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Old 03-03-2019, 08:11 PM
Teddy Bear Rat Teddy Bear Rat is offline
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Default ULA Hornet Mini-Range Report

Seeing that the weather forecast was predicting 55-degree afternoon temps, I got everything loaded up in my vehicle Thursday night and committed to going to the range Friday afternoon. As usual, though, the weatherman was a bit optimistic, and when it came time to head out, it was only a sultry 39 degrees. I went anyway:


First, I've used Shilen and Hart 2 oz. triggers for years, along with all the best Anschutz triggers, but I have to say, there is something crisper and finer about the B&A trigger; absolutely superb and consistent. The fact the finger piece is sunken into the make-shift bottom metal I cobbled together had no impact on performance.

Second, feeding from the single shot receiver trough was good, sometimes super slick, even with the pointy 40 gr. BTs, but I couldn't figure out exactly where in the trough to place the rounds to ensure that super slick feed every time. The rounds always fed, but, about half the time (about 50 rounds worth), it required a slight double-clutch to feed. I'm sure the rim was hanging up on either the ejector plunger or maybe the boltface itself. Honestly, I didn't care after 20 rounds, because my fingers were numb and feeling-less. Extraction was perfect, but the ejector left each case in the action...the dummies ejected fine, so I'm not sure what's happening. Again, my fingers were freezing, and I was not in a mood to diagnose the problem. I'm thinking the plunger might be forcing the very short case to flip to the right, as soon as the mouth clears chamber, hits the inside of the receiver ring, and that causes the extractor to let loose of the case rim. Actually, having the cases right there to pluck out of the action was rather convenient...could be wishful thinking.

So, the loads were some factory S&Bs for sighting in (interestingly, these all fed very slickly), and then about 100 rounds of 12.5 grains of 1680 lit with small rifle primers (can't remember brand) with 40 gr BTs in virgin brass. It's my generic load that I use for initial testing in all my Hornets, and then I neck-size that brass for true accuracy loads. All in all, the 5-shot groups were all just under 1" at 100 yards, mostly looking like this:


Many of the first three shots of five would go into well under 1/2" just to open up with the last two, with no real pattern I could see.

Next, I'll reload that fire-formed brass using different charges, powders, and bullets to try and wring out that last bit of accuracy, but, thus far, I'm quite pleased.

Stay tuned.

TBR

Last edited by Teddy Bear Rat; 01-18-2021 at 06:09 PM.
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  #2  
Old 03-03-2019, 08:20 PM
df06 df06 is offline
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Default Hornet

I shoot a couple anschutz 22 hornets, and sold a Kimber of same caliber.
They all like this load-
Win brass
Fed sm pistol primer
13.2 gr Lil Gun
Various 40 grain plastic tip bullets and 40 grain Bergers
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  #3  
Old 03-03-2019, 10:39 PM
Bill K Bill K is offline
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Looking good, but I bet you will tighten up those groups with more work with loads and maybe powder and seating depth. Bill K
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Old 03-03-2019, 11:04 PM
Screaminweasil Screaminweasil is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill K View Post
Looking good, but I bet you will tighten up those groups with more work with loads and maybe powder and seating depth. Bill K



A quick way to find out how she's really going to shoot.............
13.0gr Lil Gun, Small Pistol Primer, Loaded in fired brass that has been neck sized with a lee collet neck sizing die, topped with any quality 40gr Bullet seated to "mag length" or minimum of .224" bullet in case.......Hornady 22 Hornet bullet seater with sliding "bullet alignment sleeve" is money........NO CRIMP


Anyway, beautiful rifle that no doubt will be a shooter.


It's all about the "lil gun"
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Old 03-03-2019, 11:54 PM
Daryl Daryl is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Screaminweasil View Post
A quick way to find out how she's really going to shoot.............
13.0gr Lil Gun, Small Pistol Primer, Loaded in fired brass that has been neck sized with a lee collet neck sizing die, topped with any quality 40gr Bullet seated to "mag length" or minimum of .224" bullet in case.......Hornady 22 Hornet bullet seater with sliding "bullet alignment sleeve" is money........NO CRIMP


Anyway, beautiful rifle that no doubt will be a shooter.


