ruger 77/22 hornet

[graperunkennels]

I just got a Ruger 77/22 Hornet yesterday. what seems to be working the best for everyone?I plan on coyote hunting with it. I thought about trying the v-max or the sierra varminter.

[Ought Six]

Hornets are a royal pita to reload for. I putzed around for about a year figuring out a good load. I settled on IMR 4227, a CCI Small Pistol Primer (Yes, PISTOL), and a Sierra 45 grain Hornet bullet. I want to try a Hornady 38 grain Hornet VMAX, but havent yet. If I recall correctly, I think the load is around 13 grain of IRM 4227. Winchester 296 produced serious pressure spikes. Accurate 1680 was inaccurate. Winchester 680 is not produced anymore, but works great. I think Hodgdon's 4227 would work well. IMR's 4227 works real well and can be thrown in a powder measure.

After floating the barrel, bedding the action and having the trigger done...my 77/22 Hornet consistently groups into 1/2MOA. Took a lot of work to get there. Alot. I suppose it is worth it since not too many folks tell me they have real good shooting Hornets.

[vangunsmith]

I have a rifle just like yours and i load this bullet in it and have even killed wild pigs and deer with it. Its the 50gr,Speer TNT they really work great and are at least accurate in my gun. In the speer #7 manual they state that using H4227 with 12.0 grains=2738 FPS. I use standard small rifle primers or you can use small rifle magnum primers. Even thought small pistol primers will fit and work, i would only make a practice of using them in an extreme need to load shells with them.You won,t get the performance you need for such asmall cartridge from using them. Have fun with your Ruger.vangunsmith

[Ought Six]

You won,t get the performance you need for such asmall cartridge from using them.

Thats not exactly true. Because a Hornet is such a small case is exactly why a Small Pistol Primer can benefit it. Since H4227 is a stick powder and the powder column isnt that long, I definately would not use a magnum primer. Were you considering a ball powder, I may think about a magnum primer since ball powder seems to like a lil hotter ignition. I toyed with a couple ball powders in my Hornet, but dropped them due to varying temperature affecting their burn rate. Small variations have a large impact on Hornet accuracy.