22 Hornet - Loading with pistol primers

[Ramjet]

I have experienced a problem loading with pistol primers on and off for the last 10 years. I have had the primers blow out a little and vent gas around the primer . This first occurred when loading my Contender Carbine with 12.7 grs of Lil-Gun , Remington 5 1/2 primers , WW brass , and a 40 gr Nosler BT . My solution was to go to CCI 400 and Rem 6 1/2 primers and the problem went away . However, out of the blue my Savage Model 40 started doing the same thing a couple of months ago. I should be clear and say in both cases I was getting about 1 in 10 failures . Anyway , in the Savage I have been shooting 12.6 grs Lil-Gun, Rem 5 1/2 primers , WW Brass, Speer 45 gr PSP for hornets. In this gun I have shot about 300 of these in the last 10 years with no problem.

In looking back at my loading notes the only thing that I see that is the same is that the brass in both cases was on it's second or third loading. All the 5 1/2's come from the same lot of 2000 I bought back in 2000. There are no pressure signs and these are clearly not maxed out loads. The Brass is only necked sized with a lee collet die and if required I run the brass through a Redding body die.

In the batch that just started failing I shot 40 rounds before I had my first failure . The first 40 were fired on a day when the ambient temperature was in the 30's . The day I got the failures the ambient temperature was in the 70's. I have since fired some of the ones I have left on a very cold day and there were a few failures but less than I was seeing on a warm day.

I am not sure what all this means but I am using CCI400's and Rem. 6 1/2's in all future loads . I am in the process of pulling the bullets on 200 rounds I loaded in July that have not been fired.

If your loading Hornets it might not be advisable to use pistol primers. If anybody has any thoughts I would like to hear them.

I have also tried the same load listed above for the Savage with CCI400's and I really can't tell any difference in accuracy or how the primer looks.

 

[K-22hornet.]

I've loaded for the Hornet for near 30 years, 95%+ with small pistol primers, and never an issue.

However, I have never used Rem 5 1/2 primers.

Some primers have thicker cups than others, so perhaps the Rem's are thinner?

Lilgun powder is a very low pressure powder in the Hornet. Hodgdon says it runs at about 32k-CUP vs other powders at 42k-CUP.

Some pistol loads hit 32k-CUP, but most seem to be around 28k-CUP (9mm Luger).

Based on that, I would say it is the Rem 5 1/2 primer causing the problem.

 

[jsh]

I have been using pistol primers for quite a while. I don’t try to magnumize it, though I do use lilgun on occasion. Most data shows rifle primers. I don’t pay much attention to the pistol primers being flat as rifle primers show zero signs.
I have not had any issues with pistol primers.
The pistol primers shrank groups enough for me I use them all the time. At the moment I am using a bunch I got for cheap years ago. Funny thing is they don’t work worth a crap in 38 or 357.

 

[Theshedhunter]

For the record, I too experienced primer leakage using CCI small pistol primers. I had never had the issue prior to a friend gifting me a brick of them. I loaded 12.0 gr Lil Gun in new Hornady brass with 50 gr bullet, shot through CZ 527. After several leakers I stopped shooting them and pulled down the rest. Load shoots well with small rifle primers and never had a leaker before or after the SPP’s.

 

[Steve_in_PA]

I use CCI small pistol primers in the .22 Hornet loads for my 10” T/C Contender. Never had an issue with them. I was using H110/W296, but recently switched to a great load using Lil Gun.