# HORNADY V-MAX BULLET ????????



## NCGMAN (Oct 28, 2006)

WHO HAS USED THE HORNADY V-MAX BULLET AND HOW DO THEY PERFORM?????? I SHOOT A .223

EXPANSION????????

GRAF & SON HAVE THESE BULLETS 250 FOR $29.59...


----------



## MNGOOSEER (Jun 12, 2006)

i shot a 50grn v-max in DPMS AR-15 and love them they fly great and dont leave to big a hole but that depends on distance and shot placement give them a try you like them alot


----------



## NCGMAN (Oct 28, 2006)

THANK YOU MUCHES,, TIME WAS OF THE ESSENCE HERE.. I'LL TRY THEM AND SEE.


----------



## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

I have shot thousands of 50 gr v-maxes through my 222 rem, they are very accurate and very explosive on anything smaller then a crow. I shoot the 75gr v-max in my 243 and it is insane, it will "detonate" a crow @ 300 yards.


----------



## NCGMAN (Oct 28, 2006)

HEADSHOT YOU SAID THEY ARE EXPLOSIVE, ARE THEY ANYTHING LIKE THE BALLISTIC TIP>>?????

I HOPE NOT!!!!!!


----------



## The Norseman (Jan 8, 2005)

Hello everyone,

I use the moly 50 gr v maxs in my .223. They are very explosive.

I had them blow up on a paper target stapled to plywood, I've gutted
gophers with them, and another thing they won't ricochet around the 
farm yard.

Hope that helps in your decision.


----------



## Kelly Hannan (Jan 9, 2007)

I used the 243, 58 gr v-max factory and reloads. I lost one coyote this year and got lucky and stumbled onto a second after shooting them with these bullets. Both shots were in the 250-300 yard range with reloads. The bullets seem to be very accurate and dead on at longer range, but don't seem to have knock down and left NO blood trail. Switched back to Sierra Spitzer pointed soft point 85 gr and had a kill tonight with a good blood trail and he collapsed within 15 yards. Did have an exit hole about the size of a .50 cent piece. But this dog was shot at about 10 yards, he was trying to get me, LOL


----------



## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

I use 50 gr vmax moly in my 22-250 good punch out at 200 to 300. I have had no problems with factory loads. Some of the, lets say warm  reloads have been a challenge though punching paper at 300+ in a vice. still tinkering!

Bob


----------



## rifle6 (Jan 7, 2007)

i love the v-max. i shoot the 55 grain with my .223 and have 1/2 in groups. i could not fet the 40's or 45 to fly as good.
there are very similar to nosler balistic tips.

i recently got a .25 WSSM and have loaded with the 75 grain v max.......i am in love again! it is brutal on everything. a little rough on anything you'd want to skin and sell or keep.

there are probably better bullets, but for the $ and results i have gotten there is nothin else i use.


----------



## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

Load & shoot the 50 grain V-Max in both 250 and 223. Love em'!....


----------



## clampdaddy (Aug 9, 2006)

I shoot the 50gr v-max over a stout charge of H-4895 out of a pre-accutrigger savage model 10 ( a few years old, back when they said "savage tactic" on the bolt body) in .223 and it is simply awsome. It drops coyotes and tosses ground squirrels like they're goin' outta style. :sniper:


----------



## deathwind (Apr 17, 2005)

My swift loves the 55 gr. over a load of H 380.


----------



## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

I load the 95 gr. Hornady SST in a .243 for deer. I have not shot a coyote with this load but I am thinking it may to much as far as salvaging the hide the best I can. I have been thinking about loading a 58 gr. Hornady V-Max and trying that. Now I just saw Kelly Hannan's response and it has me rethinking that thought..... Anyone else have experience with this bullet on coyote sized critters?

Reason I was thinking this bullet is, if anyone else here is familar, The Coyote Doctors say it is the only bullet they use. Maybe that is because they are provided free of charge from their sponsor..... I don't know?


----------



## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

Anytime you hit big bones or exit in a soft area of the coyote the exit will be large, regardless of bullet selection. Even a FMJ run in the on-side shoulder and out the off-side paunch will make a large hole.


----------



## rifle6 (Jan 7, 2007)

the v-max causes a massive exit wound with a bone hit or not.
i have a hard time believing dog hit with a .243 and v-max went very far.

even with a "bad" shot at 250 yrds from my .223 the yotes don't go anywhere. and the blood spray and trail is easily followed.

the exit wound is tennis ball size with my new .25 WSSM with a 75.gr v-max over a nice varget load.

nuthin but chunks!


----------



## clampdaddy (Aug 9, 2006)

Yesterday while varmint hunting I slammed a huge jack rabbit with the 25-06 tossing 75 gr v-max. The front half was an unrecognizeable mess. The rear half was still in tact but the hide was perfectly pealed back all the way to the hips and every bone in its legs were shattered  . Sure wish I had the camera.

I've had mixed results on yotes with the 50 gr v-max in the 223. They have all died instantly but on shots taken under 100yds there have been fewer exits. It seems like once they slow down a little at longer range they tend to plow all the way through and leave nasty exit wounds.


----------



## bigboresonly (Jan 29, 2007)

I have used the 40 grain V-Max in my 223 for several years. Mostly on ground-hogs and feral cats. They usually never exit, and turn everything they hit to unrecognizable chum. What more can you ask? I have never reloaded. I give my brass to a friend who uses it for his M-16. I use a handy rifle with a 6-32 X 40 Tasco. I use this once fired brass ammo from Cabella's, that I can't remember the name of, but I believe it come in a box that looks like an American flag. It's not target ammo, but the ground-hogs seem to think it's close enough.


