Anyone work on better than "good" accuracy in a rifle & revolver chambered the same ?

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Magnum Wheel Man

New member
I have a custom 22 Hornet revolver that I added a 1 in 9 twist barrel, & was pretty happy with the results of my mini whisper, shooting 55 - 68 grain bullets out of the Hornet case... so I did the same to a new Ruger 77-22 Hornet... both have standard chambers, ( though I under stand some smiths are getting good results putting some sharp bottlenecks in the revolver... similar to a K Hornet ? ) however mine is still the original chamber on both revolver & rifle

anyway, I'm now working on a load that will shoot MOA or better, in the rifle, & still shoot reasonably accurately in the revolver...

I went outside the box a little in some of the powders ( trying Accurate #9 for example ) but am back to looking in my Contender reloading book, & trying to find a happy medium between Contender & Rifle loads... I'm currently working with 3 powders, & 55 grain bullets, & both magnum pistol, & small rifle primers, looking for best results... ( Lil Gun, IMR 4227, & 4198 )

originally ( since the revolver came 1st ) I worked on loads I thought would work better in the revolver, but since the rifle is done, my best groups on those loads are around 2.5" at 100 yards, in the rifle... so, now I'd like to tighten those up, & then see which of the good rifle loads work best in the revolver...

curious if any of you have played with anything similar, or have any suggestions... ( of course I do have 357 mag, & 45 Colt pairs, but those are mainly for CAS, so minute of steel plate at 50 yards is plenty good results in those rifles ) with the "fast twist" 22 Hornet I'm looking for more...
 
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S

Salmoneye

New member
I found a load that drives tacks in my 1894S, and shoots as 'good' as I am in my 7-1/2" Ruger Super Blackhawk...

Hornady 265gr FP over 22gr of H110...

Took me 2 years in the early 90's to hit on that combination...Went through many different bullets and powders before I found one that did double duty for me...

I shoot other stuff in both guns, but when I am 'hunting', this is the round I carry...
 
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Magnum Wheel Man

New member
Thanks for the reply Salmon...

no one else tried to get better than average accuracy out of 2 different guns ???

I guess this is what I'm thinking...

try to cut down on variables, to keep my sanity... there are too many to start with, once I have an acceptable load, I can always try to improve on it...

bullets... I have several styles & weights I started with... since this is kinda "whisper like" & the 68 grain bullets worked well in the revolver, I'd have liked to start there, but as hard as components are to get right now, coupled with the fact I have a lot of Sierra 55 grain spire point boat tails, I'll try to develop my 1st combination load around this bullet...

powders, I'm going to try 5 load levels, of 3 powders, for the rifle 1st

primers complicate things... I started with small pistol primers in the revolver, & cratered a few, then switched to small pistol magnum primers, & didn't have any more issues... I'm hoping maybe the small rifle primers will give me more cup strength, & good consistent ignition...

so I'm going to load 5 rounds of each, 3 powders, 5 load levels each, & 2 primer options per charge level... 30 test loads to start with... hopefully I can find something the rifle likes enough to get MOA or sub MOA loads... with the rifle results shot, I'll take the 3-4 best of those ( if any are acceptable ) & try them in the revolver, & see if any can get me a 4" - 6" group out of the 6" barrel iron sighted revolver... if not, I'll be back to the drawing board...

I started with the revolver, since it was done 1st & what I started experimenting with... but looks like the load for the rifle is more critical, & the revolver more forgiving ( or at least less precise, since it's iron sighted, & bigger groups are more likely ) so I'm hoping if I find something the rifle likes, that the revolver will find it acceptable...

I'm curious what method any of you may have used to get better than average groups out of multiple guns, with the same ammo ???
 
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Magnum Wheel Man

New member
been pictures on here in the past... ;)

but here you go...

attachment.php
 
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dahermit

New member
I remember, years ago, I think it was a S&W revolver in .22 Jet? It came with two cylinders .22 Jet, .22 Long Rifle. Quickly died out. It was often written that if one did not keep the .22 Jet chambers scrupulously clean, extraction would become problematic. As I remember, it had something to do with the tapered cases wanting to back-up against the recoil shield when carbon was in the chambers. Have you found any extraction problems with your Hornet?

Just a note: Years ago when they (S&W .22 Jet revolvers), still were available, a few years after the production stopped and they could be found used, a co-worker of mine bought one as an investment, more than to shoot it. He was of the opinion that due to the low popularity, low production numbers, they would eventually be a collector's item. Don't know if he ever cashed in on it or not.
 
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Magnum Wheel Man

New member
I've found if my cases are very clean & dry of lube, I don't have issues... at most, a sharp rap to the extractor frees them up ( I've fired strings as long as 100 rounds in an afternoon so far )... on this revolver, 8 rounds add to the complication, but even with loads that were destroying small pistol primers, they ejected with a sharp rap to the extractor... most normal loads with dry cases eject easily
 
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Salmoneye

New member
You might want to note that this is a max or near-max load for most guns, Hodgdon shows a 21.5 gr. max of H110 under a 270 gr. GDSP.
Click to expand...

Hornady 4th Edition lists 22.2gr H110 as max in the Marlin, and 23.4gr max in the Super Blackhawk...

I do not have excessive primer flattening, and no sticky extraction in either gun...

This is not to say that this load will be safe in anyone else's guns...

As always with any new load combination, please start low and work up slowly...
 
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