# ruger 77/22 hornet



## johndeerel (Jan 6, 2007)

tommorow i am picking up my new ruger 77/22 hornet. I am wondering if anybody has shot one of these guns and if they shot good. also wondering if anybody has used the 22 hornet on coyotes? i think it should be a good gun for coyotes up to 150 yards or i might be wrong.


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## weasle414 (Dec 31, 2006)

Great little gun, I haven't shot one personally but a good buddy of mine uses one for coyotes when he sees them in his field. 150 yards sounds about right for a hornet. How much did you pay for it?


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## johndeerel (Jan 6, 2007)

i just got it. It cost me $600 that includes shipping and some brass and bullets. Only complaint so far is the trigger but my dad can adjust that. i ordered a 4-16 sightron for it cant wait for it to get here. so far i like it but i havent shot it yet.


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

i had a used one that was glass bedded, and had a proffesional trigger job on it. with handloads, it was the best shooting gun i ever owned. still regret selling it. youll probably have to handload for it to get decent accuracy, just because its a hornet. shot alot if dogs with it, just keep it close. let me know what you think of that sightron.


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

A relative of mine has one and only gets 3/4" groups with his. Granted he uses it for 100yd and less shooting at PD. He said no sense shooting a 6mm at 75 feet. I shot it many times and I really like it. I am on the search for one. 
When they first came out I read a few articles about people not having very good accuracy with them. They were talking groups over 2 inches. I do not know it must have been the first few guns made. Everyone else that has one now seems to like them.


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

theyll all shoot that bad with some of the factory ammo available for hornets. ive heard the chambers are cut sloppy, so reloading and neck sizing only is the rule. thats just what ive heard, and i found it true. they say some of the rugers dont headspace well either due to the two peice bolt, but this is supposed to be cureable with a shim or two.


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## johndeerel (Jan 6, 2007)

neb_bo said:


> i had a used one that was glass bedded, and had a proffesional trigger job on it. with handloads, it was the best shooting gun i ever owned. still regret selling it. youll probably have to handload for it to get decent accuracy, just because its a hornet. shot alot if dogs with it, just keep it close. let me know what you think of that sightron.


My friend has two sightrons one on his ruger 17 hmr and one on his 223 remington and he says he likes them just as much as he likes his leupolds.
But after i try mine out i will tell what i think


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## Gohon (Feb 14, 2005)

Wait a minute now............. I think we need a reality check here. You think 3/4" groups is bad for a 22 Hornet? A gun that is pretty much limited to a 200-250 hundred yard effective range to start with. And how can a person say "I know this to be true" if it is only what they have heard? Either you know it is true from personal experience or it is just something you heard......... the two don't mix.

On average my Ruger will print 1" with factory loads. A 1/2"-3/4" with hand loads and as with any gun that depends on how well the shooter is shooting, not the gun itself. Loaded with 35 grain V-max I've recorded a couple 1/4" groups when everything was perfect......rare but recorded. There is nothing bad about 3/4" groups from a Hornet or most other guns for that matter, especially one out of the box. Work on the gun and tighten up the groups if you feel the need to but that coyote hit at 100 yards with a 3/4" group or the one hit at 200 yards with 1.5" group could care less.


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

my hornet didnt group any factory ammo under 2". including the hornady 35 gr. vmax load. when i neck sized the hornady cases, and loaded them to what according to the data was factory velocity with 35 gr. vmax bullets, it shot a .20" group (the best group ive ever shot with any gun ive ever owned), and would always print them in under .5" if i did my part. so, yes, i did say that out of personal experience. im not an expert, i dont claim to be, but if i have experience, or have information that i think might be helpful to someone, im going to share it.


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## Gohon (Feb 14, 2005)

neb_bo, what you said was you heard something so you knew it to be true. That's not experience, thats hearsay. I can't read your mind, I can only go by what you post and how you post it. Thats the downside of words on paper instead of a person to person conversation. In addition you said they all shoot that bad with some factory ammo. I don't find that to be correct with my Ruger and it appears a few others with the Ruger 22 Hornet on this forum don't find that to be fact either, the word "all" doesn't fit. Sorry your Hornet shot so bad but even then you still haven't identified what brand of rifle you had but I'll take a guess you're talking about a Ruger........... see what I mean about words on paper.


