22 K Hornet Bullet Question

[Vartarg]

A friend and I are going to Northern NM at the end of May for three days of pd shooting. I haven't completely decided on the "arsenal" yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm taking my Anschutz 17HMR, my Encore 17AH, my Ruger .22 K Hornet and one of my 20VT's....oh, and maybe a .204 just in case.....

My main question: I'm thinking 40 gr bullets (Vmas, Nosler or Sierra) for the K Hornet but am interested in your thoughts about whether there are other weights I should consider: 30, 35, 45, etc.etc.......??

George

[broper]

I shoot a .218 Bee, which should be about the same as a.22 Hornet A I and I really like the 40 gr. v-max. I have shot the 35 gr. v-max with good success too, even killed a coyote DRT with it, but settled on the 40 gr.

[broper]

I meant K Hornet, not A I

[Rick in Oregon]

Vartarg: As your choice of calibers exactly matches choices in my little array, I'd opt that any of the 40gr poly-tipped bullets in a K-Hornet will be the best and primary choice (to me), but also consider an alternative that I've really had alot of fun with on both rock chucks and ground squirrels.....the Barnes 30gr Varmint Grenade.

In a K-Hornet, speeds of 3,500 fps are easily reached with Lil Gun or 1680, and accuracy in my Browning 1885 Low Wall K-Hornet 16 twist is in the .3's. It's great on chucks out past 265 yards, as the one below will attest to. Give them a try before you leave......if the wind is not howlin' too bad, you'll enjoy the splat-factor on rats.



Here's the 30gr VG (in the Hornet case ready to fireform) in comparison to a Nosler 45gr Solid Base Hornet (204 Ruger & 32gr BT for size comparison):



I often shoot my K-Hornet out the window of the rig while going to or coming from my bench setup in the field. It's great for squirrels or PD's using a window bag from either side of the rig. Here's how the 30gr VG performs on Skippy at an estimated 240 yards ~.....



Just for fun, I'll add this one..... This was one of those times I was glad I had my K-Hornet. I had been shooting my Cooper 223 ("Rosa") from the bench out to around 460 yards, but the wind came up big-time and it got much colder than it had been, so we broke down our benches and piled into the rig and shot rats out the window with the heater on full blast. The pic below shows how many bench-shot 223's were fired compared to how much fun I had using my K-Hornet to sort of 'save the day' so to speak. (Yeah, I know, a 17HMR would of worked too, but I can shoot this cheaper. )



So give those 30gr VG's a try....they worked purty dang good in the wind on this cold-a$$ day. Have a grand time in N. NM....be sure to remember your camera.....we want pics!