners tend to hang on to them.

[Bullseye]

I recentlly considered a 22 mag but changed my mind because I already own a Hornet.  The Hornet is a little faster and it is very accurate.  I have not shot that many 22 mags, but from the ones I have, the Hornet is more accurate.  And lastly, since I reload the Hornet is cheaper to shoot than the 22 Mag and my main goal was to buy a gun in that power range that I did not need to reload for and could still shoot economically.

[John (Rojo)]

Good question and interesting comparison.  At one time,  I also gave the .22 mag some thought.  I bought the Hornet instead.  The Hornet is a classic cartridge which came along about 1928, 29, or thereabout.  It is very close ballistically to the .218 Bee - another classic round.  For a centerfire cartridge,  the Hornet has a mild report,  no recoil to speak of, and a joy to shoot.  The other posts are pretty darn accurate about reloading compared to factory ammo.  Hornet factory ballistics are around 2650 fps.   Ft. lbs. triple the .22 mag.  

Most that shoot the Hornet do so for its personality,  nostalgia,  and because there are some great classic rifles which shoot the round,  not to mention it's an excellent varmint round when not extended beyond its capabilities.    The cartridge has an almost cult following and many do not care about the cost of ammunition to shoot it.  Hopefully it will continue to be around for years to come.

Good shooting.
John (Rojo)

[Sixgun]

I have been shooting a Hornet in a 10" Contender for the last 2 years as a NRA Hunter Bore Silhouette gun.  I shoot a mild load of 8.3gr of H4227 with a CCI Small Rifle Primer and a Winchester 50gr PSP bullet.  It clocks about 1550 fps and is very accurate.  Off a bench at 100 yards all shots are touching in a neat round circle.  

I have loaded some hunting rounds with a Winchester 46gr HP bullet and a stiff load of 296 which gives just over 2600 fps and will almost go through a Midway 44mag twin spin at 100 yards.  I only shot it once and it spun for a long time.

I have tried some factory 40 gr ammo from Winchester and Remington which did 2300fps and 2500fps but I don't recall which was which.

I can shoot all of these loads with a taco hold which I practice all the time and am very accurate with.  

Some of the guys that I shoot silhouettes with have tried 22 mag barrels from time to time.  Most of them find that it is very convient to be able to buy their ammo instead of loading it. Their problem is that they are very limited in what will shoot accuratly without doing too much damage to the targets and just when they find a good 22 mag round, the place that they bought it from switches suppliers or something like that and they can no longer buy the one round that workes well.  Most of them will go back to what they were shooting before or go with a Long rifle barrel and shoot the Aguila 60gr stuff.  We have seen some pretty high scores with the Aguila 60gr stuff.

Sixgun

[Chuck from arkansaw]

I have owned a C.Z. hornet for about 5 years now.  As far a power it is just about double that of a .22 magnum.  In a rifle like the C.Z. it is more accurate than most .22 magnums and has a max. range on crows, prairie dogs, etc. of over 200 yards.  You must reload to take full advantage of the hornet, but if you do, you will find it a very frugal round to load.  New commercial brass is cheaper than .223, and is readily available.  With the .22 magnum, if your gun dosn't like commercially loaded ammo, you are stuck with an inaccurate gun.  The hornet is the most fun of all centerfire cartridges to own and shoot.

[jh45gun]

Well you guys are probably right about the hornet I have never shot one I have the 223 and 222 but not the hornet. I do have to defend the 22 mag here as there are enough brands out there that you should be able to find one that is accurate and also it is a rimfire site      Actualy I did not mind bringing up the subject as it was interesting and food for thought if I ever wanted a 22 centerfire again. If I did it would be a Contender or Encore rifle version. Jim

[jhm]

In defence of the 22mag. I have had one around for many years and it does fill the gap I need and you can find ammo in any store that sells ammo however you cant always find it for the hornet .   JIM

[Sixgun]

I guess if a person is in the habit of buying ammo, the 22 mag could be a better deal.

