[savage 342]

just picked up used savage 342 22hornet . anyone have any advise on ammo,do not have a reloader. any factory ammo recommended ? have 2 boxs of hornady 35 gr vmax. what kinda groups might i expect to see ? what kinda groups should it be able to get out of it? rifle is very good condition bore is clean ,muzzle is ok. dont believe it has been shot very much. & greetings from maryland

[mwsfarm]

I don't have a 22hornet rifle, but the more I have shot hornady, the more I like it- also a quick shopping search looks to me like the hornady is going to be the cheapest to shoot-
welcome to the site!

[BILLYBOB44]

Welcome to the forum,Savage. Quick check at Wholesalehunter.com shows Rem+Win 22hornet at $30-36 per 50. Kind of pricey to shoot, at such a small cal. I've loaded/shot the 45+46gr Win. bullets over the years, with good success. The Hornet is a good short range(100-150yds) small varmit rifle. With that said, unless you, or a good friend will hand-load for your Hornet, you'll be better to looking into a good bolt gun in .223 cal.-longer range+better avail./priced loaded ammo. Save your Hornet brass, for down the road, in-case you do decide to handload at a later date. Good luck+speak up

[savage 342]

Thanks for the info . have 223 blows holes in foxs under 100yrds . lucky to find 150/200 yrds to shot anymore. shot the rifle yesterday @90 yrds ,seems to shoot . 1 1/2" high ,group was a ragged 3/4" .4 of the 5 shots were 1/2" with 1 just outside the rest. also have 17hmr very good on foxs under 100 yrds, all over the place in the wind. have a 25-06 way too much for fox. this hornet should fit my needs for a 150/200 yrd yote/fox/whistlepig gun . will not cause mass panic when fired in the burbs round here. also the hornet did not seem any louder than the hmr. yes hornady seems to make very good ammo,all of my guns love horandy factory ammo except 17 hmr likes winchester,dont make sense its all loaded by cci {17 hmr ammo}.