50 gr. V-Max vs. 50 gr. TNT

L

Loki_762

New member
Okay, so I have a respectable load for my .223 with a 50 grain V-max. It comes moving out of my barrel around 3300 fps, and when I do my part, groups at half an inch. I will be using this load this spring on ground squirrels and rockchucks, and I am sure it will be effective on both. However, I have been doing some reading about the 50 grain TNT, and that sounds like an impressive little bullet as well. So, being your typical reloader that is never satisfied with one good round, I am thinking about trying out some loads with the TNT. Can anyone tell me about the explosive qualities of this bullet on the critters mentioned above? I have no doubt it will dispatch a rockchuck nicely, and probably a coyote as well, but will it expand quickly enough on ground squirrels that are only around two inches thick through the middle? It just seems like that is not a lot of space for adequate expansion to occur in, and I don't want to wound the animals and have them die slowly. I want it to be as quick as possible. So, how do these two bullets compare for making fast, humane, explosive kills? Oh yeah, one more thing - didn't there used to be a "search" function on this site? What happened to it?
Thanks,
Loki
 
I've been using 50gr TNT bullets in my 223x35HC and my 222 for years. They blow up great on PD's and ground squirrels. Look for them in Speer's Bulk-Pac.
 
I have been using the Speer TNT ever since they came out. I have found them to be every bit as accurate as the more expensive v-Max and Sierra bullets. They are more fragile than most bullets, I have never been disapointed by the TNT. I buy them in the 1000 count value packs and get 5 or 6 at a time, they are great for prairie dogs.
 
just got your dvd , dog, havent laughed so much in years, how i wish we had pd,s over here, that looks brilliant fun, cant wait for dogbegone 11! I,d like to try these tnt bullets, who makes em, Speer?
 
Yes, Speer makes the TNT. DogBeGone is correct about the V-Max, they are great bullets, just quite a bit more money than the TNTs. Both are quite explosive.
 
To be fair, I haven't used the TNT's so I'm not qualified to make a comparison. But I'm so happy with the V-max line that I'm not really interested in further experimenting.

And no, I've never gotten a red cent from Hornady to say that. I've used their bullets long before PDBG!
 
Well, I loaded up some TNTs, and I had some mixed results. I started with 26.0 grains of Hodgdon BL-C2, and worked my way in .5 grain increments up to 28 grains. My first group, with 26 grains, was around an inch. Not great, but I had 20 more bullets to shoot, right? Next group, 26.5 grains, 2.5 inches! Was I ever shocked! But the next group, with 27 grains, was even bigger - right around 4 inches! My Savage has never shot that bad, even with ammo it didn't like! Next group, 27.5 grains, 1.25 inches - better, but still not very good. Then, the last group comes along, and blows my mind. 28 grains, 5/8ths of an inch! So, I shoot some of my gun's favorite V-max loads, just to make sure it is not the gun. Two separate groups, each one around 1/2 inch. So, I did some thinking, and I think I know what the problem was. The first twenty cases, the ones that I used for the first four groups, have been sitting in my garage in my cabinet polished, trimmed, sized, and primed for about a month and a half, waiting to be loaded with powder and a bullet. The last 5 bullets I shot today I did all of the case prep work for yesterday. I am thinking that perhaps the primers in the cases that have been sitting for a while may have been affected by the moisture in the garage, and they weren't firing cleanly, thus resulting in such crazy groupings. So, I will load up a few more, and give them one more shot at the range. For a bullet that I have heard such good things about, I cannot possibly give up that easily!
 
When you decide to try TNTs they shoot well at 100 yrds but the farther you move out the better your V max will shine.

So try both at 200 and 300 yrds and you will see what i mean!
 
love the v max bullets group great blows pd's into red mist dont have to worry about pushing them too hard either they won't fly apart like tnt's if you go over a set velocity.
 
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