Hornady Manufacturing Company is an American manufacturer of ammunition

cartridge Cartridge may refer to: Objects * Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition * ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device * Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators Other uses * Cartridge (surname), a ...

s, components and handloading equipments, based in Grand Island, Nebraska.

History

The company is currently run by Joyce Hornady's son, Steve Hornady, who took over after his father's death in a plane crash on January 15, 1981. The

Piper Aztec The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined light aircraft aimed at the general-aviation market. The United States Navy and military forces in other countries also used it in small numbers. Origin ...

, with Hornady at the controls flying in heavy fog, crashed into

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from wes ...

while on final approach to

New Orleans Lakefront Airport Lakefront Airport is a public airport five miles northeast of downtown New Orleans, in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, United States. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation ''reliever ...

Pacific Tool Company

Steve Hornady worked for Pacific Tool Company from 1960 to 1971, from the time the company moved from California to Nebraska until Pacific Tool was bought by Hornady. Pacific's DL-366 was their final progressive press and Hornady's first, and it is still manufactured by Hornady as the 366 Auto.

Products

Cartridges

Hornady makes target shooting and hunting rounds as well as self-defense loads. In 1990, the Hornady XTP (which stands for Extreme Terminal Performance) won the industry's Product Award of Merit 1990 from the National Association of Federal Licensed Dealers. The company was the primary developer of the

.17 HMR .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, commonly known as the .17 HMR, is a rimfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady in 2002. It was developed by necking down a .22 Magnum case to take a .17 caliber (4.5 mm) projectile. Commonly loaded with a 1 ...

and

.17 HM2 The .17 Hornady Mach 2, or .17 HM2, is a rimfire cartridge introduced in 2004 by the ammunition manufacturer Hornady, following the successful launch in 2002 of the .17 HMR. The .17 HM2 is based on the .22 Long Rifle "Stinger" case, necked d ...

rimfire cartridges, which has become increasingly popular for small game and

vermin Vermin ( colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases or destroy crops or livestock. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by region and enterp ...

hunting. Hornady has worked closely with firearms maker

Sturm, Ruger Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., better known by the shortened name Ruger, is an American firearm manufacturing company based in Southport, Connecticut, with production facilities also in Newport, New Hampshire; Mayodan, North Carolina; and Presc ...

on the development of the new line of Ruger cartridges including the

.480 Ruger The .480 Ruger (12.1×33mmR) is a large, high-power revolver cartridge, introduced in 2003 by Ruger and Hornady. It was the first new cartridge introduced by Ruger, and when introduced, was the largest-diameter production revolver cartridge, at ...

.204 Ruger The .204 Ruger is a centerfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady and Ruger. At the time of its introduction in 2004, the .204 Ruger was the second-highest velocity commercially produced ammunition and the only centerfire cartridge produc ...

, and

.375 Ruger The .375 Ruger (9.5×65.5mm) is a rimless, standard-length rifle cartridge designed for the hunting of large, dangerous game. It is designed to provide an increase in performance over the .375 H&H cartridge, yet to be chambered in a standard-len ...

. The company developed the LEVERevolution ammunition, which uses a

spitzer bullet The spitzer bullet (or spire point) is a pointed projectile that is primarily used in small-arms. The pointed nose shape, which was developed for military purposes in the late 19th and early 20th century, was a major design improvement compared ...

with a soft elastomer tip to give better aerodynamic performance than flatter bullets, while eliminating the risk of a shock driving the pointed polymer tip of a bullet in a

lever-action The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Lever-action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger g ...

rifle's tube magazine into the primer of the cartridge in front, causing an explosion. At the beginning of 2012, Hornady brought out a "Zombie Max" bullet, apparently due to the growing interest in "Zombie Shooting" in America. Hornady released the Vintage Match ammunition to replicate the original military performance specifications unique to wartime rifles such as the Mauser,

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield or Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the British Army's sta ...

, Mosin–Nagant,

Swedish Mauser "Swedish Mausers" are a family of bolt-action rifles based on an improved variant of Mauser's earlier Model 1893, but using the 6.5×55mm cartridge, and incorporating unique design elements as requested by Sweden. These are the m/94 (Model 1894 ...

or others chambered in 6.5×55mm,

.303 British The .303 British (designated as the 303 British by the C.I.P. and SAAMI) or 7.7×56mmR, is a calibre rimmed rifle cartridge. The .303 inch bore diameter is measured between rifling lands as is the common practice in Europe which follows th ...

