Midway had Hornady 25 cal 75 gr Vmax's yesterday

[Slowpoke Slim]

Don't know if anyone else is as crazy as I am, but Midway had Hornady .257 cal 75 gr Vmax's in stock yesterday. First time I've seen them for sale in at least 2 years.

I bought 2 boxes in a heartbeat, even with their rather stinging shipping rate.

Hopefully can get back to load development on my little 256 Win mag now.

[Mjshell]

Thanks, I ordered 2 boxes for my 256 win

[Kylongrifle]

Strange how things are these days. My local Sporting goods store sees to have them on the shelf every time I go there. I had a good shooting 12 inch Bullberry barrel that loved them. Times got hard and I had to let it go but I was able to pick up one of the Van Horn clearance barrels and can't wait to get back to loading for the 256 win mag.

[BobT]

Wonder how my .25-20 would like them?

[Iowa Fox]

Slim, If you get a chance to try them in your barrel I hope you will share your results with us. About 20 years ago I ordered a !4" 256 barrel from the custom shop and a set of RCBS dies along with 200 pieces of brass. Yep! You guessed it. I got so busy with life I have never even pulled that nylon filament tape open on the box. I think Midway received a lot of new inventory on Thursday and Friday. I had had a SSK barrel on my wish list for months which I checked 3 or 4 times a day. Thursday I was up extra early and noticed the barrel came into stock on my notifications so I snagged one. 300 Blackie for the Encore should be here Monday or Tuesday.

[Slowpoke Slim]

Slim, If you get a chance to try them in your barrel I hope you will share your results with us. About 20 years ago I ordered a !4" 256 barrel from the custom shop and a set of RCBS dies along with 200 pieces of brass. Yep! You guessed it. I got so busy with life I have never even pulled that nylon filament tape open on the box. I think Midway received a lot of new inventory on Thursday and Friday. I had had a SSK barrel on my wish list for months which I checked 3 or 4 times a day. Thursday I was up extra early and noticed the barrel came into stock on my notifications so I snagged one. 300 Blackie for the Encore should be here Monday or Tuesday.

So far I've had pretty good results with IMR 4227 and these 75 gr Vmax bullets. I'm still not done working up the load, but in this picture:

10554

The bottom left group is 4 out of 5 shots into the same hole. Bottom right group was I think a half grain less. Have to get back into my notes again. I stopped development when I ran out of bullets. We're in the middle of a winter blizzard now (through Tuesday morning), so not sure when the weather will start cooperating and I can get back to the range.

I'll let you know.

[Iowa Fox]

Thanks Slim, Those are some nice groups.
That stinking winter storm is heading this way.

[Bobby Tomek]

Those are some great groups! Hopefully the weather turns milder soon so you get get some range time in.

[FyrepowrX]

Bob...I tried the V-Max in my SSK 25/20 carbine barrel, and they shot decently, and still expanded even at the mild speeds in that barrel.

The V-max has been my go-to bullet for the .256max barrel (also a carbine)...all my 25's are 1-10" twist, but when they kind of dried up for a while i switched to the 70gr Blitzking for a time, and it shot about as well, and maybe slightly better than the v-max in my 25/20, but now the blitzkings have also dried up...so back to the V-Max.

Have you tried the speer .257 TNT's ? been happy with those in several smaller .25's too.

[HotRodAl]

I've taken several deer with 75 V-maxes from my 10" 25/20. everyone where one shot kills the first one was right at 70-75 yards through the neck with a 1" exit and the deer dropped. Those V-maxes really open up even at 25-20 velocities they make a mess out of spine hits, broad side shots do a lot of internal damage when the heart is hit. All shots were taken at no more than 70-75 yards and as short as 35 yards. They also perform well in my 12" 256 Win mag.

[BT]

I would have never thought of a V-Max as a deer bullet but sure have heard of positive results the last couple years.

[Bobby Tomek]

I would have never thought of a V-Max as a deer bullet but sure have heard of positive results the last couple years.

