Plinking With The 22 Hornet

[shropshire dan 467]

Nice one Chris. You'll have to give me a shout when you get it and I'll come up. The .22-250 has gone now so going for another .243 just wanted a smaller foxing calibre I was tempted by a .204 or .20 tac but really don't fancy reloading to be honest.

 

Atb

Dan

[charlie caller 3,654]

200 yards max mate. I've used a .22-250 and .243 for years but want a smaller fox round

Take a look at the .17rem mate, the daddy of .17s

[ianm 2,594]

 

200 yards max mate. I've used a .22-250 and .243 for years but want a smaller fox round

Take a look at the .17rem mate, the daddy of .17s

 

 

 

He would definately have to reload for the .17 rem as ammo is like rocking horse shit.

[shropshire dan 467]

I did want the .17 Rem but as said really dont want to reload.

[ianm 2,594]

I wouldn't get hung up on 17 hornet over 22.

 

22 is still going to be doing the business at 200 yards with twice the weight of vmax to tickle things with.

 

I'd also be weary of going down the 17 route personally as none of the 17 centrefire calibres seem to have become mainstream despite good reports from use. This suggests to me that despite their performance on ballistic tables, there must be something about them that has stopped them reaching the popularity of all the 22 cal cf's

 

 

 

Anything new takes a long time to become "popular" in this country for a variety of reasons some of which are, FEO'S advising new shooters, tend to stick to what they know about (which admittiedly is not very much) so they advice old calibres such as .22 hornet, .222 etc. Then you have people who would like to try a new calibre but are put off by the palava of variations etc. Then there is the cost factor if you have a .22 hornet and would like to swap to .17 hornet it is going to cost a good few hundred quid like Elliot has said he paid £150 for his .22 hornet a bargain but he would have had to pay £550+ for the equivalant in .17 hornet and not everyone can afford it.

I have used both hornets extensively over the years and decided on .17 for a few reasons. I have never found any factory .22 ammo that is reliable (always flyers with it) so reloading is definately the way forward with this calibre, not a problem for me as i do reload. For some reason Hornady 20grn factory .17 hornet works well in every rifle i have seen, mine returns 3600fps out of a 201/2" barrel. But the deciding factor for me was the flat trajectory of the .17, i shoot mostly at night and as i am sure most folk know judging range is a bit of a lottery, especially if using n/v. I can quite categorically say the little .17 does fox at 200yds no problem at all and in daylight rabbits etc to 300yds someting i never managed so well with the .22 hornet.

So in summary if you want a flat shooting rifle that is happy using factory ammunition and you can afford to pay a bit more for it then the .17 hornet is ideal. If you are on a budget but already reload then the .22 hornet could well be very usefull to you.

[Jax13 251]

I fully appreciate the reasoning behind the 17 hornet Ian, and I'm sure they are good tools in the right hands, however the small range of manufacturers offering factory 17 centrefire rifles coupled with the small range / limited availability of ammo for them screams to me that the industry as a whole doesn't see them as a viable alternative to the more mainstream calibres that do the same job.

 

.223 for example (while admittedly slightly bigger and more expensive to run) will happily be a point and click 200 yd nv rifle and accurate enough far further for long range daytime work. Our longest fox is currently about 260 under nv with a factory 36 grain varmint grenade round (through a 1 in 8 twist t3 which really shouldn't stabilise the damn things but it does!)

 

On factory ammo, the running cost of a 17 hornet is going to be on a par (as near as makes no difference) with running factory vmax through a 223 and arguably, you can't use the 17 or 2 hornet in places you wouldn't use the 223 from a safety perspective either.

 

 

I'm a huge fan of my 22 hornet and have tried to rationalise picking up a 223, 243 or 204 for longer range fox but for me, half the enjoyment from fox control comes from getting the little sods to come in to your call so frequently our red friends are dropped at the 100 to 120 mark although we could potentially drag them in closer.

[ianm 2,594]

I fully appreciate the reasoning behind the 17 hornet Ian, and I'm sure they are good tools in the right hands, however the small range of manufacturers offering factory 17 centrefire rifles coupled with the small range / limited availability of ammo for them screams to me that the industry as a whole doesn't see them as a viable alternative to the more mainstream calibres that do the same job.

 

.223 for example (while admittedly slightly bigger and more expensive to run) will happily be a point and click 200 yd nv rifle and accurate enough far further for long range daytime work. Our longest fox is currently about 260 under nv with a factory 36 grain varmint grenade round (through a 1 in 8 twist t3 which really shouldn't stabilise the damn things but it does!)

