V Max for Deer

devilishdave

Well-Known Member
I have just found a box of 100 .243 87 grain VMax with my reloading gear. I dont even remember buying them or what I bought them for. Has any one used this round on deer and if so what were your thoughts of it? It is roe I am thinking about using them on.

Dave
 
Yes they will explode, and will make a terrible mess of the carcass. Seen it happen, snot everywhere
Its a fox round, and as Geoshot said, are designed to explode on impact
 
I use them all the time on Roe, Superb!! put it this way they very rarely run! Never noticed any difference on carcass damage etc.
 
V Max

I have also shot quite a few Roe with these. Never had the terrible mess i read about. In the boiler house i usualy find lots of energy dumped on the internal organs and they drop like a stone. Used for head or neck shots i find them really efficient.

Have also seen Standard soft points hit bone and make a mess.

Its a debate that has been done many times and with the same sort of yes and no we are seeing on this thread.
 
They are excellent, you wont get any runners, just be carefull when you put one in the boiler house, will make a mess of the shoulder(s) if you get it wrong.

Dare I even mention it but also highly effective for head and neck shots.

I agree entirely with Rednecks sentiments. I find them extemly accurate, more accurate than the operator which is good for confidence.

There might be considerable incoming from the site re their use, however I think it is a case of matching the bullet to the load and rifle slower rather than faster may be a case in point.

In 10yrs of using them in both .223 and laterly .243 have never seen these so called horrendous surface wounds that people seem to trot off all the time.

Noslers (moly coated) out of a 6mm BR are absolutely deadly, and if you have an accurate rifle with a steady position are absolutely clinical.

Will now retreat to Box Hill bunker.

D
 
Brilliant on deer used lighter vmax as well on every thing from CWD to Fallow with chest shots they dump all their energy where needed with minimum meat damage with well placed shots
 
I can never understand why people insist on using a round designated for varmints, on deer. If your only ever going to head or neck shoot them then fine (if its even possible to shoot EVERY deer that way), but why run the risk of injuring a deer with a flesh wound going for a boiler room shot with these rounds ? Hit the shoulder and there's a decent chance its going no further than that.

To my mind if your going to shoot deer and want to shoot varmints as well - have a soft point round for the deer and load the varmint round to shoot to a similar or same POA. Don't get me wrong I've shot deer with Vmax but only head or neck shots. And I'm pretty certain most stalking guides will insist on none varmint type rounds to go stalking with them ?

Just gonna pop my head below the parapit now !

Regards

Tom
 
Ok rather than argue about peoples personal feelings has anyone come across a 70gr 6mm bullet that has been built for larger animals
 
To put the devil's cap on. Forget the designated use printed on the bullet box for a minute - and just suppose - - - - - - . Most bullets have a 'window of expansion'. In other words, they need to be propelled at a certain speed in order to reach the impact velocity which will begin to make them work.
Many who load these bullets will be vermin hunters who also like to send their bullets away at the speed of light in order to obtain flat shooting for distant foxes.

In some instances, the faster these bullets are propelled above the speed at which the 'window of expansion' begins, the more expansion will be obtained until they will simply explode on impact.

Beyond this point, they will either lose their expansion and are going so fast that they will project straight through, or will simply powder and blow the hair and some skin away, leaving terrible bruising and flayed ribs.

There are perhaps several reasons why some people do not experience the blow-up problems, but the main one, I suspect, is that they are content to propel the bullet at velocities nearer the bottom of the 'window of expansion'.

I believe that it boils down to a mix of lowering the velocity, thus getting the bullet to work less explosively, and good accuracyin hitting no heavy bone - unless the neck vertebrae or the skull behind the ear is involved.

OK There will be commments on all of this - I'm sure - but without counting - there appears to be at least fifty percent of incoming messages which support the use of V MAX as an acceptable bullet on deer.
Something is happening here and in the interests of explanation it deserves discussion.
 
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According to Hornady in my recent conversational emails with them, A-max are designed for target and thin skinned game like small deer species. V-max are designed by Hornady as a varmint round. The rest is up to your conscience.

Simon
 
To be honest, if you like blowing fist size holes in your deer, then its the bullet to use.
Me personally like to eat mine so like a small neat hole!!
 
According to Hornady in my recent conversational emails with them, A-max are designed for target and thin skinned game like small deer species. V-max are designed by Hornady as a varmint round. The rest is up to your conscience.

Simon

correct Simon :thumb:
 
Well - - that attempt at instigating a discussion on pros & cons failed, so I'll throw away the devil's cap and tell you my story.

One evening before dark I was doing a tour before returning home when I saw a marauding hind leap out of a garden and take to the hill.
She had been evading us for some time and had caused quite a lot of garden damage - with threats of the Deer Commission popping out of some households - whilst in the usual way, others who didn't have gardens quite liked their big bambi hanging around.

Anyway, I got to the nearest knoll above the road with the .270 and madam had made the mistake of stopping broadside for a look so I slapped one in her engine room - or so I thought.

An hour later and with considerable high-speed stalking I put the hind down with another bullet, and having concluded that episode, finaly got the hind - after a long drag - and myself home. The first bullet had indeed shattered and flasyed her ribs for some six inches. Poor beast.

I found that the first cartridge had, by the felt tip mark on the base, been loaded up with a soft nosed, lead tipped bullet, designed for varmint shooting by Speer. The cartridge had been carelessly allowed - somehow - to mix with my deer cartridges - and the hind and I both paid the price.

I made darned sure that in future no such mix-ups took place.
I'm not standing in judgement - but there's plenty deer bullets out there, and that's what I'll use.

Best regards - - Ken.
 
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