It's all about the "lil gun"

exactly -
or 14.0gr. in brass, RP brass.(I used that load in nickeled RP cases as well) Lee crimp die for me was a game changer for accuracy. Some guys say made no difference. For me, it was the closer shot to shot variations, sub 20fps SD's.
That rifle looks like it wants to shoot.
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Daryl
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  #6  
Old 03-03-2019, 11:55 PM
flyrod flyrod is offline
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Thanks for the nice post! You've got me itching to head outside now.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Teddy Bear Rat View Post
I'm thinking the plunger might be forcing the very short case to flip to the right, as soon as the mouth clears chamber, hits the inside of the receiver ring, and that causes the extractor to let loose of the case rim.
If the ejector is a spring loaded pin then this is probably what's going on. If you pull the bolt back quickly will it eject? Let us know what you find out or what solution you come up with.

I have 3 hornets and all of them seem to prefer pistol primers. I don't use 1680, but I do use 680, 297, and 296 with a wide variety of bullets. I'm sure you'll come up with a good load. As a single shot, the pointy plastic-tipped bullets should work fine and give you the best BC.
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  #7  
Old 03-04-2019, 01:57 PM
Intel6 Intel6 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by df06 View Post
I shoot a couple anschutz 22 hornets, and sold a Kimber of same caliber.
They all like this load-
Win brass
Fed sm pistol primer
13.2 gr Lil Gun
Various 40 grain plastic tip bullets and 40 grain Bergers
Do you load to magazine length with that load? I also have a couple of Anschutz rifles (and an Exemplar) in Hornet but I have never tried the 40 gr tipped bullets. I use shorter "hornet" style bullets for the mag fed guns since I figure if it has a mag I might as well use it. I do shoot the 40 Vmax in my Ruger #1B loaded out so I am thinking I might try them in the Anschutz's.
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Old 03-04-2019, 02:39 PM
Teddy Bear Rat Teddy Bear Rat is offline
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Thanks for the comments and tips. BTW, I misspoke on the primers (that's what I get for quickly posting from my phone ). My generic load, in fact, uses small pistol primers, probably CCI, but I can't remember. I have also used the Rem 6-1/2 with identical results.

I was loading the bullet out way further than magazine length. That could have impacted the feeding, since the SB fed well.

On the feeding, yes, if I pull the bolt back very quickly, I get good ejection, so I think my theory is probably sound. Ironically, when I did pull the bolt back hard, I had to go chasing the case, so I was content to let them stay in the action. Also, I'm not sure I want to be stressing the bolt stop so much for each shot. Next time, when it's warmer, I might take my GoPro out there and take some high speed video of what's happening.

TBR

Last edited by Teddy Bear Rat; 03-05-2019 at 08:05 PM.
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  #9  
Old 03-04-2019, 10:03 PM
fat cat fat cat is offline
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Default Nula

That's the coolest looking Hornet I've ever seen!👍👍
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  #10  
Old 03-05-2019, 09:45 PM
df06 df06 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Intel6 View Post
Do you load to magazine length with that load? I also have a couple of Anschutz rifles (and an Exemplar) in Hornet but I have never tried the 40 gr tipped bullets. I use shorter "hornet" style bullets for the mag fed guns since I figure if it has a mag I might as well use it. I do shoot the 40 Vmax in my Ruger #1B loaded out so I am thinking I might try them in the Anschutz's.
I load the Bergers to cycle through the magazine.
My testing determined that plastic tip bullets seated deep enough to fit the anschutz magazine will be seated well beyond the ogive, so I seat them longer and single feed them. But I shoot PDs a lot and like a repeater so I mostly shoot the Berger’s.
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