Loading the 22 Hornet

[slk]

I am loading the 22 hornet with a 44gr cast lyman bullet with gas check. Using 6 gr's of 2400 with small rifle and some small pistol primers.

I am shooting a Ruger 22/77 in 22 Hornet

I just can't seam to get consistant results no mater what I have tried.
Does anyone have a good load for the lyman 44 gr cast bullet

Thanks
Steve

[versifier]

Welcome to the Guide.

There are a lot of possibilities and more than one of them could be responsible.
The Hornet is not the easiest cartridge to load for. We could use a lot more information....

Several important questions:
What are you sizing them at?
Have you slugged your barrel?
What alloy?
What lube?
Any leading in the barrel? If so, at which end is it more noticable?
Did you clean ALL the copper fouling out of the barrel with an appropriate ammonia based solvent and nylon brush before shooting cast in it?

Without more specific data, here are some thoughts:

The most common causes of accuracy problems with cast bullets are too small diameter, too hard an alloy, and pushing the bullet too hard for the strength of the alloy (treating it like it has a jacket).

If you are using a #225415 mould and they are coming out at 44gr (lighter than the 45gr listed for #2 alloy), I suspect you may be using an alloy that is way too hard. The lower pressures of the Hornet make softer alloys more important for bettter obturation of bullet to grooves. You might also try the bullets without GC's to see if there is a notable difference, you may not need them with the Hornet. An undersized bullet will only make this problem worse.

2400 is a great powder for jacketed bullets in the Hornet, but not always so good for cast, even with such a light charge. These loads are from the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook:
RDOT 2.0-3.7MAX 1645fps
700X 2.0-3.7MAX 1665fps
GDOT 2.5-4.2MAX 1765fps
PB 2.5-4.2MAX 1705fps
UNQ 3.0-4.6MAX 1805fps
SR-7625 3.0-4.4MAX 1745fps

[slk]

I cast them in the Lyman mold 225438 which is a round nose 44 gr bullet

Sised at 224

Lyman #2 aloy

Lyman moly..... I do have some orange stuff also

New gun no copper in it

[versifier]

In that case, I would try three or four different powders first as it's the easiest factor to change and the most likely cause. There are so many more variables with cast bullets, so be patient and only change one factor at a time as you continue to experiment.

If you are still not seeing decent groups, then I would switch to the orange lube after completely cleaning the molly out of your barrel and go back to the powders that looked most promising. Personally, I have never had much luck with molly lubes or coatings with any cast bullets, but some folks do or they wouldn't still be on the market. As I mentioned before, I would also try skipping the GC's for the most promising combination to see if that makes a difference.

It might be that the barrel simply doesn't like that RN profile and you will have better luck with either 225415 or the lighter 225107, both FN designs. For instance, I have a dozen different .30cal moulds because some barrels show definite preferences for certain profiles. #2 alloy ought to be OK for target bullets for your testing phase. If you want to hunt, you may want to soften it by diluting with equal parts pure lead to get you better expansion at low Hornet velocities. FN designs do perform better in living tissue.

It is also possible that the new barrel may still be a bit rough inside and might benefit from some patient hand lapping with a compound like Flitz. I'm NOT talking about fire lapping, but simply a good hand polishing with a very mild abrasive to remove tool marks. Production barrels are often a bit rough and the harder jacketed bullets polish them up much quicker than softer cast bullets do, so sometimes a little help speeds up the process.

It is always a smart idea to slug the bore (and measure the slug with a mic, never a caliper) as the actual groove diameters of modern production barrels often vary by a thousandth or two either way and it's nice to be able to eliminate that as a possible cause. It doesn't sound like you are getting any of the symptoms of improper size, but it's always good the know what the size really is instead of trying to infer it by trial and error.

[slk]

Ok I decided to recheck my grove dia in this rifle. It is .224. I have been sizing my bullets to
.224................. Should I be sizing to .225???????Maybe this ihas been my problem all along.

Suggestions???

Steve

[versifier]

Yes, to .225 might help (it couldn't hurt), but if you haven't been seeing any leading in the breech end of your barrel, then your bullets have been obturating properly with no gas cutting. With a harder alloy at that size you would likely see it, but in your case the #2 is soft enough to make up for it. Some barrels will shoot cast sized at groove diameter as long as there is good obturation (I have a .223Rem Contender Carbine that does well at its actual diameter of .224, but if I push WW bullets beyond 2500fps, I need to switch to lino and size at .225 or I'm brushing lead out of one end or the other.)

I still think your powder choice is the most likely culprit, but like I said, it might not be the only issue.