VARMINT HUNTING WITH THE 22 HORNET

 Although develped over 70 years ago the 22 hornet has never been very popular, until now. With the growing number of varmint hunters seeking a varmint cartidge that has a decent range capability,easy to hand load , cheap to reload, light recoil and mild report more and more hunters are turning to the little hornet. While there are larger , faster, and more popular cartridges available one would be hard pressed to find a more adequete cartridge for midrange varminting.

Up until about 5 years ago I had very little experience with the little Hornet. I then had several friends and a brother that bought themselves one,mainly for varmints out to 200 yds . So started my obsession with the 22 hornet. Since then I have cross referenced tons of data, spoken to countless owners of the little Hornet, even talked a couple of buddies and a dad into buying one, witnessed the power of this great little cartridge all without owning one. Pretty pathetic I'd say. But with so many around I dont have to own one because I get to shoot them every time we go out. 

Upon examining the this cartridge in depth I find it to be more than adequete for 250 yd varminting especially in the hands of a skilled shooter. With several factory loadings available that surpass the 3000 fps + mark  and even more handloads that will put this Hornet into the 3200 fps area. Even though its not a laser this still makes for a great little cartridge. There are several Bullets available for the Hornet even specifically made for it like the Hornady 35 gr V-max, and the Speer 33 gr TNT both wich can be driven to 3100 fps. There are also X- Bullets  made by Barnes that if loaded correctly and shot placement were key could bring down a small Whitetail deer with little or no meat damage . Sierra makes a 40 and 45 gr bullet Most Loads are light using less than 14 gr of powder which means if you are a handloader you can get  around 500 rnds from a single Lb of powder. This itself makes it a real eye catcher to a varmint hunter becasue of the sheer volume of rounds one goes through in a varmint season, especially on a ground squirrell hunt in Nevada or Northen California. One would also be hard pressed to find a better predator cartridge loading a 33 gr Speer TNT one might find that there may not be any exit holes on a Coyote or Fox 

Right now there are several rifle manufacturers  making the 22 hornet and these include Ruger, CZ, Cooper, Savage, Remington , H&R , and  NEF of which you cant go wrong with any but if its this authors opinion I would go with the Ruger or Cooper.

All in all the 22 Hornet makes a fine varmint hunting cartridge to add to your collection or even if you have just 1. They have a mild recoil, light recoil, cheap to load for ,most rifles are less than 7lbs and are just plain fun to shoot. My reccomendation for Bullets for varmint hunting  are the Speer 33 TNT and Hornady 35 gr V-max  unless you dont handload then you have a great 34 gr jhp loaded by Winchester and a 30gr and 32 gr James calhoon hp loaded by HSM...so in short I cant wait till I own my own 22 hornet

Steve Court