Hornady v max in 243

[Redgum]

I was recently talking to a mate who does alot of deer control and last year he tried some hornady 87grain V max heads on his reloads. Now he uses them for everything including Red hinds if he is using 243 and reckons it takes them down to the ground almost instantly if he does his bit and raves about them.( heart/lung shot)

A few more reports would be good before I buy a box of a 100, has anyone had the same or differant experience with them on deer or fox for that matter( though I should think a 87gram v max would be pretty conclusive on a fox.)

And as I have a half tub of H414 does anyone have any reload data for the 87grain v max in 243 with this powder ( or any other powder for that matter).

[william]

I use the Hornady 87 grain in .243 very devastating on fox I have used them on munty too however they do break up fairly rapid on fox I am sure they would be ok on larger deer however they probably would not be my choice I use viht n160 46 grains and I am getting 3287 fps out of them (very accurate). Hope this helps.

[Redgum]

I use the Hornady 87 grain in .243 very devastating on fox I have used them on munty too however they do break up fairly rapid on fox I am sure they would be ok on larger deer however they probably would not be my choice I use viht n160 46 grains and I am getting 3287 fps out of them (very accurate). Hope this helps.

What did they do to the Munties, much meat damage.

[william]

No they were good, what makes me think they would not be enough for a larger deer is the fact I can sometimes hit a fox straight on in the white bib and it won't even exit (which is good) they must literally blend the insides up.

[jamie g]

i dont shoot deer as such mate so cant really comment but fron what i have been looking up on here. and other sites your better off with some softpoints for the deer. the vmax will drop them but if you dont get the shot right your going to wreck alot of meat on the deer. and you dont want bits of the bt all in the meat

[Redgum]

I currently use 85g and 100g sierra softpoints at the moment and are a pretty good alround bullet, maybe best stick with what I know. Its a pity they don't do packs of 25 or 50 for when your experimenting.

[choke it]

mate i use 58 g vmax with 43 grs of vit n140 its a killer on fox

[foggy11]

since the only legal bullet for Roe or Fallow is 100 grn, its probably not going to get you many answers on deer. :blink:

[Treestalker]

since the only legal bullet for Roe or Fallow is 100 grn, its probably not going to get you many answers on deer. :blink:

 

Loads of people I know use lighter bullets as long as the energy meets the legal requirement in England. Scotland has the 100 grain minimum on bigger deer. A lot of deer professionals I know in England use the 6mmBR and 6mmPPC.

 

I use loads of 87gr Hornady V-maxs in my 243.

Great bullet but will blow up close in but mushrooms lovely at long range when it's going slower.

I'm not getting into an argument but the "blowing up" doesn't bother me as I head shoot close stuff anyway.

 

I have shot fallow with them out to 300 yards through the ribs and they've performed just fine. The problem with a lot of other bullets at long ranges is that they lack the impact velocity to expand well enough. For long range deer the 87gr V-Max is my favourite in the 243.

[garyb]

since the only legal bullet for Roe or Fallow is 100 grn

 

 

Wrong.

 

Only Scotland has the 100grn law.

 

The law for England and Wales is very different

 

For Muntjac and Chinese Water deer only- a rifle with a minimum calibre of not less than .220 inches and muzzle energy of not less than 1000 foot pounds and a bullet weight of not less than 50 grains may be used.

 

For all deer of any species - a minimum calibre of .240 and minimum muzzle energy of 1,700 foot pounds is the legal requirement.

 

You may struggle to reach 1,700 Ft/Lbs with 100 grn heads from a .243

[njc110381]

since the only legal bullet for Roe or Fallow is 100 grn, its probably not going to get you many answers on deer.

 

Not sure where that info came from fella but you're a bit out on the details. 100grn is the legal minimum in Scotland for species larger than Roe. You can shoot a Roe with a .22 generating 1000+ft-lbs with a minimum 50grn bullet there too. In England there is no minimum bullet weight for .240+ calibres, only a minimum energy. Minimum of 50grn bullet from .22 with 1000ft-lbs of energy for Munties and CWD.

