Post by Bullshop on Jun 4, 2016 14:55:18 GMT -7
Today I would like to ramble a wee bit on the use of Accurate Arms pistol powders in the 22 Hornet. The Hornet is a cartridge that when I was a kid the mere mention of brought about visions of grandeur and spectacular feats of extreme range varminting. None of my shooting acquaintances of that time had ever really seen one but all of us had heard stories of the varmint prowess of the infamous 22 Hornet.
So it was with this lofty expectation that I acquired my first of many 22 Hornet rifles that I would have the pleasure of use of. Anyone that might read this is hear because your a gun nut of some sort so you will know that there are many other 22 caliber center fire chamberings that will out class the performance of the 22 Hornet by an extreme margin. I have use of many of these other hi performance 22's but still to this day feel the same tickle of excitement that I felt as a boy when the Hornet is mentioned. There is just at least to me something special about the 22 Hornet and the admiration I hold for it has not and seemingly will not wane for me.
Two things that I do that mold my personality and that identify who and what I am are re loading ammo and casting bullets. These two endeavors consume the greater majority of my time and conscious thought. With that understanding and my great admiration for the 22 Hornet it will be no great surprise that these things fit together as well as salt and pepper or peanut butter and jelly.
I dare say that the 22 Hornet is one of the greatest cast bullet cartridges that has ever emerged from the minds of man kind. It is precisely with the use of cast bullets in the Hornet that has endeared the cartridge to me. In my 61 years of life in this world I have never had a great surplus of disposable cash to apply to my shooting enjoyment so the Hornet fits my shooting budget smartly. Small charges of powder and tiny lead bullets avail a goodly amount of shooting for the banging buck.
Now on to the intended purpose of this diatribe the use of Accurate Arms pistol powders in the 22 Hornet. As for powder burn rate appropriate for the Hornet I will say that on the extreme slow end I would draw the line at Alliant Reloader #7. On the extreme fast end there is no limit as everything on the burn rate chart starting with #1`Norma R-1 can be used. For the lightest loads the fastest powders are appropriate and for the heaviest loads the slowest powders will give the highest velocities.
The powders I want to chat about specifically are the Accurate Arms pistol powders starting with AA#2 , AA#5, AA#7, and ending with AA#9.
For light loads that will be in the performance range of the 22 long rifle and up to the 22 Special RF cartridge AA#2 is a superb choice. In my current 22 Hornet with cast bullet weights between 45 and 50gn 2.9gn AA#2 is the load I use to keep gophers and rabbits out of my garden. That statement has an innocent sound but is actually a work horse size task here. The hornet is depended on to make head shots on gophers out to about 70 yards or so and is put to this service several times daily. The nearest neighbor to one of my garden plots is maybe 200 yards distance so the very low noise level of the 2.9gn charge of AA#2 is appreciated by all. I like to zero this load at 25 yards and with that zero at the longest shots I might take to about 75yards the impact is about 2" low. This is ideal for standing gophers as no matter the range I put the cross hairs of the Lyman All American on the big eyeball and squeeze the set trigger then just a light pet of the main trigger sends another gopher to the eternal green pasture.
Do the math and I think you find that this load gives somewhere near 2500 shots per pound of powder. As for lead consumption at 50gn per bullet there are 140 bullets per pound of lead. At these rates you can keep shooting for quite a spell from a small stash of components.
As for burn rate AA#2 is # 25 on my burn rate chart. For comparison Hodgdons PB is #23 and # 27 is IMR SR 7625. One nice feature of all the AA pistol powders is that they are a very fine grain ball powder so meter small charges very precisely. Most other powders in the same burn rate are flake powders and the flake powders leave much to be desired if your throwing and not weighing charges.
I hope to expand on this to include the other three AA powders mentioned and the type of loads they are good for in the 22 Hornet. For today my allowable time has expired and besides my girls are about to drag me off to the swimming hole. Hope to add more here soon so stay tuned.
.
So it was with this lofty expectation that I acquired my first of many 22 Hornet rifles that I would have the pleasure of use of. Anyone that might read this is hear because your a gun nut of some sort so you will know that there are many other 22 caliber center fire chamberings that will out class the performance of the 22 Hornet by an extreme margin. I have use of many of these other hi performance 22's but still to this day feel the same tickle of excitement that I felt as a boy when the Hornet is mentioned. There is just at least to me something special about the 22 Hornet and the admiration I hold for it has not and seemingly will not wane for me.
Two things that I do that mold my personality and that identify who and what I am are re loading ammo and casting bullets. These two endeavors consume the greater majority of my time and conscious thought. With that understanding and my great admiration for the 22 Hornet it will be no great surprise that these things fit together as well as salt and pepper or peanut butter and jelly.
I dare say that the 22 Hornet is one of the greatest cast bullet cartridges that has ever emerged from the minds of man kind. It is precisely with the use of cast bullets in the Hornet that has endeared the cartridge to me. In my 61 years of life in this world I have never had a great surplus of disposable cash to apply to my shooting enjoyment so the Hornet fits my shooting budget smartly. Small charges of powder and tiny lead bullets avail a goodly amount of shooting for the banging buck.
Now on to the intended purpose of this diatribe the use of Accurate Arms pistol powders in the 22 Hornet. As for powder burn rate appropriate for the Hornet I will say that on the extreme slow end I would draw the line at Alliant Reloader #7. On the extreme fast end there is no limit as everything on the burn rate chart starting with #1`Norma R-1 can be used. For the lightest loads the fastest powders are appropriate and for the heaviest loads the slowest powders will give the highest velocities.
The powders I want to chat about specifically are the Accurate Arms pistol powders starting with AA#2 , AA#5, AA#7, and ending with AA#9.
For light loads that will be in the performance range of the 22 long rifle and up to the 22 Special RF cartridge AA#2 is a superb choice. In my current 22 Hornet with cast bullet weights between 45 and 50gn 2.9gn AA#2 is the load I use to keep gophers and rabbits out of my garden. That statement has an innocent sound but is actually a work horse size task here. The hornet is depended on to make head shots on gophers out to about 70 yards or so and is put to this service several times daily. The nearest neighbor to one of my garden plots is maybe 200 yards distance so the very low noise level of the 2.9gn charge of AA#2 is appreciated by all. I like to zero this load at 25 yards and with that zero at the longest shots I might take to about 75yards the impact is about 2" low. This is ideal for standing gophers as no matter the range I put the cross hairs of the Lyman All American on the big eyeball and squeeze the set trigger then just a light pet of the main trigger sends another gopher to the eternal green pasture.
Do the math and I think you find that this load gives somewhere near 2500 shots per pound of powder. As for lead consumption at 50gn per bullet there are 140 bullets per pound of lead. At these rates you can keep shooting for quite a spell from a small stash of components.
As for burn rate AA#2 is # 25 on my burn rate chart. For comparison Hodgdons PB is #23 and # 27 is IMR SR 7625. One nice feature of all the AA pistol powders is that they are a very fine grain ball powder so meter small charges very precisely. Most other powders in the same burn rate are flake powders and the flake powders leave much to be desired if your throwing and not weighing charges.
I hope to expand on this to include the other three AA powders mentioned and the type of loads they are good for in the 22 Hornet. For today my allowable time has expired and besides my girls are about to drag me off to the swimming hole. Hope to add more here soon so stay tuned.
.
