Hornet Crimp

[GameHauler]

I see on the other 22 Hornet thread
many say to crimp the hornet because of it's thin neck.
Not having allot of experience loading I was wondering
if I could set up my 218 Bee crimp die to crimp the hornets?
Seems to me I could just set up a little higher or am I missing something?

Thanks,
Mike

[cwlongshot]

I haven't loaded them in some time.. but the hornet die should have a crimp in the seater.
 You just have to be very careful as that neck is very weak and will easily crumple under the force of a crimp.

CW

[gypsyman]

My Hornet is in a single shot,(T/C), so I never crimp it. Not sure if you would in a bolt gun, as there really isn't much recoil to dislodge the bullets that are in the cartridge's in the magazine.
I suppose you could try and see if it would give you better accuracy, but be careful, as stated, you don't have much there to work with, and crumpling the neck is easy to do with that case.  gypsyman

[OLDHandgunner]

I never have crimped my 22 Hornet or 22k Hornet.
As said above, if you feel you have to crimp be very careful with this fragile cases.

[cjclemens]

I use a lee factory crimp die on mine.  It basically squeezes the neck of the case around the bullet uniformly, so it is very easy on the brass even with a fairly firm crimp.  I have heard, and I do not know if this is true, that the small rifle primer has enough punch to knock the bullet out of the case before the powder has a chance completely ignite, causing a rise and fall in pressure and really messing with accuracy.  A good crimp should keep the bullet in place until powder fully ignites and the pressure in the case is uniform from shot to shot.  That being said, i have never made a side by side comparison. However, I crimp all of mine, and I have had excellent results so far.

[Graybeard]

I can think of no good reason to ever crimp a .22 Hornet and dozens of reasons not to.

[woodchukhntr]

As long as the bullet fits tightly in the case, the only thing that crimping will do in a .22 Hornet is to reduce case life.

[LaOtto222]

I have tried it both ways. I have not been able to tell that a crimp helps at all; so I do not mess with it. I have 3 different guns that shoot 22 Hornets and they are all single shots, so no worries about bullet set back for me. I have found that if I get enough grip so that I can not move the bullet by gripping it with my fingers and pulling, I have enough neck tension. I have neck turned 223 cases down to the thickness of a 22 Hornet case and I do not have any problems; I get very good accuracy and I do not crimp those either.

BTW I now use pistol primers in my 22 Hornets. It takes more powder and I get higher velocities and longer case life. Read about it in Speer manual #14.

When ever you crimp ANY cartridge, it must be done very uniformly. If not done uniformly it will effect velocity from shot to shot. It depends on the crimp being done - but if you are using a die that crimps as it seats, the cases have to be the exact same length so that each crimp is the same and you want to do it in a groove that was put in the bullet for this purpose. If you try to do this with out a crimping groove, you risk buckling the case in the neck area. This limits seating depth and type of bullet being used. When using a Lee factory crimp die, case length is not as critical and it will crimp into a bullet with out a groove, but setting the die so that each crimp is exactly the same is critical. It is much easier to not crimp. With the 22 Hornet, I just make sure there is a generous chamfer in the inside to aid getting the bullet started with flat bottom bullets. I have a set of RCBS dies that will crimp if set properly for it and a Lee set that will not crimp, no matter the setting. That is what they sell their factory crimp die for.

Good Luck and Good Shooting

[mcgiiver]

I found one good reason to use a Lee Factory crimp die on my Hornets, it reduced the group size from about 1 1/2" at 100 yds to just over 1  1/8 inch. The Lee crimp die does not do anything on some of my other cartridges, but it sure helps my Hornet.