I haven’t seen a box of .22 Hornet ammo on the shelves in years

[Scott Tschirhart]

Yesterday it was plentiful. I’m not exactly sure why I care as I don’t own a .22 Hornet, but I notice these things.

.480 Ruger ammo is plentiful as well.

But prices do not seem to be going anywhere.

[COSteve]

Looked on AmmoSeek and the cheapest I could find was some PPU .22 Hornet for 78¢ per rd! That's $38.99 for a box of 50!

[marlinman93]

Many of the old great cartridges aren't found on shelves today. Gun stores seem to only carry a variety of either the most popular ammo, or the latest whiz bang do it all ammo.
I don't own a .22 Hornet either, but I do own it's grandpa the .22WCF and I buy Hornet brass to load down to .22WCF specs for my old single shot Ballard.

[ywaltzucanrknrl]

Fun little rabbit guns. I've never bought loaded ammo for mine, just reloaded for it. Surprisingly to me, cast bullets shoot good in mine. If I use jacketed stuff, I would say at today's component prices it would cost me around 45 cents a round if amortize the cost of brass over 10 reloads. With cast it's about 20 cents less.

I keep looking for a nicer one than I have but it's not a priority. The one I have was my fathers and I like it mostly for that reason. Good memories hunting grouse and rabbits with fox and coyote thrown in with him.

[zoner]

I have a KHornet.....a converted Hornet. Never fired factory ammo in it. Reloads only

[2ndovc]

I sold my Martini years ago ( stupid thing to do), but still have several hundred factory and reloads. I was going to sell it all to a guy about a year ago until he started hedging on my price and tried to low ball me. Told him to stick it and go find someone else to annoy.

Since I moved I've been looking for a replacement rifle, watching an older Savage on auction now. I'll find one sooner or later.

I actually saw some Remington .257 Roberts not that long ago. Eventually they will get caught up.

jb

[rock-steady]

Maybe the 22 Hornet ammo on the shelf is for the new Ruger Super Redhawk in 22 Hornet....I really don't know how many of these Ruger thinks they will sell.

Like others here have mentioned, i have never bought or fired any factory 22 Hornet ammo. Strictly a handload round for me.

Oddly enough, I use Li'l Gun powder for my smallest centerfire (22Hornet) and my largest centerfire (500SW Mag).

I was at the LGS earlier this week and all the shelves were stacked high with ammo. Prices were still a little high, in my opinion.

[GunnyMack]

I have one Hornet, two 218 Bee's and a 25-20. I've shot factory, hand loads, cast and jacketed in all of them.
I wish all of the -20 gun owners would start hounding the likes of Marlin, Henry, Browning to start making 218,25-20, 32-20 guns again. That would lead to ammo/brass being made again for us all.

[AJMD429]

.
The local Rural King had about ten boxes of 38 SUPER the other day, and I'm betting it was an accidental order mistaken for 38 Special.

I've NEVER seen a box of 480 Ruger anywhere... Neat cartridge though - Kind of a 475 Linebaugh Special of sorts...

[2ndovc]

I have one Hornet, two 218 Bee's and a 25-20. I've shot factory, hand loads, cast and jacketed in all of them.
I wish all of the -20 gun owners would start hounding the likes of Marlin, Henry, Browning to start making 218,25-20, 32-20 guns again. That would lead to ammo/brass being made again for us all.

Part of the reason I sold the Hornet was that it didn't really do anything my .25-20, 32-20s or my Sako .222 didn't. Throw in the .223/5.56 and stretch the range out even farther. Not that it's really necessary. I bagged a woodchuck at 400+ yards years ago with the .222

jb

[Turdyturdy]

Yup, shop near me has new Hornady 22 Hornet, $65. Also has Hornady 25-35 for $45. Had 3 boxes of Hornady Win 348 200 grain FTX for $60 each. I bought all 3 boxes!

[marlinman93]

I shoot nothing but cast bullets in my .22WCF and most loads are down in the 1500 FPS range with 45 gr. bullets. It's a fun cartridge for plinking even at lower velocities, but a little tougher to reload for with big fumble fingers and tiny bullets!

