Just got my Model 40 Hornet - Looking for some Sweetheart Loads

[Trapaddict]

Well, I finally found one of these dogs at a price I was willing to pay for one. An even swap for a gun I got cheap and never used. I'm a happy guy! So now I need to start loading. What are some of your pet loads for this gun?

Jeff

[hailstone]

AA1680 powder @ 13.2 grains with small pistol primer using any 40 grain bullet (Nosler BT, Hornady V-Max, Sierra BlitzKing or regular 40 HP or SP.
LitleGun powder @ 13.0 grains with small pistol primer using any 40 grain bullet with light crimp from Lee FCD.

[Trapaddict]

Thanks for the note. Do you find the gun fussy about how far you seat the bullets off of the lands?

Jeff

[bootsmcguire]

I dunno how much help I am going to be but.......

I have a Mod 40 that its previous owner had rechambered to 22 K-Hornet by Wild West Guns in Anchorage. Now that I have figured out the trick mine requires for fireforming, I can say two things.

1) Mine likes the bullets into the lands about .002 with no crimp of course
2) if you want to load the cartridge with out being forced to start the cartridge into the chamber manually each time don't ever make a 40 into a K-Hornet. The shoulder created in the improved case does not agree with the feed ramp of the Model 40.

H110 seems to work ok, but when I posted a thread about loads for the K-Hornet all the replies I got said Lil' Gun is the #1 powder and H110 comes in 2nd. I am waiting until I use up the last of my H110 before I get some Lil' Gun to try.

Keep us posted on what you find.

[daggerdogII]

I have a 40 Varmint Hunter purchased 2007. It will shoot the 35 or 40 grn V-max's
into under 1" groups off the rests, with Remington 6 1/2's or CCI Small Rifle Benchrest primers, with neck sized, (Lee Collet) Winchester brass and 12.5 to 13 grains of Lil' GUN.

13 grns gives over 3000fps with the 35 gr, 12.5 grs will yeild 2800 fps for the 40 grs.

The 40 gr V-Max will only seat out to 1.815" or you will have trouble ejecting a live round becase of the fixed ejector.

Same with the Barnes 36 gr Varmint Grenade, I push it down the barrel with the 12.5 grs of Lil' Gun.

Neck sizing or partial full length sizing is the way to go with the Hornet, it responds well in my 40 VH,I only size the portion of the neck that holds the bullet, and I don't crimp either.

[Slowpoke Slim]

12.5 grs of Lil' Gun, Rem 6 1/2 primer, 40 gr Hornady Vmax seated LONG. Mine are seated to 1.900".

This is the load I shoot in my Contender handgun.

My shooting buddy has a Savage 40 hornet, and was not having any luck with loads. I handed him a fist full of these, and he promptly shot a bug hole ragged 1 hole group with them. His chamber is over sized, and he had case head separations after 2 loadings using an RCBS FL die. He has since switched to a neck sizing die, and no further problems with brass.

[dnsmith]

mine shoots pretty much anything i feed it. i use cci small pistol primers and remington brass. havent used any crimp, though i dont think a light crimp would be a bad idea. i use either 12 or 13 grains of lil' gun powder. 13 will compress a little, but that's the max charge hodgdon lists and everyone seems to like it. have used 40 g. v-max, 40 g. sierra sp (made specifically for the hornet) and some little 33 g. speer tnt hp's made specifically for the hornet. so far the little speers are my favorite. hard for me to tell an accuracy difference with any of them, .75" at 100 yds is no issue for 5 shots. probably could tighten that up a bit if i cared more, but good enough for me, especially with the volume of shooting i do with the rifle. really do love the rifle, find myself wishing i could deer hunt with it.

one thing i noticed is that the v-maxes seemed to be hard on my case life. maybe only 1 or 2 shots before the case necks would split or get a perforated look to 'em. no issues like that with the hornet-specific sierra and speer bullets.

btw, i had a heck of a time when i first started reloading the .22 hornet. crushing case necks left and right. figured it out and now its just like reloading any other caliber ... with just a little more finesse. i use standard FL RCBS dies, btw, and have no issues.

[tenwalker]

We have reloaded our Hornet cases over 10-12 times and have never split a case but we neck resize only. We load 13grs. of "LIL GUN" and a 35gr. VMAX with a Rem 6 1/2 and have shot them in 3 different Model 40's and in a Browning Medallion and a CZ. And this load has shot tite groups in every gun. Mine would shoot 1" 10 shot groups a 100yds and at 3050fps. I hate to say it but my Model 40 went to the neighbor and my new Cooper Model 38 Laminate in 22 Hornet is on order.

[rks1949]

12.7grs. Lil Gun,and a 40gr V-Max! I've had my 40 for 3 years,and it is amazingly accurate! I also use a light crimp on the case. I've tried diffrent primers,and didn't notice any diffrence in accuracy? I just use wsr primers,shoots into the .3's. Ron