17 Hornet

[dromia]

I have been shooting this round with factory for the past year or so in a CZ and have been much impressed with its accuracy, flat trajectory and explosive destructiveness on small quarry.

Having now got a "new" hand I have been developing handloads for this round, in my latest batch I used small pistol primers rather than the small rifle and it made a real difference to the velocity extreme spread with Vihtavuori N120. Down from 20fps to 5fps over 10 rounds recorded. Didn't shrink the groups as It is shooting far better than I can hold so I wouldn't notice the itty bitty groups getting any itty bittyer.

Just thought I would share, anyone else using this fine cartridge?

[Ovenpaa]

I shoot a 22 Hornet from time to time and have wondered about small pistol versus small rifle primers in the past, mainly because I have loads of them however I have never actually tested so this makes for interesting reading. As far as the 17 Hornet goes I make parts for them occasionally however that is all.

Out of interest what weight and type of bullet are you shooting?

[NigelM]

I have been looking at replacing my .17 HMR with a 17 Hornet as the 200 yd rabbits and crows tend to be a bit hit and miss with the HMR. Good to hear such an endorsement of the chambering. Thank you for posting.

[kennyc]

I shoot a 22 Hornet from time to time and have wondered about small pistol versus small rifle primers in the past, mainly because I have loads of them however I have never actually tested so this makes for interesting reading. As far as the 17 Hornet goes I make parts for them occasionally however that is all.

Out of interest what weight and type of bullet are you shooting?

A friend of mine tried pistol primers in his .22 hornet Dave and had problems with them piercing he went back to small rifle

[dromia]

I shoot a 22 Hornet from time to time and have wondered about small pistol versus small rifle primers in the past, mainly because I have loads of them however I have never actually tested so this makes for interesting reading. As far as the 17 Hornet goes I make parts for them occasionally however that is all.

Out of interest what weight and type of bullet are you shooting?

Hornady 20 gn Vmax and Berger 25 gn Match grade, I think the Hornady's have the edge, not that the Berger performance is poor, I suspect that the 25% weight increase with the Bergers could give benefits beyond 200 yrds. To be honest I am no fan of the Berger's bullets finding them finicky to get to shoot well and in my .244/6mms rifles none of their 6mm bullets will shoot worth a damn, I just got these on a whim.

[Duey]

Pistol primers are of a thinner cup and don't always withstand the pressure from rifle loadings and can cause blowouts or pierced primers

[dromia]

Pistol primers are able to withstand most reasonable rifle pressures, in this case 54,000PSI, the cups are thinner to accommodate lighter pistol strikes but I have only found piercing a problem with rough firing pins never with normal pressure and a properly protruding and shaped firing pin.

Small rifle and pistol primers are the same size so fit the pockets.

I believe that primer piercing is more likely if you substitute large pistol for large rifle as they are not as deep as large rifle primers and therefore can set back onto the firing pin. This isn't so much a function of excess pressure or cup thickness more a mechanical action. In saying that the black powder cartridge boys regularly swap large pistol primers for large rifle with nary a problem.

As with all handloading work up the load when changing any component.

[Ovenpaa]

I just checked .357Mag versus .22 Hornet pressure in both .222 and .224 groove (CIP) and interestingly both are 43511psi with the 17 Hornet at 53664 psi so the use of small pistol primers and reduced ES would be well worth exploring on these excellent little cartridges.

[Duey]

I'm sure they can work fine
I've read recently, but beggared if I can remember where, that issues can arise using pistol primers in rifles
It may have been in regard to hotter loads in either Palma 308 brass or 6.5 x47 brass
May have been a comment by Laurie Holland on one of the other forums that I occasionally drop into

[shooter01629]

i wonder how n110 runs in the .17 cal as i have a 1kg of it sitting