Testing “Too-Long” Bullets
in a Standard (16-twist) Hornet Barrel M.L. McPherson
Left to Right: Hornet with 30-grain Varmint Grenade, 1.78 inch; 30-grain Varmint Grenade; Hornet with 36-grain Varmint Grenade, 1.825 inch; 36-grain Varmint Grenade; Hornet with 35-grain BT, 1.880 inch; 35-grain BT. With a 14-twist barrel, the 35-grain BT is usable and adds about 50 yards to usable Hornet range.
Synopsis: Besides case related prob-
lems, the Hornet has another signifi cant limitation — the 16-inch rifl ing twist rate used in standard barrels. This twist will not stabilize many bullets that might otherwise be useful. For example, the new Barnes 36-grain Varmint Grenade and the newer 35-grain Nosler BT are explosive frangible bullets. Both have comparatively high BCs but will not normally stabilize when fi red from a 16-twist barrel. The impetus for this article centered on this question: Will either of these bullets sta- bilize when fi red from a 16-twist Hornet
The CZ 527 American is a wonderful tool for this sort of testing. On this day, I fi red only about 200 rounds of about 500 needed for a primer study in the Hornet and the heavy-bullet test reported here.
at 6,200 feet elevation (or higher)? BACKGROUND
For several years now, beginning
with Barnes, mainstream manufac- turers have been offering lead-free and devastatingly explosive bullets for varmint hunting. However, until Barnes offered such a bullet that it had designed specifi cally for the Hornet, none of those would normally shoot accurately in the standard Hornet. The 30-grain Varmint Grenade
is extremely accurate, is easily loaded to standard Hornet length (which is something that those who prefer to use the magazine will appreciate), and it is devastatingly effective on smaller
species of vermin. It is a fi ne bullet for the Hornet but the necessary blunt form (for use in specifi cation-length Hornet loads) and low mass do limit ranging potential. The Barnes 36-grain Varmint
Grenade (VG) and the newer Nosler 35-grain Ballistic Tip (BT) are en- tirely too long to stabilize in standard (16-inch-twist) Hornet barrels, at least when used at lower elevations. How- ever, I live at 6,200 feet elevation and most of my varmint hunting occurs at higher elevation. Therefore, because these bullets have signifi cantly higher BCs than the 30-grain VG, I was inter- ested in seeing if either might work in
Left: Nosler 35-grain BT; note oblong holes. At 50 yards, all ten bullets hit the paper at a signifi cant angle. Unless one were hunting near timberline, this bullet would never be accurate in a standard Hornet barrel (16-inch twist). Right: Barnes 36-grain Varmint Grenade; note round holes. All ten bullets hit the paper squarely, which suggests that this bullet is stable at the elevation and temperature of the test (6,200 feet, 85 degrees). Note that I did not reset the parallax on the scope; if I had done so, I suspect that I could have fi red perhaps a 1/10-inch smaller group. In any case, I did not test for an accuracy load. I suspect that with a bit of load development I could fi nd a much more accurate combination with this bullet.
Page 54 Winter 2012
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