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Excerpt from Fouling Shot 274; Steve Balthrop, Texas.

I first got my .22 Hornet rifle in 2006. It was already "experienced" being 30 years old, a Ruger #3 rollmarked "Made in the 200 year of American Independence" with a Simmons 3x-9x scope. I just couldn't pass it up. For some time what little shooting I did with it was confined to jacketed, either the Winchester 46 gr. hollow point or the Nosier 40 gr. Ballistic Tip on top of 13.0 gr. of Lil Gun powder. The Ruger shot both bullets well and really shined with the Nosier. I'd heard complaints of #3s not being accurate, but this rifle never read the reviews and simply doesn't know better, so it shoots very well.

Unfortunately, I didn't take the #3 out much. I used it to take a coyote or two, got an armadillo tearing up a yard, and a tiny feral pigletthat caught a Nosier in his earhole at about 35 yards (he fit in the wife's bigroasting pan and was very tasty). Other rifles and projects got my attention sothe little Ruger languished in the safe for a long time.

About five years agoI decided to drag the #3 out and work with some cast bullets. I wanted toapproximate the .22 WMRF cheaply, in a reloadable platform. With luck I mighteven do a little better. At the time I had two .22 caliber molds. One was aRCBS 22-055-FN and the other was an original Lee Bator with the round flatnose. The latter was supposed to be a 55 gr. bullet, but when cast out of the clipon wheel weights (COWW) the bullets weighed approximately 48.4 gr. As the Rugerhas a 1in 16" twist I didn't even try to use the RCBS mold, but stuck withthe Lee. I applied Hornady gas checks, sized bullets to .225" lubed with50/50 Alox-beeswax.

My first attempts to find an accurate load were disappointing. Test loads with 2400, Lil Gun and H4227 did no better than 4" @ 100 yards for 5 shots. I tried both small rifle (F205) and small pistol (CCl500) primers. I also tried H4198 with charges of 9.4 gr. and 10.0 gr. Groups were a little better, but I had a lot of unburned powder.

I talked to Ed Harris one night and told him of my lack of success. Ed suggested that I increase the H4198 so that it filled the case when the bullet is seated. I was seating the little Bator to an overall cartridge length of 1.720" which allowed the bullet to slightly engage the lands. Come to find out, 11.0 grains of H4198 filled the case to the base of the bullet. I loaded 10 rounds of this load with F205 primers and gave it a try.

Success at last! While I could follow standard Internet computer bragging protocol "cheat a bit" and only refer to 3 shot groups, truthfully the load puts 5 rounds from a cold barrel into 1/" most of the time. My first "bragging group" of 5 went into 1.07". Velocity averaged 2056 FPS and is very consistent as long as I weigh the bullets beforehand. The intent of the project was achieved!

I shot a hundred orso rounds of this load and also worked on a lighter non-destructive small gameload for the rifle. Unfortunately, I never got the rifle out into the field.Work and the demands of family life in general kept me from hunting with the Hornet.

I decided to rectify that situation this spring. We have a spring turkey season and here (Central Texas) we are allowed to hunt gobblers with a rifle. I went to the lease with Hornet in hand for a couple of days. The first day was a nice balmy 96 degrees. I scouted a bit but saw little sign of turkeys. I spent the night and figured to go to a different pasture where my son and I had killed birds before. Texas weather being what it is, I woke up before daylight to 50 degree temperature and a howling wind blowing out of the northwest.

I went and sat in a tree line that divided the pasture before daylight hoping to either hear or possibly see turkeys as they came off the roost. I was facing the west side of the pasture. Across the pasture from me was a thicket of scrubby trees, sawbriars, and turkey cactus (tasajillo) which wasabout 50 yards wide and bordered on its other side by a steep granite hill.

I did not see nor hear any turkeys, but about 15minutes into shooting light four good sized feral hogs walked out of thethicket into the edge of the pasture. They were very spooky in the high gustywind. They ducked back into the thicket twice before coming out to stay androot around. They were a little over 100 yards away.

Feral hogs are a real problem on our lease, sowe shoot them at every opportunity. I was really wishing I had the .243 thatwas in the truck back at the ranch house, but decided to "dance with thegirl I brought." When one of the hogs presented me with a broadside shot Iput the crosshairs tight up behind his front leg, compensated a couple ofinches for the wind and thumped the porky with the little Hornet. The hogs ranback into the thicket.

I gave it most of an hour before I went inlooking for the hog. (I prefer to give those big lice time to vacate thecarcass before I get there!) Once entering the thicket I found a well-usedtrail and about 10 yards down the trail I found a drop or two of blood. Thispicked up and became more prevalent, leaving an easy trail for approximately 30yards at the end of which was a lot of spatters where the hog had likely stoodfor a time. The blood trail stopped there. Right beside this spot was a smalltree, totally surrounded by briars and turkey cactus. On the ground and next tothe trunk, surrounded by all those dense stickers was my hog, dead as adoornail.

I dragged the hog out of the vegetation andconducted an impromptu field autopsy. The wee Bator bullet entered a little belowof where I had aimed. It broke a rib going in, clipped the heart, and brokeanother rib going out. The second rib had about a .30 caliber exit through it.The blood trail had come entirely from the entrance wound because the exit holewas plugged with fat.

I am really happy with the Ruger Hornet'sperformance using cast bullets. I would not choose it as my primary hog rifle,but it sure validates the old cowboy's wisdom that placement and penetrationtrumps everything else.