December 04, 2025
By Brad Fitzpatrick
The .22 Hornet’s origin story begins in 1885 with the introduction of the .22 Win. Center Fire, a mild-mannered blackpowder round that was originally chambered in the Winchester 1885 single-shot. In the 1920s, Capt. Grosvenor Wotkyns and Col. Townsend Whelen began experimenting with the .22 WCF case, which featured a .350-inch rim and long, sloping, five-degree shoulder. They swapped the original .228-inch bullet for a .223 and then a .224-inch pill, ditched the blackpowder propellant for smokeless, and, in 1930, the .22 Hornet was born.
It...
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