Efficiency of Hornady Superformance .223 on Coyotes

Originally Posted By: DAAI don't think anything changed. Vmax have always been lousy bullets for coyote. Since the day they hit the market.

- DAA

While my friend Nate and I were doing some load testing with our suppressors, we noticed that the Vmax's wouldn't group well at all. Initially we thought that we might have a scope issue, but when we switched to SP's or HP's, the groups were nice and tight. So we began looking into the cause. I had no problems with Vmax's for years. They shot great, grouped fine and I had no problems putting down coyotes. But when we started investigating we found a vast difference in the weights from bullet to bullet. The SP's, HP's and other manufacturers were with in +/- .1-.2 grain. But the Vmax's were all over the place. Heavy, light, and BIG differences, like .5gr or more. That tells me someting is wrong with their quality control if not their manufacturing. Then they started pushing them faster and faster, which would just magnify the problem. It's not at all what you would expect from a top shelf manufacturer.

Here is a sight in target that I shot, with .223 Vmax's, at 100 yards out of my 16in bull barrel .223. The group to the right is my test group. The string is after my windage adjustment, and each shot has an elevation adjustment thrown in. So they used to be accurate enough to dial in on. On our most recent test, we couldn't do better than 1.5in at 100 yards.

223 sight in 100 yard sight in by Jason Mosler, on Flickr
 
In .224, the Vmax have given us lot's of splashes, and I've tried the 40, 50, 55 and 60gr versions, out of a 22 Hornet, 222RemMag, 223 and 223wssm.

Nosler BT's have been noticeably better in the .224 cartridges. I also like, and use, various softpoints, notably the Sierra 55gr SPBT.

Now, the 75gr Vmax in my 243 has been great. No splashes, runners or floppers, not even pelt damage for 34 out of 35 coyotes. Take the shot, hear the bullet 'whap' and the coyote goes down, most without a wiggle.

The Nosler 55gr BT in the 243 was a dismal failure. I pushed them to about 4,000fps, and had more floppers than I could tolerate. I even lost one coyote that was leaking badly, and something was hanging from the offside of the impact.
 
Hornady v-max never grouped as good out of my rifle as Ultramax in 55gr v-max for whatever reason. I've only shot the Superformance in my 22-250 so I can't comment on the Superformance in .223 but so far I've had the best accuracy with Ultramax 55gr. and Fiocchi 50 grain v-max. Killed coyotes with both. One coyote I shot with the 50 grain v-max got hit in the mouth and blew the teeth out of that one side and I had to shoot it again. Other than that I haven't had any trouble killing coyotes with them.
 
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