Originally Posted By: Rock KnockerMy opinion Vmax are garbage, I've never ruined so much fur or seen so much splash damage and runner's, they wont handle bones.
65gr SGK have been amazing, no splash damage, quarter size exit no matter where you hit, fox or coyote. Vmax turned up to hit coyotes hard will destroy fox or bobcat. The sierras are much more accurate for me also and they hit like a brick instead of a soft vmax grape.
I lost I Flickr password or I would post some pics, I've got pic of a coyote I shot, it was quartered towards me at 30 yards and the vitals were behind the shoulder, the coyote ran 300 yards spraying blood all over itself from a a knicked artery from a 53vmax that landed on the coyote exactly where it should and the splash damage was horrible. I've got another pic of a red fox I made a bad shot on the move, I hit the fox in the spine first and as it was spinning I hit it in the rear leg then the head, three bad 65gr SGK on a small fox and no hits could be seen except the exit of the rear leg.
If I wanted to survive getting shot with a 223, vmax would be my bullet of choice. Soft weak varmint bullets can perform neat tricks with perfect shots but overall they're soft and weak, they're a handicap that normal hunting conditions..... like bones, will be defeated. And if you're shooting 30 yards or 500 they are going to have completely different terminal performance.
My experience in a couple of hundred coyotes could not be more opposite.
Over the last 23 years of coyote hunting I have tried numerous bullets. Mostly in 223 but also in 22-250. I have never seen the "splash", ever! I have made some poor shots that opened up coyotes like a zipper, but that has less to do with the bullet than the shot.
I have killed coyotes with 55gr vmax at 30 yards, where I got an exit wound, to 612 yards. I have killed dozens between 350 and 500 yards, but most of my kills are in the 150 yard range. I have lost an occasional coyote, but its pretty rare. I have used no other bullet in the 22-250 or 223 going back to about 2005, and I have zero reason to try something else at this point.
I sell fur, fur buyers complained about the 22 cal entrance wound, so I switched to a 17-223. No more complainnts from the fur buyer.
The fact is, most people talk about saving fur, but maybe save and skin one every now and then. When you start selling a dozen of the best hides every year for real money, you find out real fast what works and what doesn't.