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I used to load Hornet with Norma N123, then they discontinued it. I tried Lil'gun, which was good, but then I stumbled onto Vihtavuori N105. Then they discontinued it. I still have about 3lbs left. It's getting hard to love the Hornet. I've only seen Privi (PPU) Hornet around lately. In a related note, you can still buy PPU's 22 Remington Jet ammo for about the same as they're asking for Hornet these days. Now, only PPU makes the Jet bullets. At least there are a few bags around.

Does anyone still catalog a proper .223" Hornet bullet?

[6pt-sika]

I wrote a couple articles for “The Fouling Shot” close to twenty years ago . The first was about a Marlin 1892 32 cal and shooting squirrels with a 90 grain home cast heel bullet . Which worked its way into some tree rat guns talked about cast bullet loads in the 32 Long Colt , 218 Bee , 25-20 , 32-20 and 357 MAG . All were in Marlin levers of course . Killed a couple tree rats with each rifle then it kinda went to the wayside . I used to load for several Hornets but never tried cast in any of them . Had a circa 1938 Model 70 Hornet that absolutely loved Nosler 40 BT’s with if memory serves AA 1680 , that of the four or five Hornets I’ve owned was the most accurate and also heaviest .

[hfcable]

i have 25/20s and 32/20s and have never done much with the 22 hornet...... but i do have one in TC contender and am using it for my grandson to go a notch up from 22 LR. years ago i picked up four boxes of facttory 22 hornet in an estate sale, paid about 20$ per box

i did have a great western 22 hornet single action revolver, which didnt work very well, but a collector friend of my begged me for it and i sold it

the 22 wcf is a sweet cartridge. i have this 1920's vintage german over and under chambered for 28 gauge shotgun and 5.6 x 35 R which is the 22 WCF:





it will not chamber the 22 hornet, rim is too thick. my first 22 wcf load is almost identical to Val's load. the rifle sights are not readily adjusable and to my delight that load puts every bullet into a single ragged
hole at 25 yds, exactly at point of aim. that will do it for me ! !

i am not sure what i will use this little gun for, but it is very light weight [ under 5 pounds ] and well balanced.... and just darn cute !!

[Ysabel Kid]

I have one Hornet, two 218 Bee's and a 25-20. I've shot factory, hand loads, cast and jacketed in all of them.
I wish all of the -20 gun owners would start hounding the likes of Marlin, Henry, Browning to start making 218,25-20, 32-20 guns again. That would lead to ammo/brass being made again for us all.

Last time I saw factory .32-20 they were $100 a box. And the .25-20 were $150!

[Ysabel Kid]

Many of the old great cartridges aren't found on shelves today. Gun stores seem to only carry a variety of either the most popular ammo, or the latest whiz bang do it all ammo.
I don't own a .22 Hornet either, but I do own it's grandpa the .22WCF and I buy Hornet brass to load down to .22WCF specs for my old single shot Ballard.

I think part of that is that the internet has made it easier to buy "obscure" (I hate saying that) calibers easier online. A bigger part is a better understanding by gun stores (and all retailers of everything) of working capital. If you tie WC up in calibers that appeal to an extremely small slice of your customers, you need to mark them up significantly to cover tying up those funds. We all remember our favorite gun stores having dust on boxes of certain things (that was part of the appeal). If a store now has an internet site, which almost all do, they can offer rare stuff (if they can find it) as they know they will sell it fast. I just wish the manufacturers would put aside time to run other calibers, but I understand it is hard to do so when you can't keep up with the demand for the common stuff.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Yup, shop near me has new Hornady 22 Hornet, $65. Also has Hornady 25-35 for $45. Had 3 boxes of Hornady Win 348 200 grain FTX for $60 each. I bought all 3 boxes!

I don’t blame you a bit! These have been so hard to find for the past few years.

[marlinman93]

We have a local FFL dealer who specializes in trying to buy obsolete brass and ammo, and pays decent prices when he buys, and doesn't go nuts pricing it to sell. When I recently bought the 1400 pcs. of Starline .32-20 brass I sold almost all the extra to him. I kept 400 pcs. and he paid me what I paid for the whole 1400. So I basically got 400 pcs. free and he'll make a little money too.

[KWK]

... but it is very light weight [ under 5 pounds ] and well balanced.... and just darn cute !!

Indeed.