I haven't seen much on here about these new 53 grain Vmax bullets and I have been trying them out over the last two days so I thought I would post about them.
These new Vmax bullets look very much like VLD bullets at least in the front portion of the bullet. This probably explains their high advertised B.C. of .290. I have shot the 52 grain Amax through the same gun I tested the 53's with and I had excellent results with the 52 Amax. I compared the 2 bullets side by side and the length of the Vmax from the ogive to the meplat is much longer than the for the Amax.
The reason I decided to try the new 53 grainers is I have wanted to try something that would be more explosive on prairie dogs than my current favorite bullet. I have been shooting 75 gr. bthp Hornady bullets for some time and I have had excellent results. I have fired MOA sized groups at 500 yards and that is good enough for me. However, the lower velocity and small hollow point on the 75 grain bullets results in very mild destruction on anything past 200 yards. Even inside of that range the heavy bullet doesn't really throw the prairie dogs around. My average velocity from my 20" barrel with my 75 grain laod is 2820 fps (measured with a pro-chrono).
The 53 grain Vmax behaved like most VLD bullets as far as loading development is concerned. I had to seat them jammed about .005" into the lands in order to get good groups. I also had to push them to a fairly hot load in order to get them to shoot in my gun. I finaly was able to get them to shoot about .5 MOA at 100 yards.
Here is my setup and load data:
Remington 700 sps tactical .223 epoxy bedded.
SS 10x42 scope
Hornady 53 grain Vmax bullets
27.0 grains of powder
remington brass
CCI 400 primers
jammed .005"
Can't wait to take them to 500 yards to see if the advertised ballistics are accurate. I know they will perform on animals given the Vmax devestation I have seen in the past.
These new Vmax bullets look very much like VLD bullets at least in the front portion of the bullet. This probably explains their high advertised B.C. of .290. I have shot the 52 grain Amax through the same gun I tested the 53's with and I had excellent results with the 52 Amax. I compared the 2 bullets side by side and the length of the Vmax from the ogive to the meplat is much longer than the for the Amax.
The reason I decided to try the new 53 grainers is I have wanted to try something that would be more explosive on prairie dogs than my current favorite bullet. I have been shooting 75 gr. bthp Hornady bullets for some time and I have had excellent results. I have fired MOA sized groups at 500 yards and that is good enough for me. However, the lower velocity and small hollow point on the 75 grain bullets results in very mild destruction on anything past 200 yards. Even inside of that range the heavy bullet doesn't really throw the prairie dogs around. My average velocity from my 20" barrel with my 75 grain laod is 2820 fps (measured with a pro-chrono).
The 53 grain Vmax behaved like most VLD bullets as far as loading development is concerned. I had to seat them jammed about .005" into the lands in order to get good groups. I also had to push them to a fairly hot load in order to get them to shoot in my gun. I finaly was able to get them to shoot about .5 MOA at 100 yards.
Here is my setup and load data:
Remington 700 sps tactical .223 epoxy bedded.
SS 10x42 scope
Hornady 53 grain Vmax bullets
27.0 grains of powder
remington brass
CCI 400 primers
jammed .005"
Can't wait to take them to 500 yards to see if the advertised ballistics are accurate. I know they will perform on animals given the Vmax devestation I have seen in the past.
