Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Sierra 55 HPBT Replacement

I have a Remington VLS 22-250 with a 1:14 twist barrel. I am currently shooting 55gr Sierra HPBT and it shoot tremendous. The problem I am having is that the bullets are poking holes through the groundhogs and not coming apart and stopping them in thier tracks.

I am looking for suggestions on another bullet that is going to shoot just as good but will come apart on contact and leave no doubt if the hog is dead.

I just got a box of 50 gr Hornady vmax BT's to try, but have been reading that the 1:14 might not stabalize them. I really hate leaving the sierra's but I also want more explosion.

Try a 55 Sierra Blitzking

Back when I had a Rem 700 22-250 the Hornady 55 grain SX worked quite well over 34 grains of H4895.

My one in 14 twisted 22.250s will stabilize a lot of 22 caliber bullets...

ya might want to look at
1. Speer 52 HP
2. Speer 50 grain TNT
3. Speer 55 Grain TNT
4. Any V Max in 40, 50 and 55 grs
5. Any Nosler Varmaggeddon
6. Any Ballistic tip of 55 grains or less
7. Any Hornady bullet of 55 grains or less, minus the 53 V Max
, my 22.250s will also stablize the 60 grain SP from Hornady or the 60 gr HP from Sierra...

8. Any Sierra 22 cal bullet from 60 grains or less...

plenty of options out there...pick one..

Another vote for the SX. They will come apart on a weed. My cousin killed a ground hog with half a bullet with one of these. The ground hog was standing back in a weed patch and the bullet came unglued after hitting a weed stalk.

I evidently push those too hard out of my Ruger and Winchester 22.250s... those 55 SPSXs just turn into a vapor about 10 to 15 feet out of the muzzles of those two rifles...

called Hornady on that, and they were asking my MV...

they told me the bullet was designed for a max of about 180,000 rpms.. my load was pushing them to something like 270,000 rpms...

think they said the max velocity on them was about 3500 fps or so... which a 22.250 can easily exceed...

The best killing bullet i have ever used on Groundhogs in both the 22-250 and 220 Swift is the Hornady 53 gr Flat Base Match HP. They can't stand it. You have to use it to believe how it works. Plastic Tip Bullets done come close.

Any of the 52-53gr match bullets flat out kill Prairie dogs. Hornady, Sierra, NCC, it just doesn't matter. The all turn them into a mist and flip them 3 feet into the air.

What do you think we used for decades before they came out with these fancy plastic tipped bullets?

My 1x14 Swift shoots the 50 Vmax just fine-Muddy

50 grain BK if you must have a Boattail, 50 grain Blitz which I have pushed to Swift speeds or 55 SP varminter or 55 Blitz of which both have held up at Swift velocities.

Quite awhile ago I acquired a 500 count box of the Sierra 55 hpbt, so I called the fellows at Sierra to pick their brains about this bullet.
Much to my dismay the ballistition I talked to told me this is not the explosive bullet I was hoping for. In fact he said it was one of their tougher .22 cal bullets, even for 220 Swift velocities.

Right now I have 50 grain Blitzking and Vmaxs loaded for my .222,223, .22-250's and Swifts.. All are 1-14 the twist I prefer for my varmint shooting.. All of these rifles are very accurate with these bullets.. As they are with the old 52 gr. Speer hollow point.. But I have had trouble with the current batch and last batch of the Speers copper fouling my barrels.. Even at .223 speeds..
As for the 55 grain Sierra HPBT, have shot thousands of these bullets at p. dogs, gophers, coyotes, crows, and 'chucks.. Never had the problem you describe.. Not that it isn't happening.. I bought a thousand or so of these bullets maybe 10 years ago.. Just shot gophers with them in my .223, very accurate, and shredded the gophers.. Depending on the number you have, you might try another lot #..
We have also shot quite a bit of medium sized big game with this bullet out of the old .22-250.. Never had a failure..

Either a 40 or 50 grain Ballistic Tip will do the job. The 50 is usually very accurate.

Which means it might be a good deer and antelope bullet for the 22.250 or the Swift....

Skeeter41,

About 30 years ago I worked up a really accurate load of the 55 Sierra BTHP and H380. I used it for awhile with perfect success, then one day I shot a groundhog that was slowly walking across a field at about 275 yards. I hit him right through the chest. When I got to him, I saw in the dirt that he had crawled about three feet after taking such a good hit. Like your experience, that bullet would not always open on groundhogs. Switched to 55 Sierra Blitz at about 3600 fps. Just about as accurate, and sometimes no exit wound on large chucks, but inside chest cavity and internal organs are liquefied.