RE: 9th Caliber opinion: The .22 Hornet
I love the .22 Hornet!
I had one for about a year when I needed a gun without recoil for deer hunting, due to a broken back. Obviously it's not an ideal deer caliber, but it did the trick for me. When my back healed, my father handed down his .30-06 FN to me, and traded in the Browning .22 Hornet for a Browning .30-06 with the BOSS system. My father wasn't long trading in that gun for a Sako of the same caliber. The BOSS system was just too hard on the ears, and also there were other problems such as cartridges not feeding well. Anyway, that's another story.
I miss the .22 Hornet, and wish I could have kept it as a varmint gun. It was a blast to shoot, and a real tack driver. I wonder why it doesn't seem to be a very popular caliber?