52 gr smk for groundhog

[DennisH87]

this topic has probably been beat do death but has anyone had expierence using smk for shooting ground hogs. they shoot .2 moa out of my .22-250 and after rebarreling i want to shoot them out of my .223.

[Quickshot]

DennisH87, I have had the same results in .223, however, would not recommend using them on Groundhogs if you have any concern about ricochette. The 50gr. Blitzking has been just as good for me and expands better, but fear of ricochette has me now testing the newer Barnes Varmint Grenades. So far have been satisfied with the accuracy of the 36gr and the 50gr in .223 Mod.12. Quick

[DennisH87]

i am worried about ricochets but i make sure to use a large woods or ditch bank for a backstop. if there is not backstop i'll still take the shot if there's not a house within a mile unless the ground's right between a house and me. besides even if it does bounce it's not going to go a mile. it will be tumbling and loosing velocity rapidly. they're not like fmj's in that repect. i'm more intersted in terminal preformance. some ppl say they pencil through and others say dramatic expansion/exit wound. the later is what i want. i can't get 40 gr vmax's to exit at .22-250 velocities. i'm basically going for max accuracy with devistating terminal result. these bullets (smk) are more accurate than any other bullet i've loaded and i want to take shots out to 6-700 yards. the 40 vmax's shoot extremely well too but i would like to try a new bullet for ground hogs.

[EFBell]

Shot quite a few groundhogs with Hornady 52 grain BTHP match bullets out of my 22-250's. Made a mess out of them. On chest shots punched a fist size hole in them so I'm going to say they expanded pretty well. Probably blew up to be more like it. On head shots they would take the head off most of the time. I would guess the SMK's might act similarly.

[DennisH87]

haha YES thats exactly what i'm looking for. i might have to try out some hornady bullets as well

[kkeene]

My experience with the 52 gr Sierra HPBT matchking is on smaller critters such as prairie dogs. They were excellent performers out of my 223 bolt gun at 3,350 fps with very reliable expansion. Up close they were not as "splat-tacular" as a 50 gr V-max, but past 200 yards they actually seamed more effective (very few crawl offs) which really surprised me.

[pa hog]

I always liked the 53gr Hornady MHP for groundhogs out of the .22-250's they always did bad things to critters. I shot 52grSMK out of my 223AI and they shot well and killed good, but not like the 22-250

[DennisH87]

ya, I really love my .22-250 but the barrels starting to get shot out. It has about 2000 rounds through it and the groups were opening up. I saw on Midwayusa.com that they had Adams and Bennet barrels for $135 so I figured what the heck I'll switch to a .223. Thats the caliber I wanted to begin with and its not so dang loud. When I would shoot a ground hog neighbors would come outside and look to see what that loud a$$ noise was. It's all cool because they know me but still. I didn't want it to make such a scene.

I loaded 40 gr, 55 gr and 60 gr Vmax bullets and they expanded so much none of them would exit. Which is good, but I want to see some carnage. ;D But anyway, the SMK is just so dang accurate I have to at least give it a try. I would have by now loaded some up but I'm still waiting on my dies from midway.

This is off topic but I'm sure you guys can give me a quick answer. Can I use H380 with heavier weight bullets such as the 60gr V-max in my .223? My barrel is a 1:14 which I'm not to happy about but for the price it's alright with me. I've got about 3 lbs of H380 for my 250 and would like to use it up if it preforms well. I plan to switch back to the .22-250 around coyote season but that's not for a while.

[MARK25-06]

the barrels from midway are 1 in 14 .get one from jim at nss 205.00 1in 9 stainless fluted. 26" mark25-06

[DennisH87]

the barrels from midway are 1 in 14 .get one from jim at nss 205.00 1in 9 stainless fluted. 26" mark25-06

I've allready bought the barrel and its on the gun. I don't want to spend $205. Thats why I bought the A&B

[rjtfroggy]

I know I'm going to catch it for this butttt Sierra does not recommend their Match Kings for hunting applications.

[pa hog]

I'm sure Savage don't RECOMMEND Swapping Barrel's and Trigger's Either.

[EFBell]

Blowing up varmints is a lot different than blowing up a deers shoulder.

[pa hog]

+1 Ain't hunting it's killin, bet PITA love's us

[DennisH87]

;D lol
+1 Ain't hunting it's killin, bet PITA love's us that one made me chuckle. Does anyone have a pic of what a smk does to a ground hog? I'm just itching to get reloading but I can't because my freekin dies aren't here yet.

[pa hog]

Here's what a 53gr Hornady MHP out of a 22-250 Does at 180yds

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f59/pahog/050402061334.jpg

[DennisH87]

wow! thats pretty devastating. hopefully the SMK will act the same.

[borg]

+1 Ain't hunting it's killin, bet PITA love's us

Let's not say the P word.