.22 Hornet
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The .22 Hornet is a low-end varmint and predator centerfire rifle cartridge. It is much more powerful than the .22 WMR. It is about twice as powerful as the .17 HMR, which is the result of at least as high a velocity with a bullet twice as heavy. It also drastically differs from all of them in that it is handloadable and reloadable, and thus is much more versatile.
.22 Hornet fills the gap between .22 WMR and such popular varmint/predator cartridges as the .222 Remington and the .223 Remington in both muzzle energy and noise. It is thus ideal for varmint and predator control in more-built-up areas. Near-total lack of recoil has made it somewhat popular for even deer hunting in some areas.
Factory ammo is widely available from all major manufacturers, generally with bullets weighing 34, 35, 45, or 46 grains (2.2, 2.3, 2.9, 3.0 g), with bullets invariably either hollow point or soft point. Muzzle velocity typically is in the 2,500 to 3,100 ft/s (760 to 940 m/s). range and muzzle energy just over 700 ft·lbf (950 J) for factory ammo (when fired from a rifle).
Published handload data from major handloading-product companies shows how versatile the .22 Hornet can be. For instance, it is easy to use such proven data to load .22 Hornet ammo with heavier bullets than the major manufacturers load this cartridge in to produce loads significantly more powerful than the .22 WMR but that are no louder than much commercial .22 Long Rifle ammo.
Rifles are currently being produced in .22 Hornet by Ruger, New England Firearms, and other manufacturers. Almost all, if not all, current-production rifles in .22 Hornet are either bolt-action or single-shot designs, with the exception of a very few "survival" rifle/shotgun over-under designs. While much-pricier rifle manufacturers do make rifles for the cartridge, it is possible to get an extremely-accurate new .22 Hornet rifle for as little as $200.
Revolvers have been produced recently in .22 Hornet by Taurus and others. Single-shot pistols in .22 Hornet have been made by Thompson. (Power levels are substantially less for this cartridge in handguns than in rifles.)
[edit] History
The .22 Hornet's ancestry is generally attributed to experiments done in the 1920s using the black-powder .22 WCF at Springfield Armory. Winchester adopted what had so far been a "wildcat" cartridge in 1930, producing ammo for a cartridge for which no commercially-made guns yet had been built. It wasn't until 1932 that any company began selling commercially-made guns for the cartridge.
Beginning during World War II, aircrew survival rifles in .22 Hornet were developed and issued by the U.S. military. They typically were bolt-action rifles with telescoping stocks or break-open rifle/shotgun over-under designs.
