Thread: 22-250 + 50grain Vmax projectile on game trials - bit graphic

50grain Vmax projectile from 22-250 rifle trials

These projectiles are insanely accurate, thought I would shoot a few critters and see what they go like.

Through trialling on animals i have found that this projectile is a mostly effective killer on light skinned game at ranges of 30 to 300yards given it is used in the correct manner. It would not however be recommended as an all round hunting round, especially not for an inexperienced hunter.

At very close ranges ~10yards firing into the shoulder area the projectile has a tendency to explode and penetrate very little, wounding animals and requiring a follow up shot

At ranges from 20 to 40 meters on goats the projectiles caused very large entry wounds, sufficient to kill a smaller animal like a goat however the fist sized entry holes would no doubt leave a Fallow Buck running and not put it down if placed in the shoulder, i believe that placed behind the shoulder in the sweet spot the projectiles would likely be fine to kill Fallow bucks.

Back of neck, side of neck, chest and shoulder shots at 20 – 40m caused large occasionally palm sized entry wounds and appeared to caused significant damage to a maximum of 6 inches penetration. One neck shot on larger billy however only caused a small entry hole for some reason.

Back of neck entry - no exit









Top of shoulder shooting down entry





Again







Neckshot with tiny entry for some reason






again


Not bad horns though




Front Chest entry




No projectiles exited at this closer range.

One small fallow spiker shot at ~20yards in the upper chest front on went down on the spot – the projectile appearing to travel about 6inches into the chest cavity and explode blowing the heart to pieces.

Fallow went down in a heap - chest shot and heart etc were minced

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A 60 yard head shot on a goat did not exit – appeared to explode just inside the skull and cause a huge swelling of the side of the head where all insides were apparently blown to pieces inside the skull but with no large entry and no exit.




Next time get the goats shot before planting expensive manuka - all gone



At ranges of 150 - 160 yards the projectiles were killing well via neck and shoulder shots. 6 goats shot at this range in short succession all dropped either on the spot or within a few paces.

Appeared to have varying levels of expansion.

Two high shoulder small entry holes no exit. One neck shot small billy large exit wound. Two small entry hole pass through middle of shoulder on nannys.





Neck shot entry




Exit




Two behind the shoulder pass throughs appeared to have very small entry and exit holes indicating potentially limited expansion of the projectiles.

Limited expansion at just under 200





Two goats shot at 300 were not recovered due to the terrain, they both took a few steps and disappeared into the gorse. Cannot comment on how much damage the projectile would have done but confident they were dead within a few paces.

Peacocks shot out to 400m obviously exploded into balls of feathers.

So there you go, a pointless discussion on how you can use the wrong bullet and still have success if you are bloody careful. Very explodey bullets these vmax. If you are going to hunt deer, use a soft point like a 53grain norma, these are perfect.

In summary, use the right bullets for bigger game, not these ones unless you can put them in the right spot.

Cheers


Mike

Interesting read Mike, I've been using this cal for 10+ yrs now and have found Sierra 55g SBT to be devasting, be it goats or fallow, best so far out to 327m, I have the Sierra 55g HPBT as well to work up. Try some out...

Surprising results as they are an explosive bullet, seem to vary a bit from limited expansion to quite a bit. I would only use these on small game and use the 55 gr Noslar BT for the type of shooting you have just shown us. I use them and have found them pretty good, they expand well and penetrate enough for goats and deer ( even reds with a behind the shoulder lung shot)
Still the proof is in the pictures you posted they did work well.

I'm another fan of the Sierra 55gr SBT. Good for me out to 250m on fallow and sika.

Thanks Mike, interesting results.

Was the manuka being planted for the honey industry?

Yep flash plants, about $50,000 worth gone off that face


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Hell that's an expensive lesson

they should've paid you to do a few bomb-ups before planting!

Originally Posted by MikeB

Yep flash plants, about $50,000 worth gone off that face


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Holy shit! People spray it here rather than plant it!

Intersting results cheers for posting.

I have found in the past that the small exit hole can be caused by the projectile rapidly loosing weight and speed and"just" exiting after going off like a bomb inside.....have even found the mushroomed pill just under the skin even tho there is an exit which I could only put down to bone or flesh being pushed out in front of the projectile.

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Thanks for info Mike. What other projectiles are you looking to try???

Really awesome post! I have used 22-250 on game for a while now, and find the 55g SGK to be the projectile of choice. 36g of 2206H humming along at just under 3700 fps. Loves it!

Yeah those 55grain sierras are a primo round, so are the 53 grain Normas. Both bloody good on deer. Used some hollow points as well, I think they were sierras too. Good thing is all of these rounds shoot incredible on the same load of powder 36 grains of 4895. They also all shoot to the same point of impact within a couple mm at 100 so I can grab whatever is floating around in the truck and head shoot a deer with it. Highland SP shoot the same POI too actually.

Have loaded up a few sierras for deer. Will hang onto these vmax for long range varmint exploding.