Myself, I never consider the cost or availablity of ammo on any store shelf.  I started loading my own back in the early 60s and probably haven't spent more than $20 on centerfire since then.  I like to be able to load it like I want it.  I don't have any idea what it costs to buy a box of Hornet ammo but I can tell you within a few cents what it costs to load a round.  I don't have to run to Wal Mart at midnight before a match either.  If I have overlooked loading ammo in my preperation, I can go down in the basement and do 200 rounds of "perfect for the application" Hornet ammo in less time that it would take to go to Wal Mart and back, Course I live far enough from a Wal Mart that if I have any doubts as to how that ammo will perform I can step out my back door and try it out on any range from 50' to 600 yards.

On top of that, when I win a silhouette match with my own developed and loaded ammo I get double the satisfaction.  I won a match with my own load.  

Anyway enough of my thoughts on this subject.  Shooting with anything at any acceptable target is always good.

Sixgun

[vmaxx]

I like the 22 mag because I am loading for 6 or 7 guns at the present time and its nice to get a break from the reloading bench and have a cartridge that can get 1800-2200 FPS with a forty grain bullet. I also think we will soon see advances in the 22 mag like polymer tips and flat base bullets, real copper jackets such as winchester has now and rem has the polymer tips (too bad their duds) and there are still advances to be made with the 22mag. The new 17 hmr is based on the 22 mag case. That just shows the 22 mag case's versitility. I bet those 17 hmr's are fun.
     Dave

[Leftoverdj]

I have and shoot a .22 WMR for a very simple reason. With the Federal 50 grain ammo, it's the best current small game round.  That it doubles as a short range varmiter in populated areas is a bonus. We have counties around here that only allow the use of .22 RF rifles. Hornet ain't legal and the .22 WMR is.

I also had a .22 Hornet in the long ago. Didn't like it. Mine was finicky about loads and hard to load for  with the small thin cases and the tiny bullets. Sold it and got a .25-20 bolt action Savage I dearly love. It'll load down to an even better small game round than the .22 WMR and load up to almost as good a short range varminter as a  Hornet.

If you buy your ammo, the .22 WMR is a LOT cheaper. If you load it yourself, they are roughly the same, but you gotta load it. I have enough stuff I'm loading for already.

Fact of the matter is, like most of you, I have a bouse full of rifles. I can reach for one to do the particular chore I have in mind. If I'm hunting varmints seriously, I can haul out a .223 or a .25-06 or a .257 AI. There's just nothing the Hornet can do that I don't have covered by something I think does it better.

[vmaxx]

I hear you leftoverdj
If I want to load something I can sure do better than a hornet. One of the reasons I got my 22 mag was to be able to spend more time in the field and less time at the loading bench. I have a 22 mag in a marlin and one in a 9422 winchester in cameo laminate, boy she's pretty and can shoot too. Got a brown laminate on the marlin and she'll do under half inch at 50 yd. I like the now frills approach  with the rimfires, any rimfire.
  I'm working with a cz varmint now, trying to get it tuned up for the online matches over at RFC. knowing I don't have to reload sure puts the fun in to it. I'm learning as I go and am sure having a good time.

[Leftoverdj]

VMaxx. I'd be interested in hearing about your tuning of the CZ Varminter. I have one, too.

Start a thread on that and we'll compare notes.

[vmaxx]

I haven't done anything really drastic. First I sanded the barrel chanel on the right side because it was touching, Put a brookie trigger kit in, got it set at a two lb pull. I put a pressure pad made from old factory belting, made of cloth and hard rubber and glued it to the stock just ahead of the front swivel stud, its about a centimeter square and about .065-.070 inches thick. Then I tighened both screws really tight, back an forth to each other as I went making sure the barrel was centered. actually used a 3x5 index card to help keep the barrel in line while placing it back in the stock. Let me tell you that pad cut my groups in half. I shot a practice usbr target at 25 yd off the hood of my truck and scored 228 with the sweat running down my face. I'm sure I could do better than that shooting off of a good solid bench in the shade. Our rifle range is down right now and its left me to what ever means I can find. The rifle is still fairly new to me and I'm still feeling her out to see how she likes to be held the best.
                   Good shooting to ya
                      Dave