Coyotehunter.net

Hey fellas,

I have had very good luck out of my 22-250 using a 50gr Vmax on top of 35.5 grains of H4895. Tried both Nosler and Winchester(Nosler cases seemed more accurate) cases and CCI Benchrest large rifle primers. Also tried Winchester lg rifle primers and had good luck with those also.

I shoot this out of a 20in barrel Browning Abolt Micro hunter so I only get about 3650 fps but accuracy has been great and very minimal hide damage with only one .22 cal hole going in and no exit. Looks like they ate a live hand grenade when you get the hide off tho.

Something to try. Good luck

Jaybic

well today was the clincher, i will not shoot grenades at coyotes. got 2 today, 1 at 150 yards 1 at 275. both solid chest hits. knocked em down but had to finish them with ballistic tips. tbush was right in saying these are p-dog bullets. whats gonna happen if the ammo industry goes green. as grenades are copper shell with compressed dust of some sort.

Thanks for the update.
I knew I wasn't the only one that felt that they are inferior for coyotes.
It's nice to know that other people are willing to try them so I don't look stupid saying they suck on coyotes, and have people believe me.

xdeano

I use Barnes Varmint Grenades in my .243. I load them to about 3400 ps. Fur damage is no more than alot of other bullets, it depends on placement. On paper it shoots less than 1" at 100 yds. My longest hit has been 180 yds, shortest 20 yds. I do not tend to make too long of shots, and I blame my misses on my ability and not the gun or loads that I use. I took a whitetail this year with an 85 gr TSX in my .243 this year. The bullet went clear thru and totally destroyed the heart and lungs. I also load the TSX in my '06 and 6.8 SPC

I loaded 300 of the 26gr Varmint Grenades for my .204 Ruger last spring because I was having trouble getting my hands on the components to load my else at the time. Big mistake. They chrono at 4050fps in my loading, and I'm getting decent groupings (about 1" @ 100yds), but the terminal performance has been less than advertised. I've shot anything from prairie dogs to red fox with them, and haven't had anything "explode", even prairie dogs at 50 yds. The performance I experienced on fox have been large exit holes instead of the "internal damage with little or no exit wound" that they advertise.
Other Barnes products work well for me, just not the Varmint Grenades. I dropped a cow elk in it's tracks with a 160gr TSX out my 7mm mag last fall. That's all I load for that caliber now.

i just recieved some 36gn vg's. i am gonna use varget and shoot savage 22-250 1:12. what grains of powder should i use to start. i havent found any info on varget and that bullet. any dirction would help thanks

brock wrote:i just recieved some 36gn vg's. i am gonna use varget and shoot savage 22-250 1:12. what grains of powder should i use to start. i havent found any info on varget and that bullet. any dirction would help thanks

The max load recommended by hodgon is 36 grains of varget powder. I personally am shooting 37.5 grains right now, but would not recomend it for the bullet your shooting. When i start a load with varget for my .22-250 I start at 33 grains of powder and work up in .5 grain increments. You need to really watch your cases for any sign of your load getting too hot!! You might find that your gun doesn't like varget and will have to move onto another powder. If you are using these bullets for coyotes, i recommend not to. You will have a lot of run off's that will have a bloody sore shoulder and thats it. You need to be really careful with thin jacketed bullets because the bullet can defragement while in flight if shot at too high of a velocity

brock wrote:i just recieved some 36gn vg's. i am gonna use varget and shoot savage 22-250 1:12. what grains of powder should i use to start. i havent found any info on varget and that bullet. any dirction would help thanks

Brock, my manual shows a max of 41 grains of varget. 1-12 should shoot them good. velocity should be 4100-4300. i have personally shot lots of these bullets and although they are accurate, i find them to be the worst coyote bullet i've ever shot. they don't penetrate!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no matter what speed you push them

thanks for the info. that should get me a good start. i did forget to ask about the c.o.a.l. and not just in the vg's, in general. how do you experiment with bullet length? do you start with factory and work in .005 increments or .010? i loaded my 40gn v-maxes to 2.4 and had good luck. i started at 2.420 by accident because we didnt have a caliper at the time and set the die up with a factory load. anyway i would like to hear some of your thoughts on that. thanks

barnes recommeneds that thier bullets have a bit of "jump" before engaging the lands.

If you want the best possible accuracy when measuring C.O.A.L., get a bullet comparator gauge. It measures overall length at the ogive of the bullet instead of the tip because the tip can vary by a couple thousandths of an inch between bullets. It will enable you to measure the cartridge length required with your particular bullet for the bullet to touch the lands. Once you know the overall length at which the bullet touches the lands you can back it off a little at a time until you find an overall length that gives the best accuracy with you rifle.

204sniper wrote:If you want the best possible accuracy when measuring C.O.A.L., get a bullet comparator gauge. It measures overall length at the ogive of the bullet instead of the tip because the tip can vary by a couple thousandths of an inch between bullets. It will enable you to measure the cartridge length required with your particular bullet for the bullet to touch the lands. Once you know the overall length at which the bullet touches the lands you can back it off a little at a time until you find an overall length that gives the best accuracy with you rifle.

i dont have that tool but seen them before in a magazine or ?. i did try to find out how far i could extend a bullet before it touched the rifleing but with the savage model i have; and heard all savages are like this, have more heade or space between bullet and rilfleing. i done this test with a 40gn v-max and it never touched the rifleing. i think the farthest i could extend the bullet was 2.67 or close to it. i wouldnt feel safe going over what i've heard thus far which is 2.45. just started loading and try to research carefully before i make any decisions

bucksnbears wrote:

brock wrote:i just recieved some 36gn vg's. i am gonna use varget and shoot savage 22-250 1:12. what grains of powder should i use to start. i havent found any info on varget and that bullet. any dirction would help thanks

Brock, my manual shows a max of 41 grains of varget. 1-12 should shoot them good. velocity should be 4100-4300. i have personally shot lots of these bullets and although they are accurate, i find them to be the worst coyote bullet i've ever shot. they don't penetrate!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no matter what speed you push them

You better check the bottle from Hodgdon before you just pile into 41 grains of varget. I am pretty sure the bottle says max load is 36 grains. Bucks could be right with the size of the bullet you want to shoot, but i would recommend looking at the bottle before you just jump into it. I shoot a 55 grain bullet and at 37.5 grains of varget i am just starting to show some pressure signs!!