53 Vmax's on coyotes - real life?

M

Mike B

Active member
So has anybody shot any coyotes with the new Hornady 53 gr. Vmax's??? Searching hasn't turned anything up here.....curious as to the terminal performance and the comparison to the lighter Vmax's in terms of splashing, penetration, exit, impact velocity, etc.

Thanx.
 
I personally have not but I have spoken with two folks who have very limited experience( only shot a couple of coyotes) and they report excellent results.
 
I have not used them, but my calling partner did use them as loaded in the Supreformance ammo for a while. We both tend to hold right on the shoulder in hopes of breaking it and reducing runners. With the Superformance, he never did get the penetration through the shoulders you'd like to see. There were big holes in most cases. Raking shots or any bone at all gave horrorshow results. He did catch a couple through the ribcage only and the performance seemed fine. Small in, no out.
He eventually opted for the predictable 55gr. softpoints he used all along.
 
From what I've read and seen, just about any of the V-Max bullets will tend to "splash" when hitting a shoulder bone or such. It is for this reason that I have been aiming in the softer area's like behind the shoulder or low in the neck whenever a frontal shot presents itself. I have had some pretty good results running the 53 gr Superformance ammo through my AR's...

No runners yet.



 
OK, thanx guys. Guess there's no nirvana, eh?? I'm wondering if slowed down in my Duece they'd do better on our larger dogs here in the East, but why find out?? Nice BC [beeep]......
 
I like a bullet that is a little tougher than a poly tip bullet for shooting them at quartering shots when they are running away or frontal shots where the bullet may hit the shoulder blade.

The 55g Hornady Sp is a VERY accurate bullet along with the entire line of Sierra's, 45g Spt, 50g Spt, 55g Spt, 55g BTHP.

I have killed a lot of coyotes as they ran away where the bullet entered the hip, back of the rib cage and had to penetrate 12" to the vitals. Also, when a bullet hits the hip joint from the rear traveling forward to the lungs, the bullet has to be pretty tough to make the journey.

I have seen more than a couple of yotes hobble off after the bullet blew up on heavy bone. The Nosler 55g Ballistic tip is much tougher than the V Max if you are bound and determined to use a plastic tip bullet. If you are worried about tips getting damaged, then the Sierra 55g BTHP is a very tough bullet, and super accurate with top charges of Win 760, Benchmark, and R#15, fastest being win 760 by far.

I have never read of anyone else using the 55g Hornady Sp that is sold in bulk. This bullet is extremely accurate, as I mentioned above, and will not let you down on the killing power when penetration is called for.


Good luck!
 
After reading of an earlier post by Ackleyman, I purchased 1000 of the 55 gr Bulk Hornadys he mentioned. They shot very well in my Howa with a slow 1/12 twist. I shot 4 Coyotes of varying yardage from 70- 200 and they were bang flops. The closer ones had fur damage that was kinda ugly, the one at 200 I could barely find the wound. The Howa is heavy and is not my main choice for Coyotes. My Tikka that I use did not shoot the 55 as accurately with its 1/8 twist, however I didnt spend alot of time with the loads since I had loads it liked already. If you wanna try a few send a PM, and I will send you a few to try. Good luck.
 
I shot a really big male with a 53 grain vmax a few months ago and he he died just as quick as the coyotes I've shot with the 40 grain vmax. I think I can count on one hand how many runners I've had shooting the vmaxes. I think shot placement is the key more than anything.
 
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