First- Wanting to maximize my Hornets potential for Woodchuck & Fox hunting, I had a gunsmith modify my CZ 527 magazine by removing 10-15 thousandths from the plastic spacer. All went well and cycled well.
Second- I loaded up some Sierra Blitzking 40 grain bullets over Lil Gun powder at 1.843” C.O.A.L. Then tested for accuracy and chronographed velocity.
Here are the results-
Temp- 65 degrees Elevation 1640’ Hunididy – Low Chrony – 8’ from muzzle Pressure signs - none
13.0 Lil Gun w) CCI 500 Pistol Primer – Average velocity of string = 2853 fps, Accuracy = very good.
13.2 Lil Gun w) CCI 500 Pistol Primer – Average velocity of string = 2899 fps. Accuracy = excellent
13,2 Lil Gun w) CCI 400 Small Rifle Primer – Average velocity of string = 2817 fps Accuracy = Fair
I was very impressed with the middle loads results and somewhat surprised at the drop in velocity and loss in accuracy when I went to the Small rifle primers as compared to the pistol primers. Obvious powder burn issues or lack of…………interesting.
So the 13.2 Lil Gun, CCI 500 S.P.P. at 2900 fps it is. This grouped as well as any of my best Hornet groups ever have and this was with a new batch of Winchester brass that has not been fire formed and neck sized yet. It will just get better.
So far so good. The bullets cycled well from the modified clip. The stoked up / max load shot extremely well as I thought it may from the CZ 527. The print out from my ballistics calculator looks fantastic with the long pointy plastic tip bullet by Hornet standards. Some ballistic stats for this load. - Muzzle 2899 (call it 2890) fps average with 746 foot pounds. 100 yards 2419 fps with 520 foot pounds. 200 yards 1999 fps (call it 2000) fps with 355 foot pounds. Much less wind drift, flatter, good down range velocity. Right on the heels of the .221 Fireball. Not my granddads Hornet of yesteryear.
BUT NOW THE BIG QUESTION THAT WAS IN MY MIND.
Will this bullet fragment/expand well at Hornet velocities down range on my Woodchuck buddies to insure quick kills???? All for not if that “ain’t happen’in”. My experience from a 1/12 twist break action Hornet shooting the 40 gr V Max was “so,so”. I shot maybe 50 Woodchucks with that bullet and all but one had a dime sized exit at best from 50-175 yards. The one that stuck and fraged was at just 25 yards. For what ever reason (energy maybe?) it killed them just the same but clearly it appeared to me that the 40 grain V Max was catering to the 22-250/220 Swift speed crowd and not the Hornet, Fireball, Triple Deuce clan. Through a good deal of research I learned that the Sierra 40 grain Blitzking should frag better at lower velocity than the same in V Max, in that particular plastic tip grain weight.
OFF TO THE HAY FIELDS IN SEARCH OF SOME FALL CHUCKS BEFORE ITS TO LATE, TO DO SOME BALISTICS TESTING.
Luckily, I found a guinea pig. This Woodchuck only had his head and neck out of the hole. I really did not want a head shot for testing because head shots do funny things with small calibers. Sometimes it massacres their head, many times it punches through, always it kills them deader than a door nail. I wanted some fleshy shots but the head it was at about 100 yards off a round hay bail. I heard a very noticeable tha-whack to be mentioned again latter…………hmmmm.
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There was an exit. It was hard to clear the hair out of the way but appeared about the size of a quarter and fairly knarly. Not bad, not great……….inconclusive.
Time for some conclusive bullet terminal ballistics on this load.
Plop Mr. Woodchuck on a round hay bail to be the back stop and move back 100 yards. Hey………it beats water bottles and wet newspapers! (chuckle).
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From here I can put a couple into the soft spots.
At 100 yards shooting from a hail bail I squeezed the trigger and heard the loudest THA-WHACK as the Chucks body jumped on the bail, I have ever heard from any Hornet bullet/load/ammo I have ever shot on a Chuck………..Honestly. I thought……”that one had to frag and stick”. Moveing the crosshairs a few inches horizontal I let another Blitzking fly into the soft flesh. Again “THA-WACK”…….I mean…..loud. Man…..I thought………Maybe it was the conditions in the air? I don’t know? It was just louder.
Upon terminal ballistics inspection. I noted one small entrance and ZERO Exit on one impact. The other exited but it was a full quarter size. It may look smaller in the photo but it’s a FULL QUARTER and not a dime sized exit. Nice!! One stuck the other, had a nice exit showing fragmentation at 2419 FPS @ 100 yards impact.
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I rearranged the Chuck (reversed hin/impacts) and headed out to a hail bail at 175 yards for testing.
I set up on another hail bail at what turned out to be exactly 175 paces which is the distance I wanted……….thought……wow ……this is actually all working out……every dog has his day.
Here off the hay bail I plugged him with 3 more Blitzkings. Received 3 more very audible “tha-wacks” and watch the body jump 3 more times. Hail bails are nice to shoot from. I love them and the nostalgia but a shooting bench they are not. There are all a little different. Some a bit high, others a bit low, some tilted,some flat……you take what you get and work with it. Frankly I was impressed that I just whacked him three times straight from there and was quickly gaining confidence in this load.
Upon closer inspection it appeared that two of the three exited and one stuck. Again nice! Good penetration yet fragmentation/expansion. Not bad for 2000fps @ 175 yards from a Hornet.
One of the exits left a baseball size exit out his chest.(grin). I shot him broadside…….why it blew out the chest I have no idea……but I will take it…as you know strange things happen when bullets frag.
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Mr. Terminal Ballistics Test Chuck was a bag of marbles inside as nearly 1/2 of the bullets stuck.
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All in all I am currently very pleased with the load and ability to shoot these in repeater format. It’s not conclusive for me yet. I wish it was spring heading into Woodchuck time rather than fall heading out as I need to whack a good 25 to really tell. But considering everything I am happy and will likely use this load for some time. Also will take it to the range and shoot it out to 200 on paper and compare. Fall is here and I start Steelhead fishing soon but, hopefully can whack a few Chucks with it still. Maybe its because I have this load stoked? Maybe the Blitzking in 40 does frag better at Hornet velocity than the same in V Max? I don’t really know but, I do know for sure initially it appears to frag much better than the V Max did as I remember and this may be my most accurate load to date…………time will tell.......the real ......."tale of the pointy bullets".
Plain old bill
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