What are the most explosive gopher bullets?

[Dean2]

Spent a couple of days last spring doing a serious amount of gopher shooting with a variety of calibers and bullets. This is what we found and thought it might be of interest to others on this board.

We went through many rounds and of that total there were a large number of 223, 22 Hornet and 221 Fireball, in additon to a couple of thousand 22 Lr and 17 HMRs expended. This allowed us to try out a selection of bullets. They were; 36 grain Barnes Varmit grenade, 3800 fps, 35 & 40 Grain Hornady V-Max 3100 fps, 40 Grain Sierra Blitzking 3700 fps, 52 Grain Speer Hollow Point BT, 3400 fps, and the Hornady 50 grain SPSX, 3050 fps. The specific bullets used in each gun were accurate loads in there respective guns, and all did the job very well on gophers out past 300 yards. All loads did considerable damage.

The bullet with the most disappointing performance was the Varmint Grenade. No where near as explosive an impact as expected, despite travelling 750 FPS faster than the Hornady SPSX and 600 fps faster than 2 of the nylon tipped models. It is accurate at under 1.5" at 300 yards, but the least accurate of the ones listed, all of which held under an inch at 300 yards, (the 35 and 40 V-maxs in the Hornets were range tested to only 200 yards but were producing groups from as small as .3' to as large as .75 inch. The Hornet did not like the Varmint Grenades at all, shooting them over 2" at 100 yards.) and along with the 35 V-max was the most wind affected.

The best overall performance went to the cheapest bullet. For pure accrobatic effect on hits and maximum destruction the 50 grain Hornady SPSX was the clear winner. One standing gopher at 150 yards, hit with an SPSX at 3050 fps out of the 221, went up 6 feet, did a double back flip, landed 8 feet back from POI and left a circular pattern of parts for about six feet around. This was pretty normal for this bullet, except the height was usually 2-3 feet..

It also tied for first place for best 300 yard groups, along with the Sierra 40 grain BlitzKings, with best groups out of ten 3 shot sets, of .682" (both shot from a very accurate 12 series Savage Bull barrel with worked up loads for each bullet), was less affected by the wind than any of the others except the 52 Grain Speer HP and is the cheapest of the bullets running $15 a hundred versus as much as $26/100 for the Varmit Grenades.

Their only drawback is they are limited to about 3600 fps, which is fine in a 223 or 221 but for a 22-250 you would have to step it down, or their thin copper jackets may tear off from to much rotational speed. That said I have spit them out of a 22-250 with a 1:12 twist at 3900 FPS with very good accuracy and all the bullets made it to the target, so there appears to be some lattitude in the recommended max velocity. Hornady does make a 55 grain SPSX specifically for the 22-250. Haven't tried them but if they are close to as good as the 50s they too should be a lot of inexpensive fun.

If you haven't tried the SPSX bullets in your 223 or 221 Fireball, or stepped down in a 22-250, I would highly recommend taking them for a run. We tried them in the Hornet but the long bullet, 1/16 twist and the 2700 fps velocity didn't produce nearly as good accurracy (just over an inch to an inch and a half at 200 yards) as the 35 and 40 grain V-maxs did, and the V-Maxs would get up and go at 3,100 fps over a load of Lil"gun.

I also highly recommend Saskatchewan for gopher hunting or just touring. We did all our shooting the second day from two spots, 400 yards apart over 5 hours and never came close to running out of targets. People we met were all freindly and very helpful in locating hotels, decent restaurants etc. Permission to shoot was readily obtained. Prices for rooms and meals were low by our standards, and quality was good. Two guys, two days, gas, meals, room, etc but not counting ammo, $200 each. Scenery was great, hit some neat points of interest like the T-Rex museum and got to see lots of hawks, mule deer, coyotes, a badger, many antelope etc.

Would be interested to hear other peoples experiences and opinions on the most explosive gopher bullets/loads in .224 or smaller centre fire. Can't wait for the gophers to come back out this spring, have a whole bunch of 17 caliber 25 grain V-maxs at 3800 fps to try out. Hopefull the snow goes away in Mar again this year.

