Varmint bullet for deer

[Timberline001]

I’ll know tomorrow if it is a match for my rifle.

Out of the bullets I cut open, the vmax is the thinnest jacketed one, lots of lead to fragment and cause havoc inside.

It definitely expands well. I was going to try 95 gr bergers but CJ assured me the 87s were everything and more and now was he right! I also found out the guys that cull in Africa are crazy about the 87s. They shoot hundreds of deer sized and larger animals with them.

 

[Taudisio]

It definitely expands well. I was going to try 95 gr bergers but CJ assured me the 87s were everything and more and now was he right! I also found out the guys that cull in Africa are crazy about the 87s. They shoot hundreds of deer sized and larger animals with them.

I would imagine so! If I get the accuracy I want, my next step is water jugs just to quiet my own concerns. I know the 77gr tmk stops in the second gallon jug from a 16” 5.56 at 100 yards. If the 87gr makes it into at least the 3rd jug, and shoots sub moa, I’ll be over the moon excited to shoot a deer with them.

Also for anyone interested, I measured (only 1 sample from each box) the OAL, base to ogive, and ogive to tip. Maybe someone else will find some useful info from it for their own future endeavors.

 

[Rich M]

People do some weird chit sometimes.

Try factory loaded core locts for the critter. Or you can load up some fast fragmenting bullets and expect it to penetrate like a nosler partition.

 

[Timberline001]

People do some weird chit sometimes.

Try factory loaded core locts for the critter. Or you can load up some fast fragmenting bullets and expect it to penetrate like a nosler partition.

First of all factory 6x45 loads don’t exist. Second of all if they did exist a core lokt doesn’t have the ballistic property’s to allow the velocity needed to expand at 500 yards which is the max range the OP was asking about. The 87 gr VMAX has proven itself up to this task on hundreds of game animals with lots of data to back it. Why even respond and make a snarky comment when you have no experience with the particular bullet and round being discussed?

 

[Taudisio]

People do some weird chit sometimes.

Try factory loaded core locts for the critter. Or you can load up some fast fragmenting bullets and expect it to penetrate like a nosler partition.

Thank you for contributing, when I go across the states and hunt near Orlando, I’ll be sure to bring some factory 6x45 Remington corelokts.

 

[mike257]

Have 6 mm TCU contender carbine that gets carried more than any gun I own, it rides in the truck , it rides in the tractor , it pretty much goes where I go on the farm. I have a pretty good supply of the now discontinued Hornady 75 gr hollow points that I push about 2750 out af a 24in barrel. Kills everything it's pointed at, but definitely have to be picky with shots on anything bigger than a coyote. Wouldn't take a shot on a deer past 200 yards, of the dozen or so I've killed with it all have been perfect double lung shots, and all have ran off a short ways. Lungs look like jelly, jacket stays in offside hide, core leaves thumb size exit wound. Great combo for what I use it for but wouldn't consider it as a serious hunting rifle.

 

[Jtb.kfd]

I’m positive this has been discussed over various threads, but I want opinions on my setup. I have a 16” 6x45 and I may be over thinking this, but the bullet weight range I have chosen, gives me a lot of “varmint” bullets with 3 “big game” bullets that I haven’t found an accurate load for. Of course, the first varmint load I tried, shot half the moa (twice as well) I was able to get from the big game bullets. I just want to hear about experiences from people shooting deer with varmint bullets. I would also like everyone’s opinion on;

Shooting a 6mm, 87gr vmax at 2650mv, or 80gr ballistic tip (varmint) around the same velocity, would you use this on deer out to 400-500 yards? Would you only take a broadside/ribs shot? Trust the bullet to make it through the front shoulder into the vitals? Take a quartering away shot? Trust it to kill a 200”+ mule deer if he walked out?

I know deer aren’t bullet proof. I have a lot more testing to do, but you never know when the once in a lifetime deer could come walking around the corner while I’m out looking for any legal meat buck, and I don’t want to have any doubts. I am fortunate to have many options in rifles/calibers, but this rifle is by far my favorite one to carry. I should have 3 deer tags this year, one being a doe tag. My thinking revolves around these bullets are (probably) rated as varmint bullets for 243 velocities, I’m about 600-800fps slower at the muzzle, making me think they won’t be as explosive and penetrate deeper.

Just for reference, a coworker shot a whitetail last year at 330yds with a 55gr VMax out of a 22-250. Not something I would have chosen but the deer went 30yds and was done. No exit but massive internal damage from a broadside rib shot.
My son shot a muley this year at 485yds with a 6mm Creedmor and a 103gr Hornady ELDX. Broadside shot and was a complete pass through with a 2 -1/2” wound channel/exit hole.
Not exactly what you were asking but may be of interest.

 

[Taudisio]

Just for reference, a coworker shot a whitetail last year at 330yds with a 55gr VMax out of a 22-250. Not something I would have chosen but the deer went 30yds and was done. No exit but massive internal damage from a broadside rib shot.
My son shot a muley this year at 485yds with a 6mm Creedmor and a 103gr Hornady ELDX. Broadside shot and was a complete pass through with a 2 -1/2” wound channel/exit hole.
Not exactly what you were asking but may be of interest.

I got to put the 6x45 and the 87gr vmax to work a few weeks ago. I’m working on finding my second sample to try it on. Shot him at about 80 yards in the back of the neck. Bullet shattered the spine and exited the throat with a hole a little bigger than a golf ball. I skinned the neck and this was the damage. The full pass through, with broken spine, gives me full confidence my setup will work on any deer.

 

[OKHunter84]

My son shot his first deer with my 300blk loaded with 110gr Vmax. It's a 9" barrel SBR we were shooting suppressed. I wasn't too impressed with the terminal performance of that bullet. The deer did die but it ran a good ways. Shot was around 30yds and it had a case full of Lil' Gun.

I had a similar experience on a hog with the same caliber and bullet. I wouldn't recommend VMax for big game hunting.

 

[SloppyJ]

I had a similar experience on a hog with the same caliber and bullet. I wouldn't recommend VMax for big game hunting.

I saw enough to not try it again to make sure it wasn't a fluke. I appreciate the confirmation.