Question about 9" twist Handi Hornet?

[Canuck Bob]

My 22 Hornet has the 9" twist. the early mission was to have a hornet that would shot the 55 grain horn SPSX at mid range velocity. No cast was planned. Now the cast possibility is back on the table, waiting on a Lyman 225462 SC, +/-60 grain GC RN. Many are surprised to hear about the fast twist but after the Rem moves the 9" twist was standardized to cut tooling costs to match the 223 offering. I've visually checked and the rifling definitely makes a very quick rotation much before mid barrel.

Such twists are not as cast friendly. How do folks find their fast twist 223s handle? The plan is to stay around 2000 fps or less. This rifle will most likely not be a dedicated cast rifle. Any notes that include these itty bitty bullets and the Hornet welcome.

 

[fiver]

I shoot an 8 twist 223 no problems.
weight sort after visual sorting, do the visual sorting like they owe you money and it's payday.
the rest is just normal good loading techniques, alloy matching, and finding the accuracy nodes your rifle likes.

 

[Intheshop]

My WELL loved (shot the heck out of it with,you name it JB's,from white box Win factory to all manner of jacked up handloads).....Savage stainless S.A. .223 is a delight with cast.The cheapy Lee 55 (not bator) just visually sorted,and paying surgical attention to nose size/fit,lubed only the space over GC,as cast body.

4198 powder,start low'ish.....keep adding it until you see accuracy fall off.I don't even bother with chrono....too much.Mainly laziness,'cause it takes me longer to setup than use.But a chrono would make sense for load development.Anyway,keep the usual sharp eye on your case's reactions and subsequently working "with" it's fit whilst moving up the velocity ladder.

I'd stick with one primer,one powder trying to get a "read" on the rig.How are the cases behaving?What's the carbon blowback discoloration look on the fired necks?Does annealing help?How is the gun riding the bags?All the while,keep adding powder.

Once you get a feel for it,change the primer.Go up and down 1/2 g. of powder testing the primer change.Better?Worse?Now,start taking the nose fit and alloy to NASA level of precision.And start paying attention to air condition,temps/density.Because JMO...it'll show up on the .22's before the larger cals.Learn how to change the load to compensate for the conditions.

Take the money you save buying JB's,and get some great glass on your new tackdriver.