Case Volume Eye Opener/Exercise – specifically 22 Hornet

oscarflytyer

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
Not cast, but...

Some background. Reloader for almost 40 yrs. I have never once measured case volume for anything. I also almost never sort cases by headstamp. I am shooting for fun and cast and woods hunting. Nothing match precision. So never been an issue for me. Nor heavy/overloads.

Footnote 1 – I can’t mentally tolerate a compressed load. I have loaded exactly ONE compressed load in a rifle case with IMR powder. I can’t mentally get past the “crunch” of compressing the load!

I have also, until now, loaded almost exclusively large caliber handgun and no small rifle less than 6.5x55 (which was all same HS, since all bought in EU = Norma!). Haven’t even loaded any 223 beyond test plinking loads yet.

Enter the 22 Hornet (Contender). Didn’t have brass. Bought 100 new Privi and 300 new Win around here. Got/loaded the Privi other night. Book load for 45 gr Speer with Lil’Gun is 12-13c grains. I set the scale to 12.4 and poured it into the first case. Yikes! It completely filled the case to the mouth! Being my typically risk averse self, I dialed back to 11.0 gr (also a book load listed) and loaded 50 rds.

Win brass came in today. Decided to test Privi vs Win for case volume (water). Results are below. I will say that the 12.5 gr of Lil’Gun completely filled the Privi to the top of the case mouth. The Win case had about 3/32 – 1/8” (guess) of air space (see pix). I went ahead and seated the bullet to 1.755”. Didn’t get any “crush” in the Privi. Might eventually work up in the Privi, but… This was a VERY interesting and eye opening exercise!

Footnote 2: I filled cases with water with an eye dropper. Got the viscosity “bubble” above the case mouth. Drug a razor blade over to try to get water even with case mouth. Could easily be a .5gr - 1 gr variance due to water viscosity properties (math doesn’t line up exactly).

Privi Brass Win Brass

Dry case weight 55.2gr 49.0 gr

Weight with unfired primer 58.7 gr 52.5 gr

Water/case weight 66.5 gr 67.0 gr

Water volume weight 7.8 gr 14.5 gr!

case volume.jpgDelta water grain weight ~ 6.7 gr!
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
Imagine if you had 140 pieces of 1 HS say LC 43 06' and had cases that weighed 178-207 gr with 3 clusters of +-1 gr of 186.5 , 189.6 , and 191.8 gr . Over 10 gr of water weight scaled down to half gr lots .
The reason for the three 4" groups 18" apart became clear .

Oddly enough a few years later a buddies 700BDL started throwing shots with 160 rounds of 1 lot of 165 Rem Cor-lokt factory . 75 cases of the first 100 were 184-186 gr then a whole box of 178-207 gr cases . I told him I found your flier cause . That kind of shook his confidence in the ammo .
 
Spindrift

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
While I have no experience with the Hornet, I read somewhere that variability in case capacity is an issue in this cartridge.

It certainly is a charming cartridge, I wouldn't mind having one myself!
Good luck!
 
swc-tr

swc-tr

New Member
With regards to the "viscosity bubble" above the case mouth, next time use a drop of dishwasher liquid soap mixed with your water to be used for case volume determination, it helps to lessen the surface tension of the water, no more viscosity bubble issues.
 
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Rick H

Rick H

Well-Known Member
Winchester is my brass of choice for the Hornet. I use Lil'Gun and either Calhoun 37gr. HP's or Nosler 40 gr. Sp's in my Contender Carbine. Very accurate (under MOA) and moving at 2850fps or so they are dynamite on coyotes with very little fur damage. They go in, blow up the insides with no exit wound.
 
L Ross

L Ross

Well-Known Member
I dunno nuthin' about the Hornet, but I was chronographing the Vihta N110 vs 4759 the other day and in reviewing my notes from previous years I saw that Pusong .308 brass shot 100 fps faster than FC brass with 17.0 grans of 4759. So I'm guessing it is thicker and must have less capacity.
 
Intel6

Intel6

Active Member
RP Hornet brass has more capacity than the WIN. My standard loads are 13 grs of LG with the Win cases and I use 14 grs. of LG in the RP cases with 32 - 40 gr. bullets. Keeps things simple and easy to load and the loads shoot great out of all my hornets. Never tried any of the Privi,, surprised at the case capacity difference.
 
B

blackthorn

Active Member
I find case powder capacity this way:

Make up a dummy round, sans primer. Weigh the result (dry weight). Fill the case with water through the primer hole using a syringe. Weigh the result (wet weight). Deduct dry weight from wet weight. This gives me the exact powder capacity that I have to work with. The only way this value changes is if the projectile is seated deeper or further out.​
 
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