60 gr V-Max Fur friendly??

The 60 Vmax is all I've used out of my 16" .223 for 10 years. At just over 2800 fps I have been very happy with them. Sometimes they exit and some times not, but nothing messy unless you hit on the edges of a coyote. They can be a little rough on fox.
 
Thanks for the info. I 'm going to pick up some more of them. Local gun store has about 10 boxes of them on the shelf for $16.00 per 100. About$5.00 less than the 52 BTHP match I usually use.
 
Originally Posted By: BoomSplatThanks for the info. I 'm going to pick up some more of them. Local gun store has about 10 boxes of them on the shelf for $16.00 per 100. About$5.00 less than the 52 BTHP match I usually use.

So are you not liking the 52's, or just a good price on the 60's?
 
Mostly good price, the 52s are my go to for fur friendly in all of my 22s. They go in and never exit. Been shooting them since 85.
 
The Nosler 60 grains just leave a pin hole entry and no pass through if you put it in the cage. If you hit bone it’s a nasty hole.
 
So far 60gr Vmax has not been very fur friendly for me. It might be that I hit blade or brisket on the way in the few times I've used them on coyotes. I have better luck with the lighter bullets. But that's just been my experience.
 
I’ve only shot a few coyotes with the 60 grain VMAX, also killed two deer with them. Weird thing is i’ve never had an exit on a coyote with them. One deer was a clean pass through, the other there was no sign or entry or exit. I guess it depends on what you hit internally. All shots were good kill shots; i’ve never doubted its effectiveness. I think for the price especially they are hard to beat.
 
I have shot a lot of coyotes with vmax bullets ranging from little 25 grain - 17 caliber up to 65gr in a 6WOA. They all have shot well for me, but fur damage for my taste is too extreme and they cause too many splashes. It has seemed to have gotten worse in recent years. If at all possible, I shoot some type of slower expansion Hollow Point. Typically, not varmint hps, but some type of target or match hps. I am especially fond of the Berger Target Hps. My favorite was the 50 grain but they quit making them. I just ran out of my last stock pile of them, so will have to switch to the 52s or 55s. On one of my recent trips to my fur buyer, I showed him two piles of coyotes. Both piles of coyotes were shot with 22-250 ARs. One pile (mine) they were shot with Berger 50's and the other with 50 Vmax. All the fur buyer said was tell your partner to start using your ammo.
 
This is great information. I think that velocity ALONG with the bullet and shot placement are what gives you results like splashes. Properly loaded, you could probably get most bullets to perform the way that you want them.

But I have not found the Vmax to be typically fur friendly. Sometimes I have seen one hole wonders with it but more times than not it opens them up quite a bit.
 
Its weird how so many people have different results with the same bullets. It's very rare for my friends and I to have fur damage with Vmax bullets, 55's or 60's, and then only on very marginal hits. Our muzzle velocities are only 2700-2900, so maybe thats why they work for us? Generally couldn't even find the hole if the blood wasn't leaking out, while the insides sound like a bucket of rocks and jello and the coyotes usually drop like lightning struck them.
But again, they can be messy on fox.
 
Yes they work for me. 1in 9 twist LTR you can’t see entry or exits...when exits. My pof with a 1 in 8 twist you can’t see entry holes but exits are fifty cent to silver dollar size on broadside shots. The ltr is loaded at 2975 FPS and the pof 2850 FPS. The bullet drops them DRT.
 
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Originally Posted By: GreyhunterIts weird how so many people have different results with the same bullets. It's very rare for my friends and I to have fur damage with Vmax bullets, 55's or 60's, and then only on very marginal hits. Our muzzle velocities are only 2700-2900, so maybe thats why they work for us? Generally couldn't even find the hole if the blood wasn't leaking out, while the insides sound like a bucket of rocks and jello and the coyotes usually drop like lightning struck them.
But again, they can be messy on fox.

I agree, there are just too many variables to account for in determining whether a bullet is "fur friendly" or not. I think that most often it has to do with shot placement and the orientation that the animal has to you when the bullet impacts. There can also be variations in bullet velocity that many guys don't/can't account for. Recently my partner, AzBushman, and I were getting ready for a coyote hunting contest, so we went out the day before. We were both running our tried and true trusty PTG-10's in .308, he was running 165 gr Hornady Whitetail and I was running 150 gr Hornady Whitetail SP's. This coyote shows up and Bushman thumps it. When he went for the follow up, which should NOT have been necessary, he finds his gun is stove piped. I see the coyote and draw a bead and nail it. It goes down but then tried to get up. When we inspected the coyote we were shocked to find that my bullet had gone clean through, same sized entry/exit. Bushman's round went in the chest and we found a small exit by the left rear leg. NEITHER one of our bullets expanded the way that we were used to. Later in the day our guns and bullets were running just fine. The variable...it was sub 30's that morning and we determined that our pressures were low so our velocities had dropped. We saw none of the usual pressure indicators on our shells, they were pristine just like they had been fired from bolt guns.

So I think it is hard to really get an apples to apples comparison, which might account for the different results.
 
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