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Comparing the hornet to a 22 long rifle is, well, ridiculous. Ive used the 22 hornet for a long time, its among one of my favorites in my calling rifle battery.
It certainly isn't a "hot" 22 centerfire, but is very capable of killing coyotes out to the other side of 100 yards. I always consider it to be a ".223 lite", I shoot Sierra 40 grain soft points on top of AA1680,and get a nominal velocity of around 2,800 fps..certainly enough to kill a called coyote,at called ranges, which is usually between 20-60 yards. Im in agreement it is by no means a long range cartridge, it is what it is, and thats a fine, medium range coyote killing cartridge.
I owned two Hornets, both in the TC Contender format. The first was a pistol, the second was the carbine. I shot a lot of ground hogs with the carbine. The performance of the Hornet pistol was unimpressive, to say the least.
But, what made me decide to get rid of the Hornet was a trip I made to southern Ohio groundhog hunting with a buddy who had a Marlin .22 Mag. Up to 100 yards, or so, his rifle seemed to "thump" the hogs just as effectively as did my Hornet, shooting the 45 grain Hornady Hornets.
This was in the days before the Vmax bullets and we found that the soft nosed bullets, at Hornet velocities, would expand to a little over .30 cal on the GH's.
When another friend decided to sell his Rem. 788 in .222 Rem, I couldn't get rid of the Hornet fast enough. LOL Much easier to load for, more accurate, and had a heck of a lot more killing power than the Hornet ...... as, of course, it should, being able to drive the same bullet about 500 fps. faster.