Target hardness for A2...

I ran into a bunch of A2 cutoffs for free, and am hoping to turn it into blades. I've done a little A2 in the past, but to say I was stabbing around in the dark would be an understatement.
The vast majority of the steel is 5"X1", some 6"X1". So the blades will be B&T style, or small drop points. Basically smaller knives, Flat ground. The most likely applications would be utility and hunting. Not much chopping, I would think.
My question is, what's a good target hardness, for A2 on a smaller knife? My Web reasearch shows a large range depending on the temperature of the tempering process. I'm just hoping to get some experienced opinions on the subject.
Thanks in advance.

For smaller knives I would go for the higher attainable hardness to get the edge retention, but not so hard that it can't be easily field sharpened.

Ausbrooks said:

For smaller knives I would go for the higher attainable hardness to get the edge retention, but not so hard that it can't be easily field sharpened.

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I agree...small knives are (or should be...lol) slicers. That edge holding makes a nice knife and A2 is tough even when very hard. I think you'll want a furnace for the HT.

I have access to a furnace. Kind of makes it easier to select this type of steel. I usually work with stainless, but who can turn down 400# of free metal... right?

Another question then...
Being that small knives make better slicers, would it be advantageous to use a hollow grind, vs. a flat grind/full flat grind?

Just curious. I don't normally do hollow grinds but I have. Curious about people's opinions.

Hollow ground blades slice a little better than flat ground because of the thinness of the blade right behind the cutting edge which means less drag in the material being cut. The trade off is they are slightly weaker due to this thinness so you have to match the grind to the purpose of the knife and what the owner prefers. Just because a knife is small doesn't mean it should always be hollow ground too, for instance wood carving knives are best flat ground due to the stress on the edges.