[HighWall]

The most explosive bullets I've tried are the 20gr VMax out of my Cooper 38 in .17 Ackley Hornet. Devastating. I have recently added a couple of .20 cal rifles, one in .204 Ruger and another in .20 VarTarg but haven't had the opportunity to test them on live targets yet. Can't wait.

[montdoug]

I've shot a lot of gophers over a lot of years. I've seen a number of bullets dropped from production and a number of new ones started.
I have to say if I were going to post my personal impressions of the effectiveness of the varmint projectiles out there it would be real close to yours. Certainly not a scientific comparison but a test backed up with multitude's of gopher remains and well seasoned with personal opinion.

A few years back a buddy bought a bunch of the Varmint Grenades and loaded them and the 40 grain V-Max's into his CZ .221 for a comparison at the range. I just searched the archives and located a post on the VG's I made on 9/25/2007:

"repost"

My friend Varminator bought some quite a while ago and loaded equal loads behind the 36 grain Barnes and the 40 V-Max in his .221. This is an observation of what I saw being a neutral observer behind the spotting scope.

"Repost"

Varminator and I were at the range a couple weeks back and he had loaded those as well as the 40 grain V-Max for his CZ 527 .221 Fire Ball. First he did load development on paper with the Barnes and I don't think he'd mind my telling you they shot like guano (that part could be a rifle to rifle deal). I do know he'd given me some to test and half way through his shooting on the next bench he said "Don't bother".
Next he brought two heavy plastic quart bottles filled with water, they had screw on lids em (whiskey bottles, very solid). These he tested for a terminal performance comparison.
I did the spotting so I observed both hits at 100 yards. Both hits were dead center.
The Barnes popped the lid off, moved the bottle about 2 feet back (still standing up) and put about a three inch little rip in the back of it. There was still water in it when we went up to it.
The 40 V-Max blew water 6 feet in the air in a mist, completely demolished the bottle as in a two inch wide piece of the heavy plastic completely torn out of the back of the bottle and knocked it about 7 or 8 feet.
There was absolutely no comparison, in the rat smackage factor it's 40 V-Max hands down!
Accuracy went to the V-Max (as I would have expected) as well but again that might be different from rifle to rifle, the smackage factor definitely won't be. Huge difference!
In something that has a lot more than 3500fps maybe they would upset more but then so would the Hornadys.

In the 250 round boxes if I shop around a bit I can get the 40 V-Max Hornadys laid up on my porch for about $11.00 a hundred.
If I wasn't the dedicated Hornady fan that I am before that, the test alone would have gone a long way to making me one!
__________________

"repost"

(I just noticed the mention I made back then of bullet price.....It's ok fellas, sniff-sniff, I'm done crying now ).

At any rate that was my observation back then and the batch of em he gave me to test is still setting on a shelf back there in the "Black Hole" as my wife calls my loading room.
As to the Hornady SXSP's I have a large batch of 70 grainers in 6MM that I use to shoot in a 6BR at about 3,300ish FPS, blew p-dogs all to heck. After the BR got reborn into a .20 Dasher I had to do something with the bullets so on great advice from Brother Fireball I had a 6X47 Lapua built with a 1 in 12 twist for light bullets. Before I got it I thought I had to many 70 grain SXSP's and after testing em I wish I had a bunch more (discontinued bullet now ). No secret I'm a "stomp down hope to die" Hornady fan but when that inexpensive bullet is capable of shooting this kinda groups outta a rifle that likes em (group on the left, the right group is the 65 grain V-Max) combined with it's terminal performance on rats it's the real deal!



In the 6X47 that load is pushing 3,450ish FPS as memory serves, it oughta be a "serious" rat spreader!

Sorry this is so windy but I'd like to add that in the .17's and .20's we are all so fond of, with one exception all I shoot is Hornady offerings and I couldn't be more pleased. The one exception is the 39 BlitzKing in one .20 that dotes on em and the 40 grain BlitzKing's in several .22 calibers (Sierra would be my second favorite projectile).
Sorry for blathering on, a little drifty lately and I'm on my 4th cup of coffee already this morning. The wife's catching up on some badly needed sleep so I'm quietly huddled up in the computer room with a coffee pot and a bad case of cabin fever making sure I don't wake her. We got about another foot of global warming dropped on us yesterday so it's either go shovel it or think gopher smackage with you fine fellas, my choice in the matter is obvious . "Blah-Blah-Blah", sorry.