 

Not intending to try to make you look daft and no offence intended. Just filling you in on the details. :blink:

 

EDIT... Gary beat me to it!

Edited November 1, 2010 by njc110381

[njc110381]

I currently use 85g and 100g sierra softpoints at the moment and are a pretty good alround bullet, maybe best stick with what I know. Its a pity they don't do packs of 25 or 50 for when your experimenting.

 

How do you find the 85grn SP? Is that a Fox bullet or Deer bullet, or both? I'm looking for bullets for my .243 at the moment but being such a quick little thing it's hard to find something on the light side without it blowing up too quickly in the Deer! I want something in the 80-90 range but a lot of my shots are close. Under 100 yards usually.

[EMcC]

Hornady make two 87grn bullets one is a Varmint round and the other is a Game round.

The Varmint round is No 22440 and the Game round is No 2442.

I have used the Game round No 2442 for both Fox and Deer for more than thirty years and never had a problem.

I can certainly recommend it, being pushed by a charge of 40 gr of H380 with a Federal Magnum primer.

The recent, last couple of years, introduction of the Varmint round I have no experience of and would not recommend it for Deer in case it breaks up too early on contact with the animal.

[foggy11]

Sorry guys,

 

I stand corrected,

 

This was nformation passed on to me when I first enquired about getting the right calibre and bullet weight fr deer.

 

You learn something every day.

 

Glad you lot are here..

 

Cheers ,

 

Nik. :blink:

[Redgum]

How do you find the 85grn SP? Is that a Fox bullet or Deer bullet, or both? I'm looking for bullets for my .243 at the moment but being such a quick little thing it's hard to find something on the light side without it blowing up too quickly in the Deer! I want something in the 80-90 range but a lot of my shots are close. Under 100 yards usually.

It does the job on foxes, shot one last Saturday at 120yds, nice neat entry through the chest and pushed the guts out the exit ( it was facing me and I was in a high seat so bullet when down through chest and out left side)

 

With 43grains of h414 and CCI primer they shoot pretty flat, only shot one deer with em, a muntie surprised me , walked out of a hedge 60yds away. Bullet went straight through, top of heart gone, it ran 10yds before dropping stone dead.Munty bucks are tough little critters.

 

Thanks everyone for your answers and correcting the facts about 100gr bullets, everytime I mention legal requirements it starts a fight. :blink:

[njc110381]

Thanks everyone for your answers and correcting the facts about 100gr bullets, everytime I mention legal requirements it starts a fight.

 

We like a good arguement here! Certainly on my part there's never any offence meant by it, just sometimes the rules are a bit muddled up and nobody seems 100% sure what's what! Quite often even when someone is 100% certain they're right someone else has had a different experience so thinks that they are too. I put it down to FEOs making the rules up as they go along! :blink:

 

So when you hit the Munty with the 85grn soft point it didn't make too much mess on exit? I shot one with a 75grn Hornady HP from my .243 a while back and the far side lost all but the very back rib. A very big hole and lots of damage - I should have known better really.

[foggy11]

This is a very interesting topic, as there seem to be quite a few of us in the same situation...

 

All experiences are greatly received... :blink:

[Redgum]

We like a good arguement here! Certainly on my part there's never any offence meant by it, just sometimes the rules are a bit muddled up and nobody seems 100% sure what's what! Quite often even when someone is 100% certain they're right someone else has had a different experience so thinks that they are too. I put it down to FEOs making the rules up as they go along! :blink:

 

So when you hit the Munty with the 85grn soft point it didn't make too much mess on exit? I shot one with a 75grn Hornady HP from my .243 a while back and the far side lost all but the very back rib. A very big hole and lots of damage - I should have known better really.

Bet the 75grain was moving a bit, what range was it. As for the Muntie with the 85grain sierra soft point, not alot of damage really, the munty wasnt quite square on so the bullet did jelly the far shoulder slightly. Had good results with the seirra 100 grain pro hunters with munties. Generally they are a good bullet at a good price but a mate using the v max reckons they put deer down on the spot, dead accurate and flat shooting, think they probably cook his supper too.