At lower velocities, they often perform more like a big-game bullet. My son uses the 120 grain V-Max in a 14" 7mm TCU, and it expands and retains ample weight quite well out to 200 yards or so given a starting velocity of approximately 2350 fps. The 120 is one that has been tweaked by Hornady. Early on, it was actually brittle and would break up -- even at lower speeds of the TCU or Waters. When the SSP bullets were being discontinued, one Hornady tech tried to tell me that the V-Max and the tipped SSP were one and the same. I even posted pictures of both sectioned and recovered bullets on SP. They were definitely not one and the same. But within the next year or two, those 120 grain V-Max bullets no longer were as brittle and did not break apart on impact as did the early versions. That bodes well for users of the 7mm TCU, Waters, BR, etc.

[J A XSP]

I would have never thought of a V-Max as a deer bullet but sure have heard of positive results the last couple years.

The 270 caliber 110 grainer is a mainstay for the 6.8 SPC. I only have a sample size of 1 but a 200-yard heart-lung shot hit ribs entering and exiting and very handily took care of business along the way, leaving a substantial exit hole but not fragmenting and ruining meat. No bullet remains at all were recovered. I wouldn't hesitate to use that one for just about anything I'm likely to encounter. The 25 cal is very much of interest to me for my 25-45. :)

[BobT]

Bob...I tried the V-Max in my SSK 25/20 carbine barrel, and they shot decently, and still expanded even at the mild speeds in that barrel.

The V-max has been my go-to bullet for the .256max barrel (also a carbine)...all my 25's are 1-10" twist, but when they kind of dried up for a while i switched to the 70gr Blitzking for a time, and it shot about as well, and maybe slightly better than the v-max in my 25/20, but now the blitzkings have also dried up...so back to the V-Max.

Have you tried the speer .257 TNT's ? been happy with those in several smaller .25's too.

I have yet to try any of those 3 bullets. I still have a few of the Speer flat points left and they shoot pretty well for me. I will see what I can round up in the near future and try some new ones out since you guys convinced me to hang on to the .25/20 :rolleyes:

[BobT]

I would have never thought of a V-Max as a deer bullet but sure have heard of positive results the last couple years.

I have killed a few deer and hogs with the 110 V-Max in my .277 Wolverine Chris, performance has been excellent, no animal has yet taken a step after I pulled the trigger. I had a friend that swore by the little 35 grain V-Max as a sure fire deer killer in his .22 Hornet.

[Mjshell]

Wonder how the 95 grain Vmax would do in 6.5mm at handgun velocity

[J A XSP]

...I had a friend that swore by the little 35 grain V-Max as a sure fire deer killer in his .22 Hornet.

I never used the V-Max on deer but I took a good number of deer with a 22 Hornet Ruger 77-22H. Very effective on our relatively small deer here in Central Texas. I miss that rifle...it was one of the good ones. :)
I do remember loading the 50 gr V-Max in 223 for my 14" Contender. That load was scary accurate and I did take big South Texas doe with it.

[BobT]

Wonder how the 95 grain Vmax would do in 6.5mm at handgun velocity

I don't know why it wouldn't work, it may surprise you. As an aside, I was loading some 110 V-Maxes yesterday for my 6.8 SPC and decided I would see how close to 110 grains they actually weighed, from the same box I got bullets from 109.3 to 110.9 ! As well as they have worked for me, I may try sorting some and see what they do!

[Slowpoke Slim]

My local gun store had Nosler .257 cal 100 gr ballistic tips on the shelf the other day for the first time in years. The price was not bad, $25 and I bought a box. I only use them to load my daughter's 257 Roberts with and there are plenty loaded and ready. Just nice to have a spare box of component bullets sitting on the shelf at home again.

Maybe some of the bullet manufacturers are starting to get caught up again, and can get back to producing some of the "less popular" components again.

They had Rem 7 1/2 primers in stock, but the price was "only" down to $70/1000. I can wait some more at that rate.

[BT]

$25 is very fair for those bullets. Been seeing most NBTs higher than that.