Cast bullet for Hornet

[Chuck White]

I have located a large box of around 500 cast bullets and wondering if they would work in my Ruger M-77/22 Hornet! I would think that I could load some light loads to be close to 22 Magnum in performance!

The bullets are 50 grain and the diameter is .232, as cast!
Are these too large to size down to 22 cal?

I'm thinking that if I got one of the sizers from Lee, that screw into the top of the press I could size them down to use in my hornet! I would lube them with Liquid Alox.
What diameter sizer would be right for loading cast in a Hornet?

Thanks;

[CyberSniper]

.224 diameter in the Ruger.
Lyman manual shows about 1,800 feet per second top speed
using Unique powder for a 55 grain cast bullet.

[pascalp]

.232 is way to big.

for a .224 barrel .225 will be fine.

Lee sizer work well (own maybe 10). Tumble-alox before sizing (the messy thing don't need to be dry) and re tumble-alox after sizing. Let dry, at least overnight, before reloading. Dry isn't the right term, "less messy" is better, I use talc (baby powder) some use mica powder to slighty coat bullet and get away from the messy touch.
Don't forget to clean dies, and rifle chamber as alox build-up where it touch. Good news, barrel is easy to clean, (if you want begin with  one stroke of nylon brush and something like kroil or clp10, wait 5mn), 5 strokes of bronze brush, that's all.

You will need more than one to do the job properly. I've read that .003" or.004" could be done without damaging bullet, more ...!

[Nobade]

That's a strange size for a .22 cast bullet. Possibly they were made for a .22 Savage HP? Anyhow, I doubt they will shoot well once you size them down to .224 for the Ruger. You'll want to measure the twist rate as well, if it is 1:16 the 50gr. bullets will be on the heavy side. For .22 mag performance, load 4.5 gr. Unique in the Hornet. I use this load in my Contender for silhouette, it gives about 1700 fps out of a 10 inch barrel with mild pressures.

[cbrick]

I would think that sizing a bullet .008" would sqeeze down the lube grooves. That is a ton of sizing. For a correct sizing diameter you need to slug the bore and size between .001" and .002" over slugged bore dia.

Rick

[Chuck White]

I know that my bore size is .224, because this rifle is only about 5 years old!

I was just curious as to whether or not the cast bullets I located could be sized down to .224 or .225!

Looks to me like they won't work!