----------



## flyshooter (Apr 21, 2007)

It's just nice to hear that someone else shoots a .222 here. I love the 50 grain on Squirrels with h322 powder. Very accurate and devestatingly effective.


----------



## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

The .222 will "peel" a gopher at 150yds. I can consitantly shoot sub MOA groups with almost any powder/bullet combination in that rifle. The tactical mildot scope makes it a varmint killing machine. Have any of you guys shooting the 243 58gr v-max chronied your loads? I have played around and I went a "little" over a max load and could average 4456fps with 1 inch groups. I never shot a yote with that load but I tested it on a pigeon @ 250yds and there wasn't anything left that even resembled the bird.


----------



## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

At 4456FPS I'd have to say that you're not shooting straight over your chrono, somthing is either not level or it's twisted left/right. Any of the above would drastically shorten the bullets flight path between the screens and make the velocity appear higher than it actually is. I've done this a few times and it can be maddening when trying to figure long range trajectories with false readings. I don't know of anyone shooting 55/58gn .244 bullets getting over 4050fps in a standard 243. 243 AI's are running 4300ish.

Edited to add: An easy way to tell if you're actually getting the velocity numbers the chronograph is showing is as follows.

Chrono your load

Run a ballistics program with your displayed velocity

Shoot some targets at 300 and/or 400yds and see if your bullet drop matches the ballistics table.

I'm not trying to flame you, but it's worth a double check.


----------



## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

> I'm not trying to flame you, but it's worth a double check.


I know what you mean. It was way over the published velocity. I tried with the .222 and it was over the published velocity by 300fps average. I will keep tinkering with it but I don't think a couple hundred FPS kills them anymore "dead" Either way it is still super fast, most things drop before the sound comes back at longer ranges.


----------



## patrick grumley (Mar 9, 2007)

I shoot a 58gr. V-MAX MOLY through my .243. They are deadly accurate but shot placement is important if your a hide hunter. Front on shots the bullet performs beautifully, on broadside shots hope the bullet dose not hit a bone on entry. I shot a double last fall the second coyote was high tailing it out of there when I took the shot, hit her on top of the tail bone at 300yds. It put the animal down but made a beautiful hide worthless. The fps is very hot for a .243 more like a 22-250 add the design of the bullet, all this energy has to go somewhere and on marginal hits it's quite obvious where it goes. I lost one yote last year, 400yd. shot. I had a blood trail but ran out of light while tracking it and it crossed into a cattle pen, with a nasty looking bull. :******:


----------



## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

Headshot, when you're getting funky readings from more than one rifle over the same chrono you should try one of two or three things.

1. Be meticulous about setting up straight over the "eyes", that's a straight line from your rifle to the target.

2. Make sure your chrono is level with your bullets flight path. If you're shooting slightly downhill (as is the case at say the Casselston range) you'll need to try to replicate the down-angle with your chrono.

3. Try someone else's chrono.


----------



## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

I tried another chrony and we were very "scientific" about it. The rifle was in the vice and the chronie was 2 inches lower then the bore, perfectly level and straight. 4267FPS was the average. Here is a pic of a small gong I was shooting @ 300 meters. It is 3/4 plate from a pressure vessle and it is 3 inches from side to side. The v-max was cratering the steel and going almost half-way thru. The bullets totally disintergrated on impact, but as you can see they expanded nicely. You can even see where the ballistic tip didn't remove the outer layer of steell :sniper:


----------



## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

Headshot I'm not sure where you live but I'd watch closely for 2 things running that speed. I'd deprime/resize a few spent cases from that reload then try re-priming them to check primer tension, if you're streching the pockets and they don't hold primers you're WAY too hot. The other variable I'd watch closely is temp. As summer nears and temps go up you may find that the load that was working so well starts popping primers or gives you a sticky bolt lift.

Good luck, looks like your rifle really likes that load, I hope you find it safe after a bit more research.


----------



## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

> Good luck, looks like your rifle really likes that load, I hope you find it safe after a bit more research.


I have fired thousands of rounds working up to that load. It is sub MOA and I am not worried about burning out the barrel. It is a heavy barrel with no taper and when it is done I will just ream it out to 308 or a 7mm-08. I have had no signs of pressure or deformed primer pockets, I wouldn't recommend going over a published max load but if you are careful the results can be spectacular.


----------



## Jaybic (Sep 8, 2005)

V-max bullets=Dead coyotes. I shoot a 40gr v-max from my .223 over 26.6gr of h335 and have yet to have an exit in maybe 20 dogs shot over a few years time. Head on its hard to even find a bullet hole going in sometimes and my DPMS will shoot 5 shots under a dime on my best shooting days. I have lost one dog to a 280 yard shot when I hit him to far back and since then I have moved by bullet weight up to 50 grains or use my 22-250 with 55gr vmax bullets to get the extra SMACK out there farther.

I shoot a 65 gr vmax in my .243 and 50 or 55s in my 22-250s(I have 2) and 50 or 40s in my DPMS and almost all Varget powder except the AR and all of them shoot 1/2 inch to 1 inch groups at 100 yards.

The V-max is a ballistic tip but is also cheaper that the Sierra Blitzking or the Nosler Ballistic tips by a 3-5 dollars a box. Fast, accurate, cheap, deadly. Whats not to like. They are GREAT coyote bullets.

:2cents:

Jaybic


----------