7.62×54mmR The 7.62×54mmR is a rimmed rifle cartridge developed by the Russian Empire and introduced as a service cartridge in 1891. Originally designed for the bolt-action Mosin–Nagant rifle, it was used during the late tsarist era and throughout th ...

, 7.92×57mm Mauser and .30-06.

6.5mm Creedmoor

In 2007, Hornady released the first

6.5mm Creedmoor The 6.5mm Creedmoor (6.5×48 mm), designated 6.5 Creedmoor by SAAMI, 6.5 Creedmoor by the C.I.P. or 6.5 CM or 6.5 CRDMR for short, is a centerfire rifle cartridge introduced by Hornady in 2007. It was developed by Hornady senior ballistics ...

Cartridge. The 6.5 Creedmoor was a joint development between former Marine Corps competitive shooter

David Tubb David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and Hornady Ballistician David Emary. Hornady Manufactures 6.5 Creedmoor cartridges, bullets and reloading dies. The 6.5mm Precision Rifle Cartridge (6.5 PRC) is not the same cartridge as the 6.5mm Creedmoor, and the two are not mutually interchangeable.

300 PRC

The American ammunition manufacturer Hornady got the 300 Precision Rifle Cartridge SAAMI-standardized in 2018. In 2019 it got C.I.P.-standardized as the 300 PRC. The .375 Ruger cartridge has functioned as the parent case for the 300 Precision Rifle Cartridge (300 PRC), which is essentially a necked-down version of the .375 Ruger. The .375 Ruger cartridge case was used by Hornady as the basis for a new extra long range cartridge since it had the capability to operate with high chamber pressures which, combined with a neck and barrel throat optimized for loading relatively long and heavy .308 diameter

very-low-drag bullet A very-low-drag bullet (VLD) is primarily a small arms ballistics development of the 1980s–1990s, driven by the design objective of bullets with higher degrees of accuracy and kinetic efficiency, especially at extended ranges. To achieve this, ...

s without the need to seat the bullets deeply recessed into the case result in adequate muzzle velocities from magnum sized bolt-action rifles. Rifles chambered for the 300 Precision Rifle Cartridge must be capable of handling overall length cartridges.

Handloading

Hornady manufactures a range of handloading components including

cartridge case A cartridge or a round is a type of pre-assembled firearm ammunition packaging a projectile ( bullet, shot, or slug), a propellant substance (usually either smokeless powder or black powder) and an ignition device ( primer) within a metal ...

s, bullets and shotgun shell components. Hornady also produces a wide range handloading equipments such as

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

es, dies,

powder measure A powder measure is a device for dispensing consistent amounts of smokeless powder as charges for handloading cartridges used as small arms ammunition. Propellant evolution Firearms using gunpowder could be loaded using a small scoop or charge ...

s, scales, case prepping tools,

gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, ...

s, tumblers/ ultrasonic cleaners and other accessories, as well as publishing a reloading data

handbook A handbook is a type of reference work, or other collection of instructions, that is intended to provide ready reference. The term originally applied to a small or portable book containing information useful for its owner, but the ''Oxford Engl ...

that is currently in its 11th edition.

Security

In 2013, Hornady launched its Security division, dedicated to gun storage products and accessories. Their

gun safe A gun safe is a safe designed for storing one or more firearms and/or ammunitions. Gun safes are primarily used to prevent access by unauthorized or unqualified persons (such as children), for burglary protection and, in more capable safes, ...

s are offered in different product categories, which include the RAPiD Safes, Keyed Safes and Lock Boxes. Hornady also sell gun safe accessories such as

dehumidifier A dehumidifier is an air conditioning device which reduces and maintains the level of humidity in the air. This is done usually for health or thermal comfort reasons, or to eliminate musty odor and to prevent the growth of mildew by extracting w ...

s, gun racks and hangers, RFID accessories, etc. In 2015, Hornady acquired the SnapSafe, a manufacturer known for its modular safes also headquartered in Grand Island, but these products remain marketed under the SnapSafe brand.

References

External links

*
Hornady videos and information on Ultimate Reloader
{{Authority control Manufacturing companies established in 1949 Ammunition manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Nebraska Hall County, Nebraska Privately held companies based in Nebraska 1949 establishments in Nebraska