 

On factory ammo, the running cost of a 17 hornet is going to be on a par (as near as makes no difference) with running factory vmax through a 223 and arguably, you can't use the 17 or 2 hornet in places you wouldn't use the 223 from a safety perspective either.

 

 

I'm a huge fan of my 22 hornet and have tried to rationalise picking up a 223, 243 or 204 for longer range fox but for me, half the enjoyment from fox control comes from getting the little sods to come in to your call so frequently our red friends are dropped at the 100 to 120 mark although we could potentially drag them in closer.

 

 

 

 

I use a .204 for my foxing with a drone pro and dragonfly, i have had to shoot a few over 300yds with it as someone else had educated them. However i would say most are between 80yds to 150yds. But i do like to use the hornet with a minox day scope for crows and such it's good fun. The ammo thing ie only hornady make it, may be something like they hold the right to make it for x years because they did the development of it.

Edited October 21, 2016 by ianm

[Jax13 251]

I'm bracketing all the 17cf's together though, hornet, rem, fireball... They just don't seem as a 'family' to have consistent industry support - is it because they all seem to have their own inherent drawbacks? Who knows. There just seems to be a trend that they haven't really been adopted by the manufacturers en masse. (I realise 22 hornet is in the same camp in this case with only 3 or 4 people offering it but it's been around long enough to have proven itself useful and seems to be where most magnum rimfire users are now ending up.)

[ianm 2,594]

I'm bracketing all the 17cf's together though, hornet, rem, fireball... They just don't seem as a 'family' to have consistent industry support - is it because they all seem to have their own inherent drawbacks? Who knows. There just seems to be a trend that they haven't really been adopted by the manufacturers en masse. (I realise 22 hornet is in the same camp in this case with only 3 or 4 people offering it but it's been around long enough to have proven itself useful and seems to be where most magnum rimfire users are now ending up.)

 

 

Well what i can say is nobody round these parts has gone for .22 hornet, but a lot of folk have ditched their hmr's and wmr's and bought cz .17 hornets. There is no drawback with the calibre as a whole, apart from the fact only three manufacturers make them but as you say that is also the case with the .22 variant. I have let several people try mine before they commit to one and all have gone straight to the gunshop and ordered one the same goes for the Tikka T3 .204 once they have shot a magazines worth they all want one. The good thing is there are so many people using them that most of the gunshops have a good stock of factory ammo for the lads that don't reload. As i said earlier i have used both over a lot of years and found the .17 better suited to my needs. If the .17 hornet hadn't of come along i would still of had a .22 for mooching about with but it has and that is a good thing for shooters, more choice!

[Elliott 436]

Dan, we were comparing and plinking with the .17 and .22 Hornets yesterday. Looking at the figures from our reloads (25gr & 40gr V-Max), the .22 Hornet has more energy at the muzzle and carries that out to 280 yards after which the 17 Hornet takes over.

 

The .17 Hornet has a flatter trajectory but both can and should headshoot rabbits and drop foxes cleanly at 200 yards. So, sub 200 yards, the .17 Hornet drops marginally less but the 22 Hornet makes more of a mess!

 

Edited October 24, 2016 by Elliott

[walshie 2,804]

Elliott, as I haven't reloaded for hornet yet, is your COL of 2.900" a typo?

[Elliott 436]

Elliott, as I haven't reloaded for hornet yet, is your COL of 2.900" a typo?

Yeah, it's definitely a typo. Should be 1.900"

[walshie 2,804]

 

Elliott, as I haven't reloaded for hornet yet, is your COL of 2.900" a typo?

Yeah, it's definitely a typo. Should be 1.900"

 

 

Phew. I was wondering if my gun was duff as it wouldn't hold anything like that. Still quite long though.

[Elliott 436]

Yeah it is with the 40gr V-Max. Touches the lands at 1.914" so still a bit of a jump. It does look odd though, in the little cases. I have a single shot sled to load the 40 gainers as they don't fit in the CZ magazine

[ianm 2,594]

Dan, we were comparing and plinking with the .17 and .22 Hornets yesterday. Looking at the figures from our reloads (25gr & 40gr V-Max), the .22 Hornet has more energy at the muzzle and carries that out to 280 yards after which the 17 Hornet takes over.

 

The .17 Hornet has a flatter trajectory but both can and should headshoot rabbits and drop foxes cleanly at 200 yards. So, sub 200 yards, the .17 Hornet drops marginally less but the 22 Hornet makes more of a mess!

 

 

 

 

If you are doing a comparison then both really should be using factory ammo as a benchmark. Out of interest why does your mate use 25grn bullets when the round that was developed by Hornady is 20grn. My homeloads which are 20grn are doing a tad over 3900fps.