Hoping to do a bit of fallow doe culling in the next few weeks and would like to try the 87grain v max against the 100grain sierras. Of course any results will be put on here. I was talking to a chap in the Rfd's the other week who reckons that 100grain in 243 drops to much for him and he never goes above 75grain, but he is one of those chaps who's in there so regularly he has his own mug, probably never seen a deer. I find 100gr fine out to 200yds, on paper anyway, most of my shots at deer and fox are never that rangy.

[njc110381]

Two very valid points there!

 

The 75grn hollow point was probably going some. I hit the Munty at 60 yards max but since walking the area again I recon it could be more like 30! So, boom - Splat!

 

Also, drop really doesn't seem to be much of an issue at Deer sized targets and Deer ranges. I always aim just below the middle and they fall over! Anything further out gets stalked into because I really enjoy that part more than pulling the trigger. It's the bunnies and Foxes that need a bit more precision and especially under the lamp when I'm unsure of the range.

 

EDIT... Regarding the V-Max I'd imagine as someone above said they will be ok once they slow down a bit. Close up they're designed to make a mess and they probably will. They wouldn't be my first choice. Of course the Deer fall down though - with their insides all messed up they're not going far but I doubt it's clean and an exit wound really helps with tracking runners (two holes instead of one).

Edited November 1, 2010 by njc110381

[Redgum]

Interesting stuff, I must say I'm intrigued to see what the v max do though, will load some up and work out a good load, if they do to much damage on deer then they will be ideal for fox, especially if the fox is out round the 200yd mark. A nice flat round is ideal for lamping fox isnt it, distance isnt easy to judge at night and foxs don't come in just the one size. Its a similar thing with lamping rabbits, I love my CZ .22lr, great work tool and so quiet but the .17 hmr shoots so much flatter, never thought I'd ever say it but its my preferred tool for lamping rabbits now, just put the cross hairs on the head from 20yds to 140yds.(thats if its not blowing a gale, then I will take the .22lr as you can get close to coney on these nights)

[al4x]

from reading about the vmax are only ideal if you neck shoot deer as you want the rapid expansion, personally I'd not use them on engine room shots. If what you've got works well then why change it. Certainly with my .223 Vmax open up foxes good and proper not really what you want when you're going to eat the result

[sako751sg]

I shoot 75g v-max reloads for everything except Red.Dont get massive damage to the meat as long as bullet placement is good and is superb on the foxes too.

[robbobsam]

I was recently talking to a mate who does alot of deer control and last year he tried some hornady 87grain V max heads on his reloads. Now he uses them for everything including Red hinds if he is using 243 and reckons it takes them down to the ground almost instantly if he does his bit and raves about them.( heart/lung shot)

A few more reports would be good before I buy a box of a 100, has anyone had the same or differant experience with them on deer or fox for that matter( though I should think a 87gram v max would be pretty conclusive on a fox.)

And as I have a half tub of H414 does anyone have any reload data for the 87grain v max in 243 with this powder ( or any other powder for that matter).

 

 

I use 44grains of H414 with 87 grain V-Max and get .4" groups at 100yds using a Tikka T3 Super Varmint.

 

This guy here uses the same Load and look at his results. >>>>> Awesome Load with 87 grain V-Max

[DaveK]

I shoot 75g v-max reloads for everything except Red.Dont get massive damage to the meat as long as bullet placement is good and is superb on the foxes too.

:good:

 

So the heart and lungs are mashed, who eats them? and maybe a wee bit of the far shoulder but there's not a lot of meat on that anyhoo (and that's only if there IS an exit wound). I'd rather use a soft point but 75gn Vmax isn't as bad as people seem to make out, and as Sako751sg says, superb on foxes.

[Redgum]

Well I have a box of Hornady 87g V Max waiting on my RFD's shelf ready for collection, I will put some H414 behind a few and let you know my results.