This article written by CBA member, Grant Macomber of Applegate, CA was published in the May / June 2008 #193 issue of the Fouling Shot.
The objective of this project was to increase myshooting pleasure by (1) developing accurate, easy tomake ammunition that would (2) make more use of theguns I had. The number of primers popped was not thesole measure of shooting pleasure.
Several years ago I was impressed with the resultsthat John Alexander and Guy McMurray had with the.223 Remington and .228î bullets (FS 94, November / December1991). Guy McMurray used the RCBS 22-060-FN bullet that was designed for the .22 Savage HighPower. His load with a pinch of 700X got 1329 f.p.s. and1.131" groups from a Ruger No. 1. That appealed to me.I did not have a Ruger No. 1, but I had a Handi Rifle in.45 Govt.
NEF makes the Handi Rifle in .223 Remington and.22 Hornet. I called NEF and learned that the Hornet barrelhad a 1 in 12î twist, same as the .223 Remington. The.22 Hornet was on my list of ìcanít live withoutî cartridges,so I ordered a Hornet barrel for my Handi Rifle, a mold for the RCBS 22-060-FN, a Lee collet die set,and Hornet brass. An old steel-tube Weaver K2.5 gavethe eye relief that I wanted for offhand shooting.
Casting the bullets using wheel weight metal plus 2%tin at 750°, the rejection rate was nil. Bullets came fromthe mold at 62 grains with bands .228" to .230". Theywere too large in diameter for the Lee dead length bulletseating die (made to handle .224" jacketed bullets), so Isized them in a .224" Lyman H&I die in a Lyman 450sizer-lubricator. The ammunition went together all right,but I was not enthused. Sizing to .224" was difficultbecause of the tendency of the bullet to tip, and it alsonullified the advantage, if any, of starting with a .228" bullet.After trying a few powders and even some jacketedbullets, and getting somewhat disappointing accuracy, Iset the Hornet aside for 10 to 12 years. Then I read JohnAlexander's article about 22's in Joseph Brennanís CastBullets for Beginner & Expert and got fired up again.
John noted that bullets must be at least .225" indiameter, so I could see nothing wrong with trying the.228-.230" bullets as cast. Letís call them .228". I hadbeen developing .30-30 loads with the same objective asstated above and found that the Lee dead length seatingdie shaved lead and crumpled cases when I tried to seat.309" cast bullets. I solved the problem for the .30-30 byusing my old RCBS seating die; it had plenty of wobbleroom for the cast bullets up to .311". The same approachwould have to be used for the Hornet, but I did not havean old Hornet die. I asked John Alexander and Ed Harrisabout it. The three of us were on the same track, and theeasiest solution was to have Lee Precision ream or lapthe dead length seating die for $20. I had been pleasedwith Lee Precisionís machine work before, so I sent thedie to Lee with sample bullets and an order for a FactoryCrimp Die, an expander die, and a Decapper and Base.The Decapper and Base would let me decap with a mallet.It seemed that neck sizing in the collet die would notbe necessary with .228" bullets.
My notes from years back noted that 5 grains of2400 gave ìpromising accuracyî with the 62 grain bulletswith plain bases. The velocity variation had probably discouragedme; 951 to 1207 feet per second, 1064 average,72 standard deviation. Bullets had not beencrimped in place because the Lee dead length seatingdie does not crimp.
I swished some bullets in Lee Liquid Alox anddumped them on waxed paper. They were ready to loadthe next day. Five grains of Alliant 2400 pushed the .228" plain base bullets over 1,600 fps without leading. Therewas little powder residue in the barrel. These bullets hadmaximum crimp. I was encouraged by the accuracy andenthused about the project.
The first variation tested was to compare accuracy ofas cast .228" bullets with bullets that had been sized in the .224" die. I made the two lots of ammunition as alikeas possible except for the difference in bullet diameter.Neck sizing in the Lee collet die seemed to provide asmuch bullet pull for the .224" bullets as the as-fired necksprovided for the .228" bullets; the Factory Crimp Die wasadjusted to return the outside diameter of the casemouths to the same diameter as before expanding thecase mouths for both the .224" loads and the .228" loads.No gas checks were used. The .228" bullets were theclear winner.
The second variation tested compared light crimploads with a heavy crimp using .228" bullets.
Test shooting was done with the fore end on a sandbag but no butt bag. The .228" bullets with light crimpproduced a rounded 10-shot group under 1" at first, butafter that the group dropped 1-1/2" and was irregular,spreading horizontally to 1-1/2" inches. The loads with aheavy crimp were more consistent. There was a littlelead in the barrel that came out easily in small flakes.There was quite a bit of bullet lubricant on the shouldersand necks of the cases.