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

your right, i can see how that was confusing. i have heard that the chambers on hornets, just the caliber in general are cut looser than most calibers. when i said i found this to be true, i meant that in my ruger, the single most important factor in accuracy was that i neck size only. thats why i made the comparison between the hornady factory ammo, and my handloads with the same cases, bullets, and approximately the same velocity. in talking to people (hearsay), many who had experience with the hornet said they experienced the same type of issue. ive also read that slope shouldered cases do not headspace well, and that neck sizing can improve accuracy in calibers like the hornet, 30-30, and 300 [email protected] i never had to shim my bolt at all, but the ruger is built around a rimfire style bolt that heaspaces on the case rim, not the shoulder, and the combination of a loose bolt, and loose chamber can be detrimental to accuracy.


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## iwantabuggy (Feb 15, 2005)

I don't recall where I read it, but somewhere. The writer claimed he had seen a man load hornet shells by dipping the empty brass into the powder and filling that case completely. Then seating a bullet on top and shooting 1 hole groups (or something like that). Wouldn't that be nice and easy......


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

The 3/4" group was way better than I heard they shot for the most part. I was talking to my gunsmith last night and he was saying that every one he has ever worked on never shot anything less than 6 inches until he got done with them. The 22 hornet I am talking about is only a 100yd gun. A 223, 22-250 will be used past 100yds.

I like how some people say that is only a gun for so far. If you have the accuracy then you can shoot it farther. You only need to aim up, Granted on yotes you should keep them close unless you know your load and rifle.


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

> If you have the accuracy then you can shoot it farther. You only need to aim up, Granted on yotes you should keep them close unless you know your load and rifle.


this is true. i shot a few prarie dogs, rockchucks and jackrabbits at over 200 yds with mine. on a coyote, i never took a shot over 150 yds., but it wasnt because i didnt know i could hit them, it just isnt a good idea on something as tenacious as a coyote. the furthest i actuall shot a coyote with mine was 125 yds, facing me, i hit it square, center of the chest, and it ran about 200 yds before it died, leaking like a sieve the whole time.


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## Gohon (Feb 14, 2005)

I think most people when commenting on a guns limiting distance, including myself, are not talking about accuracy but the killing power of the gun/caliber on particular game at a given distance. Even with that, most people have a different distance set for the same gun, same round but depending on game size and type. I have no problem shooting at PD's well out to the 300 yard mark with a Hornet (doesn't mean I can hit them) but limit myself to 150 yards max on a coyote due to the killing power of the Hornet on that size game.


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## oldcrow1156 (Aug 4, 2007)

Hello guys-new to your forum-

I was reading this thread with interest- I just picked up a used 77/22 Hornet with the 20" barrel last weekend ....I have been wanting one for a long time and finally it happened-sitting on a gun shop rack in N Ga  ....the gun was in real good shape...I checked the Ruger site for info on the serial # and found out it was made in '94...I'd say its 90% or better

I picked up a box of Remington 45 grain PSP to try it out with...haven't shot it yet.....the gun came with an old K4 Weaver Steel scope on it along with the Ruger Hi Mounts for $425

Some of the posts about the accuracy have me a little concerned...I don't handload so I'll have to shoot something factory.....I have owned several Ruger rifles ( and still have 2 besides the Hornet) and have had good luck with all of them....one .243 made back in 1970 liked the Remington Express shells better than anything else so I thought I would give them a try first-

I'm not looking for .75 groups with it shooting factory ammo but if its around 1 or 1.25 that would be great-

Thanks for letting me join in-


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

im a ruger man too. hope fully you can find something that shoots good factory wise. the hornady ammo, and the winchester premium stuff might shoot better than the 45 gr soft points if they dont shoot good. good luck, and welcome to the forum.


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

iwantabuggy said:


> I don't recall where I read it, but somewhere. The writer claimed he had seen a man load hornet shells by dipping the empty brass into the powder and filling that case completely. Then seating a bullet on top and shooting 1 hole groups (or something like that). Wouldn't that be nice and easy......


That can be done with Varget, a .223Rem and 50gn V-max, or any bullet that is 53gn or lighter. 55gn is just enough to make the bolt sticky when loading that way. In one of my 223's the best load is a case full of Varget and a 53gn Sierra match flat base. Rubber band 100 cases together in a pie plate, dump them full of powder (Varget), and seat the bullets.

A Dillon 550 is still *WAY* faster.


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

are you serious? what kind of velocity are you looking at with a 52 gr match hollowpoint?


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

Yes I'm serious. 3350fps. Work up to a book max load of 27.5gns of powder, you'll see that your neck is full.


