Ballistic gelatin test results : 7.62x39mm 123gr Hornady V-Max

I'm sorry for the Necromancy here.

I am starting to look for a rifle for HD. I ran across this test at Brass Fetcher and was kind of smitten with the performance. So I started looking for D&S to see if the bullet was still available. I couldn't find mention of the company on any website.

I did find two other options available on a website "Graf & Sons." I have never used them and this listing is in no way an endorsement. I just wanted to provide some info for anybody interested in this load.

http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/category/categoryId/236

There are two companys listed as manufacturing this ammo, HRN and P.C.I.

Wow. That would absolutely ruin the day of someone hit with it.

I function tested 20 rounds of the steel case Hornandy load in my SLR107FR:

No stoppages of any kind. Ejection distance was on par with the Yugo M67 I was also shooting. In shadowed daylight (sunny day but covered shooting position) there was no visible flash with a AK74 brake installed.

That ballistic gello disruption looks almost perfect for a urban rifle cartridge. Even a peripheral hit to a arm or leg is going to cause massive damage and not 'icepick' type wounding

BSW

That 123gr V-Max appears to be only available in loaded ammo. They show that 7.62x39 ammo at 2350fps. It looks like a near total energy transfer in a short distance and that makes it a great defensive round.



NCsmitty

I would estimate the 110g Vmax would do as well from a .308/7.62 loaded up. I know they flat out blow up a coyote head at 250 yards Ruined that pelt.

+1. This would cause massive bleeding unlike a FMJ which would travel what?
7" or more before we got a good cavity develop?

Click to expand...

Depends on which FMJ, really. Esp in this particular cartridge. Some of the stuff is built like the original M43 cartridge, which can take 7 or more inches to tumble. But a lot of the stuff out there now days is designed similar to the Yugo M67 round, with an air pocket in the nose that makes the bullet more base heavy, and causes the round to tumble in about half the distance, about 3 to 4 inches in tissue simulate.

I've seen what one of the M67-style rounds does to a small doe from about 50 yards, and I'd say the internal bleeding it cause was "massive" enough.

This V-max load looks promising for HD--if anything I'd say it almost doesn't have enough penetration. I think I'll stick to my 124 gr Uly JHP.

I have no idea whether that bullet is a jhp, but such a bullet type stopped a large Texas feral pig, fired from an SKS.

The color photos of the swine's nasty wound were in a thread over a year ago, either on THR, Thefiringline or SKSboards.

In the flood of various Russian Tula calibers which are now found in Walmarts (in various shelf locations-staff are confused), is any of the 7.62x39 hollow point? It is in white boxes with black lettering. Other calibers are mostly black boxes.

Anyone try this load in a Mini 30?

The results are mixed, some Mini-30s won't cycle it. The speculation is that it's loaded too light or the powder burn rate is wrong. The Berdan primers seem soft enough for the Mini unlike some other steel cased ammo. My M-30 won't reliably fire WMC-HP, too bad.

Hornady just provides the bullets and farms out the production overseas. You wouldn't think that they would screw up a TAP loading. Here's Hornadys gel test of it. http://www.digitalmagazinetechnology.com/a/?KEY=hornady-10-products#page=13&zoom=0 Note that Hornady's ballistic chart states muzzle velocity at 2350 but the gel test says only 2218. Oops, maybe Hornady got screwed by the loader?

Here's a Youtube video of that bullet blowing up water jugs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGB5YB9f15Q The fourth jug is the Doubletap loading with the same Vmax bullet. http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=953454 At Doubletap's listed velocity of 2400 fps I'll bet that it will function fine from a Mini, softer boxer primers too.

I bought 500 of these bullets from Grafs. At the time the rumor was that they were discontinuing them so I stocked up.