I decided to use a faster-burning powder. SR4756was selected based on the fact that I had a canister of iton hand marked $2.75.
Cases were not sized but were decapped with theLee Decapper and Base. Ammunition was assembledwith WSP primers, .228" bullets with maximum crimp,and 2.8 grains of SR4756 for mean velocity of 1245 f.p.s.Accuracy was about 1-1/2" at 50 yards for round, 10-shotgroups with the low resolution Weaver K2.5 scope andmirage. I bumped the powder charge to 3.0 grains ofSR4756.
Better optics would have been nice for testing. CouldI use the old Tasco 8x scope in the low Weaver rings?The 1.509" objective bell just fit after I put the rear sightall the way down and had the scope pressed against thesight, which is spring-loaded, to force the rear sight allthe way down. The hammer also barely cleared thescope. I had to crawl up on the short eye relief scope abit, and this gave me cheek contact with the comb. TheWeaver K2.5 is a chin-mount scope.
The Tasco 8x cannot be focused, not for me at 50yards anyway, but it did allow me to hold tighter than Icould with the Weaver K2.5. It took two shots for me toremember that I had yet to sight in, and two more to sightin (bore sighting being a snap with a break-action rifle),so I shot four ten-shot groups. The temperature was onits way to 108°, and I wanted to be home for lunch, so Ileft it at four groups. Groups were well rounded. Thecases were clean. There was a good star on the crown.The four groups averaged 1.2", shrinking progressivelyas I caught on how to hold the rifle.
That was better than the results I have had with anyother load in either barrel, including jacketed Hornet bullets.The rifle would probably do better with good opticsand bag technique, and might benefit from a softer alloyand different forend tightness. It might not set anybenchrest records, but it might hold the .89î ten ring ofthe 50 yard smallbore target (.89" + .224" for the bulletdiameter = 1.114" for the groups). And, as I said to mywife when I got home, I had forgotten how much fun theHandi Rifle was.
Next I took off the scope and the base in order to useiron sights. The comb is sloped for iron sights, makingscope sights somewhat uncomfortable to use. The factoryopen rear sight put the bullets about .75" below pointof aim at 25 yards. A Williams Guide (or WGRS) peepsight set low put the bullets in the middle of a 6" bull at25 yards. Mission accomplished.
That was a couple of years ago. I am still shootingthe Hornet. The only problem with the .22 Hornet HandiRifle is that of running out of bullets! •
Several years ago I was impressed with the resultsthat John Alexander and Guy McMurray had with the.223 Remington and .228î bullets (FS 94, November / December1991). Guy McMurray used the RCBS 22-060-FN bullet that was designed for the .22 Savage HighPower. His load with a pinch of 700X got 1329 f.p.s. and1.131" groups from a Ruger No. 1. That appealed to me.I did not have a Ruger No. 1, but I had a Handi Rifle in.45 Govt.
NEF makes the Handi Rifle in .223 Remington and.22 Hornet. I called NEF and learned that the Hornet barrelhad a 1 in 12î twist, same as the .223 Remington. The.22 Hornet was on my list of ìcanít live withoutî cartridges,so I ordered a Hornet barrel for my Handi Rifle, a mold for the RCBS 22-060-FN, a Lee collet die set,and Hornet brass. An old steel-tube Weaver K2.5 gavethe eye relief that I wanted for offhand shooting.
Casting the bullets using wheel weight metal plus 2%tin at 750°, the rejection rate was nil. Bullets came fromthe mold at 62 grains with bands .228" to .230". Theywere too large in diameter for the Lee dead length bulletseating die (made to handle .224" jacketed bullets), so Isized them in a .224" Lyman H&I die in a Lyman 450sizer-lubricator. The ammunition went together all right,but I was not enthused. Sizing to .224" was difficultbecause of the tendency of the bullet to tip, and it alsonullified the advantage, if any, of starting with a .228" bullet.After trying a few powders and even some jacketedbullets, and getting somewhat disappointing accuracy, Iset the Hornet aside for 10 to 12 years. Then I read JohnAlexander's article about 22's in Joseph Brennanís CastBullets for Beginner & Expert and got fired up again.
