Finally got my hornet to shoot

[burntmuch]

Ive had my 22 hornet superlight. for a couple mths now. Ive tried 40 grain seirras, vmaxes & nosler BTs 13 grains of lil gun. COAL  1.80. Not great. all of them were right around an inch at 50 yards. I cant shoot for groups at 100 cuase its got a 2 power scope on it & the crosshair covers the bullseye. today loaded up some v maxes & nosler BTs over 12 grains lil gun COAL 1.920  Vamaxes not so great. every group had a horizontal flyer. :I know could be me. Now for the funny part. 3 noslers one ragged hole. I know its only 50 yards but I was pretty happy. Next 3 group was a little bigger, More of a clover leaf. Still very happy at this point. Next 3 were a vertical string outside to outside .224 by .89 inch or so. Not sure what happened there. I was getting cold . So it could have been me. not paying attention to the forearm position. Realy thinking about putting a 2X7 scope on this, SoI can shoot at 100 yards.  

[bigvarmnt]

I Love to Hate the Hornet Glad you are getting her to behave.

[shaner]

sounds good , i enjoy the 22hornet caliber just a nice all around  caliber  for small varminting

[dpe.ahoy]

You might try to up your powder charge for the V-max's.  Mine is the regular Hornet and keeps the 40 gr very tight at 100 with the Hornady max charge.  Try different seating depths.  DP

[burntmuch]

Ive got a few of the Vmxes left & some noslers left, but Im gonna have to buy another 250 of something. Not sure what though. The Vmaxes did better with higher charges. But not great. I screwed up. I didnt play with seating depth until today. I may have just enough of each to try different seating depths. Then decide. I may go ahead & swith out scopes too.

[ssjohnnie]

i have messed with the hornet for almost 30 years in almost ever thing but an auto i really like the little round best load i ever had was form a mag. on hornets was  AA 1680 and nosler 40gr polytip bullets  

[blind ear]

Rather than the entire + of the cross hair, use the point of the top left quadrant of your cross hairs as your aiming point. You can place that point on your point of impact. Put as small a white center  in the balck bull that you can see and have a larger black ring around that. You will be seeing the top left quarter of the white bullseye center when on target. The point of the intersection of the horizontal and the vertical cross hairs will be your site point. Might work. eddie

[burntmuch]

Eddie. I know what your talking about. I didnt think about that today. I did try using a 6 oclock hold on the bullseye. It helped a little. but not enough. May be a couple days before I can get more loaded up .

[zoner]

the groups shrunk with my hornet when I went from rifle to pistol primers

[gcrank1]

And for benchrest groups to mean anything you cant be tired, you cant be cold and you cant be frustrated.
Also, what looks like a large group in .22 would 'look' much better in a larger caliber cutting bigger holes.

[SM Bob]

My Hornet is the most accurate Handi I own. I also use 12gr of 'Lil Gun but I use a 45gr Sierra "Hornet"
sp bullet. I have a 4-12X40mm A.O. Bushnell Banner scope on it with medium Burris Zee Signature rings.
It shoots well under 1" 3 shot groups at 100 yards all day long. I don't have any pd's or ground hogs
in my area so I have to settle for 16oz plastic water bottles and potatoes as targets. Out to about
150 yards they explode on the first shot every time. Too much fun!

                                             Robert

[gcrank1]

That is splendid, Bob! And now I know what to do with those old potatoes too.
Before I sold my two Hornets this winter I had done a little preliminary work with LiL Gun powder and was liking what I saw. I especially liked the lower pressures for given velo in the factory liturature.
Alas, the Hornets are gone, but maybe it will be magic in my 25-20 and 25-35.

[briannmilewis]

burntmuch: What happened to the 4-16x40 Center Point scope?

Brian

[burntmuch]

Brian. I sold it. It was just way too big. Im setting this up hornet up so I can carry it during my winter camp. So its gotta be light & compact. Thats why its wearing the little 2 power

 As far as the bench rest groups . I dont need bench rest groups with this gun. at or under an inch is all I need. But it brings up a point. these groups ase being shot off my tailgate while sitting on a bucket . Still dont have a bench at my 50 yard

[zoner]

the shooting bench is good for load development for sure, but you won't find many benches available in the woods and if they were it would be hard gettin the deer to sit still while you get settled in . After I know my load is good I practice shooting offhand standing,sitting using my knee as a rest,sitting using shooting sticks,prone,and standing with the gun not mounted(bring it up fast and make a killing shot at 100yds). Most rifles will shoot far better than the average shooter can hold em

[burntmuch]

zoner I shoot like that quite abit. once I get a load ,& a bunch of rounds loaded up.

[Big Blue]

I've seen more than a few guys post that they develop their loads shooting off hand because that's the way they'll be shooting in the woods. I'd rather eliminate all the operator error I can while developing a load and make use of the bench. Once a good load is established as accurate, I then like to use the gun for plinking so I can get practiced shooting it off hand.
Don

[PHATINJUN]

I took the Weaver K3 off mine and put the Vintage Weaver V8 on it set to 6 most of the time so the 2x7 should do you good. Kurt

[Rustyinfla]

 I gotta stop reading these Hornet threads and be satisfied with my .223. You guys are going to end up costing me money.