22 Hornet:
Accuracy vs. Rim Thickness Member Gene Cline
help keep me busy until fi shing improves. I mentally reviewed my various rifl es/cartridges and associated areas of concern and came up with several possibilities. After further thought on each, I decided to undertake an in-depth evaluation of the 22 Hornet to determine how much, if at all, varying rim thickness affects accuracy and/or point of impact. This had been bothering me for quite a few years and I believed both others and I would benefi t from such an undertaking. Those of you who read my article titled “And The Best
A
P.R. Cartridge Is …” in Issue 69 of The VARMINT HUNTER Magazine® probably recognize that the 22 Hornet (hereafter Hornet) is one of my favorite cartridges. I gave it excellent ratings for recoil, muzzle blast, barrel life and barrel heat- ing, and further stated that accuracy of less than ¾ minute of angle (MOA) for fi ve shots is obtainable in a good rifl e. It did not receive a good overall rating for Prairie Rats (PR or PRs) because of its limited range which, based on the stated criteria, was determined to be 175 yards. One or more of the powders recently becoming available to handloaders may increase this maximum range to something over 225 yards. We must, however, remember there are no free lunches and such an increase in velocity may erode some of the character- istics of the Hornet which make it such a pleasure to shoot. Time will tell. Since my fi rst Hornet in the early 1990s, I have pur-
chased four more. I still have two, both Browning A-Bolt Micro Medallions. These are accurate, attractive, and well- made rifl es which I highly recommend (you may have a problem fi nding one). I purchased the second of the two with the intent of having it rechambered to the 218 Bee cartridge but have had little success in fi nding a local gunsmith to do the rechamber job. Both of these Hornets are quite accurate – one is a 0.6
MOA rifl e and the other is a 0.7 MOA rifl e – both for fi ve shots. One of them, the 0.6 MOA one, has been on three prairie rat hunts and has performed admirably within its maximum range of 175 yards. While shooting it on a recent hunt, I had eight consecutive kills at ranges from approximately 80 to 150 yards, and then missed the ninth shot. I am quite sure the miss on the ninth shot wasn’t my fault and blame it on a down range gust of wind – or maybe the target moved – or I probably had a bad bullet – or mirage messed things up – or? This miss cost me a cool one since I had a bet with my shooting buddy Dale that I could get 10 consecutive hits. I would love to shoot an uneducated PR town with this Hornet but such a town doesn’t exist in the areas we shoot. After the fi rst few shots, the PRs go underground out to well over 200 yards and, in my opinion, the Hornet is not suitable for such shots – which is why I always have a 223 or, better yet, a 204
s I start to write this in mid-February, 2011, deer season has ended and I need a good project that will
Ruger for my main gun. If you like to shoot PRs and don’t have a 204 Ruger, I suggest you try one. Burris 4-12x32mm compact scopes with Ballistic Plex
reticles are mounted on both Hornets. The optics are excellent and, considering both size and magnifying range, they are ideal scopes for these relatively compact and short range rifl es. The accuracy noted above was achieved only after
careful selection of all cartridge components and quite a bit of experimentation with numerous accuracy improving
Please note that the Case Head Separation (CHS) for all 33 cases selected is 0.000 inch as measured with an RCBS Case Master tool. This tool also was used to measure rim thickness, neck run-out, and bullet run-out. Here the tool is set up to measure rim thickness. It does an excellent job and I am surprised that RCBS doesn’t promote it for this purpose.
www.varminthunter.org Page 133
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