Ruger 22 hornet Accuracy

[montdoug]

Plus one on what Neal said.
When Ruger was first coming out with the .22 Hornet I looked high and low for one to no avail, then I started hearing horror stories about guy's accuracy problems with em and I felt real glad I hadn't found one.
I was talked into buying an Anschutz 1730 Meister Grade instead by a gun dealer friend and it was love at first shot . I've had about 5 CZ's in .22 Hornet and shot all of em before turning them into something else and all of em shot like crazy. One of em I had bedded, crowned and re-chambered into a .22 K-Hornet and it's an absolute bug-hole shooter.
Safe to say my experience with .22 Hornets must have been blessed by the Gun Gods I guess as every one a the six or seven I've had or still have shot lights out! Never had a bad one, but all of em have been made by CZ or Anschutz. I'd also offer that a .224 caliber 40 grain V-Max at 3,000ish FPS and shooting sub half inch groups at a 100 yards has a lot more range then 150 yards but then I'm biased what with liking the Hornet so much and having had such great luck with em .
I've always thought the Ruger to be a real attractive piece and I hear frequently that a lotta the newer Rugers in various calibers shoot real well and a lot better than they use to so I'll look forward to your report.

[Bayou City Boy]

My Ruger 77 shoots better than my Anschutz and my #1 in 22 Hornet and far better than the CZ that the internet told me was the way to go. The CZ later went.....................

Go figure.........................

-BCB

[TinMan]

In my experience, the key to having a 22 Hornet shoot is to fire form the brass for that rifle, segregate the brass and then neck size the brass only for that rifle. I have four 22 Hornet rifles and each likes its own preferred load and all can shoot around 0.5 MOA when I am paying attention. They seem to like 40 to 45gr bullets, usually in green or red boxes, but the Ruger No.3 likes 30-35gr Bergers.

[RowdyYates]

The older Ruger 77 Hornets were cursed with a 2-piece bolt design that (allegedly) caused their accuracy problems. Not sure if the newer ones are still that way.
C-Z does make a heavier-barreled .22 Hornet in the form of the 527 Lux. Not a true varmint contour, but 24" long and larger dia. than the American.
I rarely miss my Hornets after going to .221 Fireballs, although sometimes the extra "quietness" of the little round's report would be nice when shooting near built-up areas.

[Daryl]

I have had 2 CZ's - both Lux Euro 23.4" light barrel models.

Both rifles shot sub 1/2" at 100 meters with plastic tipped and HP 40gr. bullets.

The first one shot sub 1/2" with 45gr. Hornadys, both .223" and .224".

Both rifles showed a preference for Lil'Gun powder - 13.0gr. to 13.5gr. in WW cases and 14.0gr. to 14.4gr. in RP cases.

With the first rifle, fed pistol primers were best. Groups opened up with rifle primers.

The second rifle shoots fine with pistol or any of the rifle primers - go figure.

All loads were crimped using a Lee Factory Crimp die. This tightened accuracy incredibly and reduced SD's in to the teens.

Using RP brass, my 2 best field rats were 354yard and 445yard shots.

The first rifle with 14.4gr. LG produced 3,340fps with 40gr. Vmax and 40gr. Barnes HP's(Varminator). The Nosler 40gr. BT's averaged 3,357fps.- all shot 1/4" and tighter for 3-shot groups.

The second rifle using rifle primers used 13.0gr. to 13.5gr. in WW cases as well as 14.0gr. in RP cases with the various 40gr. bullets noted as well as the 40 and 45gr. Speer bullets.

Average velocities were roughly 100fps lower than the first rifle with averages of 3,150fps to 3,200fps.

I only partial FL sized, that is, only 1/2 of the neck was sized, leaving a sort of double shoulder. Both my CZ chambers were quite tight and only sizing the cases partially, I inside lubed them, but no outside lubrication was needed. I used Hornady dies with a micro seating stem.

Nice system.

[458win]

Thanks for the reports! Does anyone make a decent replacement trigger for the 77?

[df06]

I had one in the model 77 and the single shot #1.

They both were "dogs" accuracy wise. Sold them both and would never own another. I had some trigger work and other accurizing work done to these, to no avail.

Now I have two 1730 Anschutz 22H rifles and they are very accurate. I would have been $$ better off buying the Anschutz in the first place.

[Bayou City Boy]

Is there a requirement that says you have to buy rifles in a certain order?

I guess I screwed up again. I feel so dirty....

-BCB

[Old Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by Intel6

Well of course I will disagree with you.

As the owner of a decent amount of .22 Hornets I can tell you that it may take some effort depending on the gun but the .22 Hornet is an accurate round. While those 77/22 Rugers are great looking guns, they have not helped the reputation of the .22 Hornet. Ruger made another rifle in .22 Hornet, the Ruger #1. My Ruger #1B is an easy .5 MOA rifle shooting 40 gr. Zmax bullets. Took some time to figure it out but now that I have the load it is a great shooter.

Some of my other great shooting factory .22 Hornets are my 3 Anschutz's. They are all sub MOA including my Exemplar pistol. Again, sometimes it takes some work to find what it likes but when you do they shoot.

Neal in AZ

You have been extremely fortunate with your experience with the Hornet. Can't say too many others have been so lucky. When I say "22 Hornet" I have never heard anyone respond by saying, "Now, that's an accurate cartridge!" I did say there are a few accurate Hornets out there, as yours are an example of. The 22 Hornet has some commendable attributes like low report, almost nonexistent recoil, minimal fur damage, etc, but I would never recommend it to someone on the basis of accuracy. It is just too finicky & unpredictable, especially in certain rifles. Some rifles, especially those not based on a modified rimfire design, can give very acceptable hunting accuracy. Then there are the rare tack drivers (usually Anschutz, CZ, or Sako) that I said don't ever let go of!!! If we look back at the OPs question, it was about the Ruger Hornet, which has a fairly poor rep with regard to accuracy. So why mislead him? Just my two cents.

[L Cazador]

Originally Posted by 458win

Contemplating purchasing a heavy barrel ruger hornet. Anyone with good or bad experience with one? Will be a squirrel, jackrabbit and crow rifle..

You don't mention whether it's a model 77 bolt or Ruger no. 1 you're after. One of the problems with the Hornet is the thin brass at the neck. Another is that most firearms made for the Hornet are rear lug guns. That means that brass will stretch considerably during the life of the case if you don't keep loads at moderate speed. This constant stretching or brass movement makes for inconsistent pressures. That thin brass also will allow the bullet to move before complete ignition occurs. Use a bushing type neck die so you can experiment with different neck tensions. Use of a collet die will also help. Hornady's 22 Hornet 35g load has a crimped in bullet with a cannalure, that is why that load has been so successful. It doesn't move until the powder has pushed it out. How many Hornet bullets for reloading are out there with a cannalure?
None. Then try crimping in a bullet with no cannalure, it's all over the place because the crimping distorts the bullet jacket because there is no cannalure to crimp it to. So bottom line, your best bet for good groups will be a CZ with front lugs or a Ruger no.1 to reduce the stretching, then use a bushing die and an inline seating die like the Wilson. BTW, I use only RWS brass in my Browning 22 Hornet!