As for using a 32 gr. V-Max for 350 yard groundhog shots, if can hit your target properly, I don't think you should have any more problem with that then you would killing the groundhog with a 40 gr. or 55 gr. V-Max from a 22-250. I'll post some charts below so you can see what I'm talking about. Also, if you'll read what I typed in my first post you'll see that I was touting the high BC of the .204 40gr. V-Max and the lesser, but still good BC of the 40 gr. Berger LTB,
NOT the 32 gr. V-Max, but the 32 gr. is still pretty good.
The 40 gr. V-Max bullet has a BC of .275 and that will give you a very flat trajectory and not much wind deflection. Lots of coyote killing power out beyond 400 yards with that bullet too. The 40 gr. Berger LTB only has a BC of .239, but that's not too shabby either. I have been able to get better accuracy out of the Berger than the V-Max in my Savage.
I am anxious to test the 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKing bullets and also am curious about what the BC is for those bullets. Sierra has a fine reputation for making super good bullets so I hope these .20 caliber bullets are no exception.
We had a similar discussion a while back where someone was touting the 4,500 fps MV of the .223WSSM and I posted an Excel table showing ft-lbs of energy, drop, wind drift, etc. for that 40 gr. .223WSSM bullet and compared it to the .204 caliber V-Max with a MV of 3,950 fps. The .204 won out.
dan newberry stated
Punch the .204's numbers into a ballistics calculator and you'll find that at 350 yards you'll be more likely to annoy a large groundhog than to kill him.
So, dan, I did that--I punched in the numbers and will post my findings, not just conjecture, but the
actual numbers. I don't know what ballistics calculator you use, but I'll post the numbers I just ran in the JBM Trajectory Calculation Program for the 32 gr. V-Max in .204 Ruger and compared those to the numbers for the 40 gr. V-Max in the 22-250. The only advantage the 22-250 40 gr. bullet has over the .204 Ruger 32 gr. bullet,
albeit very slight, is that it has bit more ft-lbs of energy. Let me show you the numbers:
At 300 yards the 22-250 has 562.5 ft-lbs and the .204 Ruger has 513.4 ft-lbs. At 350 yards the 22-250 has 470.5 ft-lbs and the .204 Ruger has 436.1 ft-lbs. Moving out to 400 yards and the 22-250 has 390.7 ft-lbs of energy and the .204 Ruger has 366.7 ft-lbs. At 500 yards the 22-250 has 263.3 ft-lbs and the .204 Ruger has 255.0 ft-lbs.
When you compare the trajectory of the 32 gr. V-Max in .204 Ruger to the trajectory of the 40 gr. V-Max in 22-250, my ballistics calculator shows that the little 32 gr. .204 Ruger pill has the flatter trajectory and less wind drift out to 600 yards and probably beyond.
Now, I ran the numbers for the
40 gr. V-Max in 22-250 compared to the
40 gr. V-Max in the .204 Ruger and will post that chart here. Please, all you .204 Ruger naysayers, note that the
ONLY number where the 22-250 bullet is superior to the .204 bullet in ft-lbs of enegy, trajectory or windage is that it has 107.3 ft-lbs more enegry at the muzzle.
I'll also post a chart that has the same numbers for the
40 gr. .204 Ruger bullet, but the
22-250 has the numbers for the 55 gr. V-Max with a MV of 3,700 fps as dan newberry suggested.
I would be very intersted in having any of you 22-250 officianados point out on these 500 yard charts
EXACTLY where the 22-250 has the superior trajectory or less wind drift with either the 40 gr. V-Max or the 55 gr. V-Max out yonder.
The only place I can see that the 55 gr. V-Max in 22-250 has a better number is in the ft-lbs of energy. However, I think at 500 yards, 409.6 ft-lbs of energy generated by the 40 gr. .204 V-Max is pretty close to the 428.8 ft-lbs of energy generated by the 22-250.
Perhaps, if we didn't have the numbers that show the ft-lbs of energy, trajectory, and wind drift, this could be one of those Ford vs Chevy kind of things, but I think the numbers speak for themselves and the .204 Ruger stands up strong and tall when compared to the 22-250.
So,
mitchell, although I, as well as many others, think the 22-250 is a great caliber, in my opinion you would have to be willing to screw on a fast twist barrel and use heavier bullets than the 55 gr. V-Max with higher BCs to outdo the .204 Ruger with the 40 gr. V-Max bullet. I truly believe you'll get better "bang" for your buck out of the .204 Ruger and 40 gr. bullets.
I hardly think that the .204 Ruger bullet is going to
be more likely to annoy a large groundhog than to kill him.
Heck, even if you are comparing the 32 gr. V-Max to the 22-250 numbers, I think the .204 Ruger will do the job.
For you 22-250 folks, the 22-250 does outdo the .204 Ruger in that is has more recoil /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I'm not sure I even agree about the 55 gr. 22-250 bullet outdoing the .243s pushing the 55 gr. bullets. Perhaps the faster twist barrels will have a major problem stabilizing that little 55 gr. pill. I think it would be better to compare a little heavier bullet in the .243 to the 55 gr. bullet in the 22-250 and then I'm pretty sure the .243 will come out looking better than the 22-250 with the 55 gr. bullet.
I would like to know if there are some errors in my calculations in the charts above or was someone just kind of guessing as to what the numbers really said. Please post what program you use to do your caluclations.