John noted that bullets must be at least .225" indiameter, so I could see nothing wrong with trying the.228-.230" bullets as cast. Letís call them .228". I hadbeen developing .30-30 loads with the same objective asstated above and found that the Lee dead length seatingdie shaved lead and crumpled cases when I tried to seat.309" cast bullets. I solved the problem for the .30-30 byusing my old RCBS seating die; it had plenty of wobbleroom for the cast bullets up to .311". The same approachwould have to be used for the Hornet, but I did not havean old Hornet die. I asked John Alexander and Ed Harrisabout it. The three of us were on the same track, and theeasiest solution was to have Lee Precision ream or lapthe dead length seating die for $20. I had been pleasedwith Lee Precisionís machine work before, so I sent thedie to Lee with sample bullets and an order for a FactoryCrimp Die, an expander die, and a Decapper and Base.The Decapper and Base would let me decap with a mallet.It seemed that neck sizing in the collet die would notbe necessary with .228" bullets.
My notes from years back noted that 5 grains of2400 gave ìpromising accuracyî with the 62 grain bulletswith plain bases. The velocity variation had probably discouragedme; 951 to 1207 feet per second, 1064 average,72 standard deviation. Bullets had not beencrimped in place because the Lee dead length seatingdie does not crimp.
I swished some bullets in Lee Liquid Alox anddumped them on waxed paper. They were ready to loadthe next day. Five grains of Alliant 2400 pushed the .228" plain base bullets over 1,600 fps without leading. Therewas little powder residue in the barrel. These bullets hadmaximum crimp. I was encouraged by the accuracy andenthused about the project.
The first variation tested was to compare accuracy ofas cast .228" bullets with bullets that had been sized in the .224" die. I made the two lots of ammunition as alikeas possible except for the difference in bullet diameter.Neck sizing in the Lee collet die seemed to provide asmuch bullet pull for the .224" bullets as the as-fired necksprovided for the .228" bullets; the Factory Crimp Die wasadjusted to return the outside diameter of the casemouths to the same diameter as before expanding thecase mouths for both the .224" loads and the .228" loads.No gas checks were used. The .228" bullets were theclear winner.
The second variation tested compared light crimploads with a heavy crimp using .228" bullets.
Test shooting was done with the fore end on a sandbag but no butt bag. The .228" bullets with light crimpproduced a rounded 10-shot group under 1" at first, butafter that the group dropped 1-1/2" and was irregular,spreading horizontally to 1-1/2" inches. The loads with aheavy crimp were more consistent. There was a littlelead in the barrel that came out easily in small flakes.There was quite a bit of bullet lubricant on the shouldersand necks of the cases.
I decided to use a faster-burning powder. SR4756was selected based on the fact that I had a canister of iton hand marked $2.75.
Cases were not sized but were decapped with theLee Decapper and Base. Ammunition was assembledwith WSP primers, .228" bullets with maximum crimp,and 2.8 grains of SR4756 for mean velocity of 1245 f.p.s.Accuracy was about 1-1/2" at 50 yards for round, 10-shotgroups with the low resolution Weaver K2.5 scope andmirage. I bumped the powder charge to 3.0 grains ofSR4756.
Better optics would have been nice for testing. CouldI use the old Tasco 8x scope in the low Weaver rings?The 1.509" objective bell just fit after I put the rear sightall the way down and had the scope pressed against thesight, which is spring-loaded, to force the rear sight allthe way down. The hammer also barely cleared thescope. I had to crawl up on the short eye relief scope abit, and this gave me cheek contact with the comb. TheWeaver K2.5 is a chin-mount scope.
The Tasco 8x cannot be focused, not for me at 50yards anyway, but it did allow me to hold tighter than Icould with the Weaver K2.5. It took two shots for me toremember that I had yet to sight in, and two more to sightin (bore sighting being a snap with a break-action rifle),so I shot four ten-shot groups. The temperature was onits way to 108°, and I wanted to be home for lunch, so Ileft it at four groups. Groups were well rounded. Thecases were clean. There was a good star on the crown.The four groups averaged 1.2", shrinking progressivelyas I caught on how to hold the rifle.
That was better than the results I have had with anyother load in either barrel, including jacketed Hornet bullets.The rifle would probably do better with good opticsand bag technique, and might benefit from a softer alloyand different forend tightness. It might not set anybenchrest records, but it might hold the .89î ten ring ofthe 50 yard smallbore target (.89" + .224" for the bulletdiameter = 1.114" for the groups). And, as I said to mywife when I got home, I had forgotten how much fun theHandi Rifle was.
Next I took off the scope and the base in order to useiron sights. The comb is sloped for iron sights, makingscope sights somewhat uncomfortable to use. The factoryopen rear sight put the bullets about .75" below pointof aim at 25 yards. A Williams Guide (or WGRS) peepsight set low put the bullets in the middle of a 6" bull at25 yards. Mission accomplished.
That was a couple of years ago. I am still shootingthe Hornet. The only problem with the .22 Hornet HandiRifle is that of running out of bullets! •