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## TheGunRunner (Jul 30, 2007)

the ruger 22 hornet is a great gun, but after about 500 rounds, there known to open up in groups. i have two, and have owned them for years. as im sure you already know, the big problem with the ruger 77/22 is the 2 piece bolt ruger uses ( youd have thought after all the years rugers been manufactering this rifle they would have got a clue from there customers) is terrible. on most of them, all one has to do to shrink the groups considerably is to seperate the two pieces of the bolt by removing the retaining pin and slide on a shim washer about .005" thick ( some can be thinner, some thicker,depends on the rifle. the bolt should just close snugly). one of my ruger hornets wouldnt shoot less than a 2-3" group with the best handloads, and i dont even want to talk about factory loads. after adding the shim ( i actualy got that bright idea sometime before i read it on the net..lol) my groups shrank to on average 3/4" or less with factory ammo, and 1/2" to one whole groups with talored loads.

youll love that little hornet. ive used mine for everything from headshooting treerats at 150 yards to popping deer in the neck at 50 yards. great little gun .


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## Gohon (Feb 14, 2005)

I think neb_bo had his local witch doctor put a curse on me. Just joking neb_bo....... :lol: All of a sudden my groups have opened way out of proportion and some loads are stringing up vertical. Upon inspection I found some indications of wear between the two bolt halves and the pin that holds them together seems awful sloppy. The same loads will shoot one inch in the morning and 2.5 inches later in the day. I'm going to explore different loads and see what I come up with but I don't intend to put money into a problem that shouldn't be there. As much as I like the little Ruger it may get replaced by a Browning Micro A-Bolt sitting in the rack of my local dealer. Since the Browning already comes from the factory with a crowned barrel, free floated barrel, bedded action and adjustable trigger, it just doesn't make sense to put out cash to make the Ruger into a Browning. Oh well, such is life.


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

sorry to here that gohon. the vodoo doll actualy worked :wink: ! j/k. i hope you figure it out. be sure to check your action bolt for the vertical stringing. the varmint 77/22 has a crowned barrel out of the factory. is your action bedded, and barrel floated? i know you dont want to dink with this gun, but every rifle ive done it to, its helped, sometimes not alot, but it always improved accuracy noticeably. good luck.


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## Gohon (Feb 14, 2005)

No, the one I have is bone stock. One thing I discovered is with the bolt closed and locked you can actually push the bolt sideways with your thumb, probable a good 1/32 of a inch. That tells a whole story by itself. Once I added up what it would cost for a action bedding, floating the barrel, set back on the barrel, and having the bolt shimmed and sleeved it would be about the same as the difference on a trade in. TheGunRunner may have been right in that if by the luck of the draw you do get one that is a outstanding performer from the factory, sooner or later they loosen up. We shall see...........


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## TheGunRunner (Jul 30, 2007)

hey, before you trade that ruger in, theres two things you can do, and ill damn near garatee you that your groups will shrink up so small youll think you missed the paper when you discover your shooting 1 hole groups with it.

firstly, get yourself some stainless steel shim stock. you can buy it online for like 3 bucks an 18" sheet. cut yourself a shim washer, and shim the bolt halves.

secondly, go down to your local hardware store and get a couple of roll (spring) pins.take your factory pin out, and try different pins until you find one that fits tight, and measure it and cut it off, and put it in in place of the old pin.

this will solve 99.999% of your problems.

like i said before, youd think as long as rugers been making this rifle, they would get a clue and correct these problems from the factory. i took my stainless/laminated hornet out this morning to the range and was shooting sub 1/2" MOA 3 shot groups at 200+ yards without any problem. only had one flier, and i think it was me and not the gun . my hornets got a 4x16 power scope, and on 16 power, you know that one little twitch in the scope can result in a foot off at the target...LOL

please, before ****canning your ruger hornet, try what i said.


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## johndeerel (Jan 6, 2007)

I got my first coyote with my ruger 22 hornet dropped him dead in his tracks but he was only 25 yards away.

Some people say they have accuracy problems with their hornet but mine shoots great with reloaded ammo. I havent shot factory ammo.

And the sightron 4=16 i have on it is just as good as my leupolds. and it only cost 250.


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## Andy_hunter (Oct 12, 2007)

i usta have a cz .22hornet and it was a brillant gun for foxes from anywhere between 100-150yards. Ive never had the chance to shoot a coyote as we dont have them in ireland . But yea the .22hornet is a great gun for that range and especially if your a good caller. Its hide friendly and will drop them.


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