50 gr V-max long range

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VrockTDSaz

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I'm having a problem with my 50gr v-max at anything over 250 yards in .223. I'm loading it over 26gr of Varget. Seems the wind plays havoc with that light bullet. Anyone have any long range experience with these lighter bullets? I was using a 1/8 twist, 18", stainless free float barrel.
 
I shoot a lot of .223 50g V-max but not at anything over 200 yds. My gun club has berms at 100, 200, 300, 600, and 1,000 yards. At 200 yds my Remington 700, .223 heavy 26" barrel with a 1:12 twist, will shoot 50gr V-max at 1/2 - 3/4 MOA all day long. At 300 yds the groups will be 1.5 - 3 MOA all day long and nothing I have ever found will improve that. I've tried 40gr and 55gr V-Max with the same results. Beyond 200 yards a heavier bullet seems to be the only answer.

With a 1:7 twist 20" (cheap AR -Free float) CM barrel I can shoot 1.0 MOA with 69 - 75gr bullets at 300 yds. (almost) all day long.
 
Interestingly the 53 grain Vmax is an entirely different beast. It'll beat or match any other bullet out to 500 meters. After that the heavier bullets win out. But for anything in the 50-62 grain range, that bullet is one to use.
 
I have shot a gang of 50 and 55 Vmax's out of my pdog guns. Most will shoot between 2 and 3 inches at 400. Well, first thing in the morning until the wind comes up anyway. I have heard the 53's are much better but I bought a huge quantity and haven't tried the 53's yet. They are kinda like Thunderbird wine, cheap but get the job done.
 
Very interesting. I don't shoot at much over 100 yds but agree that the little bullets will tend to blow around a bit if the wind is active. I shoot mostly 50 to 55 gr. pills. Would like to get into a p dog fight at 200 or so but we don't have p dogs.

Lafitte
 
So, I just ordered a bunch of the Hornady 75gr BTHP, they were practically the same price as the 53 grain V-Max. So, I'll give them a try over some Reloader15 & Varget.
 
Interestingly the 53 grain Vmax is an entirely different beast. It'll beat or match any other bullet out to 500 meters. After that the heavier bullets win out. But for anything in the 50-62 grain range, that bullet is one to use.
Click to expand...

Yes, the 53 gr V-Max is different than the other .224 V-Max bullets. It has a longer boat tail and a secant ogive which does make it somewhat sensitive to seating depth. I haven't shot it beyond 200 yrds, so I don't know about longer ranges, but I can get MOA accuracy at 200 yrds with my handloads. Factory loads have been a different story, however. I bought a box of Hornady Superformance w/ the same 53 gr V-Max bullets just for comparison, and they shot groups from 1.5 to about 2 inches at 50 yrds out of the same rifle. So some of those wouldn't have even been on paper at 200 yrds. (The factory loads were .045" further from the lands than my handloads.)
 
I've had my best luck with light bullets using fast powder. The idea is to reduce muzzle upset as much as possible when that projectile leaves that barrel. Try using the fastest powder you can get away with.
 
Light bullets at long range is always a challenge.

I don't shoot the 50 gr in .223 but I do shoot a lot of 55 gr. It's tough to hit much past 400 yards or so.

Past 300 yards I lean towards heavy bullets like the 77 gr Nosler CCs. They don't expand like a varmint bullet, but they are effective. Have scored pdogs past 500 with them.

My longest hit on a pdog have been with 55 gr Nosler BTVs in .243 Win. at 606 yards. The wind was brutal.

I have used the .243 with the .55 gr to shoot 9"x16" steel targets at 800 yds. Again, the wind is brutal at that distance.
 
I'm going to try the Hornady 75gr BTHP. I have Reloader15 and Varget and some pull down wc844. I'm going to load some up of each and let you know how they group.
 
26gr of Varget is .5 under minimum. Mind you, that has nothing to do with the wee thing getting blown around. Little bullets just get pushed around. Your rifling will let you use one of the big bruiser from Hornady(A-Max) or Sierra(Match kings). 75's or 80's.
 
Mind you, that has nothing to do with the wee thing getting blown around. Little bullets just get pushed around.
Click to expand...

Generally true, but again if you plot ballistics you'll find that the 53 VMax holds it's own really well. Wind is a function of time of flight as much as anything so a faster bullet spends less time getting blown around.

My current load gives me a MV of 3180 and if I used a powder more suitable to a light bullet, I could get more velocity.

In any case at 500 yard the drop is 46.7" and a 10mp full value wind has a correction of 29.1", at 600 yards the drop is 81.1 with windage of 44.8.

Compared to Federal GMM with the 77 SMK with a published velocity of 2750 gives you a drop of 59.6" and windage of 27.3" again at 500 yards. At 600 this load drops 100.4" with wind of 41.7.

When you factor in the terminal effect of a Vmax bullet vs. an open tip bullet, I'll take the Vmax any time.
 
How do the 52 Gr A-Max bullets fair in all this, especially compared to the 53 Gr V-Max?

I have shot a bunch of the 50 & 55 Gr V-Max, but none of the 53 and bought 100 52 Gr A-Max to try some time back. Haven't really done much with them. Loaded 25 and the first test showed promise. I guess I need to try some 53 Gr V-Max. Price is creeping up on the V-Max line though.
 
I've had trouble with Amax bullets. In my limited testing in both .223 and .308, other bullets beat them, a similar weight Match King has always performed better so I stopped using them. No help here.

I found 53 VMax on sale over the summer, down to $13 or 14/100 so I got a lot of them. But they certainly have been going up in price. $19+ per 100 makes them much less attractive.

My range limits me to 600 yards and it made no sense to pay a premium for the 77 SMK when I would never ulitilize it's advantages. But if the 53 Vmax becomes the same price as a Match King, then the argument supporting the VMax weakens a lot, except for terminal ballistics and that they've always been easy to find in stock even at my local shops.
 
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