We can try and keep score and wizz back and forth all day. Heck I killed two reds with 20gr. Gamepoints this year and bang flopped them, is that 2 more points in the 20gr. column? I also killed 9 skunks, 3 possums, 1 groundhog, and 2 coons with the same setup while trapping. Did they run? Not while in a trap. Could they have if not in a trap? Not with a hole between their eyes. And for all the naysayers, no I don't walk up to an animal in the trap and shoot them. I usually get back 30-40 yds and take them off my shooting sticks with a kill light. I don't like stressing the animals while caught and like shooting them more relaxed in the pre-dawn hours when they are fresh caught. Possums are the only ones that I'll walk up too as they are pretty doscile. One of the coons was a free ranging coon I lipsqeaked out of cover and took at 40yds with one shot between the eyes.
I've been using them on groundhogs for several years now with great success. I can't tell you how many I've killed with them and some as far as 200yds. I've also lost some with body shots to the guts or glancing blows that didn't get any vitals, same for the v-max as well as loosing some with solid chest hits to the v-max at very reasonable ranges. Shoot any fox between the eyes with just about any rimfire and you'll get the same results every time. All my kills last year with the exception of one were headshots. It doesn't mean a thing in relation to what makes a good hunting bullet and performance on a body shot under "hunting" circumstances.
I've lost game to both styles of bullets on a variety of shot angles and distances. Is one better than the other? That is subjective. My style of hunting and shooting usually has the biggest bones in the animals body towards me. I usually have a head on shot or quartered to angle due to calling or using a light and find I can hit a shoulder or skull easier than I can miss them. They give you 2 nice glowing objects to aim for and I try to take advantage of that. For that reason I choose Gamepoints and have upped my retreival rates on groundhogs, which seem to be my most abundant test subjects. I haven't fox hunted with my HMR much in the past due to carrying a centerfire for coyotes in the area, but plan to do more after seeing the lack of damage to pelts last year on the nuisance animals mentioned above. I have limited myself to a range of less than 75yds for fox and have no concern using the bullets I've chosen for head and shoulder shots at that distance or closer. If I take behind the shoulder shots, I am fully expecting a run off as that is what I've seen happen with groundhogs. If I shoot a grey fox with a V-max, I fully expect to cut the tail off and trash the rest as that is the damage I see from past wounds on varmints as well. I use my HMR on my trap line and will continue to shoot Gamepoints for their ability to not blow out or pass through the opposite side and to make efficient kills at the same time with controlled expansion like a big game bullet. My taxidermist, a die hard v-max shooter, was amazed at the recovered bullets and lack of damage to the pelts yet still have massive internal trauma.
Moral of the story, shoot what you want, take responsibility for bad shots, don't blame the bullets if you use them wrong, know the intended purpose of the bullet you shoot, and try not to go outside of your capabilities or that of your equipment.