[Furhunter]

All I shoot in my 221's is the 40 vmax, I shoot the 32 vmax in my 20VT and the 25 vmax in the 17fb

I do however shoot Nagel 20's in my 17AH

You simply cant beat the price and performance of the vmax bullets.

I wished Barnes would bring back the Varminator HP bullets. Those shot really good for the price too.

[junk man]

hey dean i have shot super exploders in my 22 250 for 20 years and run them about 3500fps , they are not the best looking bullet in the world but they really live up to the exploding part. crows are always in 2 or 3 pieces. and i thought i was the only one running them in the 250. the next one to it in the exploding department would be the 32 vmax in my 20vt, it makes a 2 or 3 piece crow about half the time.

[GLWenzl]

I could not say with experience but I have a hunch that on a smaller sized critter like a gopher a 17 gr v-max at a high rate of speed might be pretty wild out to maybe 200 yards (despites its small size). I know that I turned a PD pup to mist at less than 100 yards and the one directly behind it looked around like where in the hell did his brother go before getting vaporized himself…. Trouble is find some

The 45 gr Hornady Hornet bullet did some amazing things from a CZ 221 FB loaded up with that warm 1680 load. It was awesome out to a couple 100 yards and shooting down hill into the holes would bring em out in small pieces! Ofcourse I am fond ofall the v-max bullets they have served me well!

[UpNearTheBorder]

Too explosive = 40gr spire point Speers loaded in my 222Rem with RE-7 to about 3700ish fps. Loaded these for something other then varmint hunting but tried it one day. Most bullets exploded on grass blades and never reached the target. The ones that did, ended up "splashing" on the surface and they got away. I did get one clear shot and it took off a 1/4 of its head as though it was cut with a knife. Most explosive = 120sp Hornady in the 7mm Rem Mag I used to own. This was back when H4831 was $3 - $4 a pound. Bullet hole on one side and near full body rip on the other side with most of the insides laying next to the body. If you where lucky enough to find a woodchuck sunning itself on a stump or rock they would go 10-20ft up in the air when hit with this load. FUN load but not easy on the shoulder and powder got too expensive.

[TinMan]

You can add the 45 and 50gr Sierra Blitz, the 40 and 45gr Sierra Hornet and 45 and 50gr SPT to the list of unsung hero bullets in my experience. The Blitz are the Sierra analogs of the Hornady SX. Don't forget they also are shorter than most of the polymer tipped bullets, meaning the loaded rounds may fit better in magazines of short rounds like the Hornet and FB. And speaking of prices, 10-12 years ago I used to buy the SX for $6/hundred at a local shop.

[long shot]

The absolute most "explosive" combo I put together was similar to up near the borders. It was Hornady's 125 grn 8mm spire point sitting in front of 85 grains of IMR 4350 in an 8mm Rem. Mag casing. Came out of the pipe at 3,600 fps. I developed this for Antelope originally. Believe me, you didn't want to put a bullet thru the shoulder. Tucked nicely behind the shoulder you would still lose the front shoulder on the other side. Not from bloodshot but because it was missing along with the most of the rib cage.. Tabled this for antelope after killing 2. OK we still have about 90 slugs left, what to do? Took a ride to skippys local hangout. Well, lets just say skippy might as well have swallowed dynamite. If you could get the shot where skippy was on all 4's looking at you or vice versa for the texas heart shot, you pretty much have nothing left but a red & green splatter mark. This was 30 yrs. ago in CO. This did turn out to be a very effective whitetail load. No exit wound, but a bit messy on the insides. The hydraulic shock from this combo still impresses me to this day.

[Dean2]

Interesting collection of choices. For those who like the bigger stuff, 110 grain bullet over 4895, out of a 300 Win Mag is doing 3800 fps. It barks a little but it is hellish explosive. I am trying to find that same mistifying experience with a 17 or 22 variant.

I have never tried the Calhoon bullets, and a number of the ones by smaller makers aren't available up here. Am suprised no one has posted any of the less common bullets as a foavourite. Guess it explains why Hornady and Sierra sell as many bullets as they do.