I searched and saw someone else asked about these, but no one answered. Now that they have been around a while longer, maybe others have some experience with them. I loaded some up for my .223 and .22-250. I used the same load in the .223 as I do for the 40 gr V-Max or Ballistic Tip = 24.5 gr of H-322. In the .22-250, the load was a mid-level one with TAC. It ought to do about 3700 fps or so, but I will chrono it to be sure. I will try them on prairie dogs in AZ later this month.

Anyone used these yet? What load worked well? How did they work on prairie dogs or ground squirrels? A friend who owns a machine shop cut one in half, and they sure look like they would be pretty explosive.

I can get 3500 fps in my Rem.700 222 Rem., with a 20" barrel. I've shot a couple coyotes with them. You just cannot hit them in the shoulder bone, or you won't get much penteration. And in 2' of snow it no fun chasing a 3 legged coyote in a swamp all day. In the ribs they fall dead or do a little spinning. We have red squirrels, that are smaller than a prairie dog and it blow them to pieces.

they do not fit in the ruger mag for a hornet but the should get the 3700 you are thinking

Some of the hotter loads for the 36 gr Varmint Grenade or the 40 gr lead core bullets get at or over 4000 FPS in the .22-250, but I don't feel the need for that much speed. I figure about 3300-3400 from my 20-inch Savage .223.

I have some loaded up to test. I have been using 35 grain Vmaxs over 12 grains of Blue Dot and they vaporize red squirrels and chipmunks nicely. The Blue Dot is getting me 3200 give or take a little in a Varmint Special 700 .223. Because the Noslers are 32 grainers they might make a little more. Both the Vmaxs and Varmint Grenades shoot to about an inch in the gun with the BD. I have not seen near the splatter factor out of the VGs that the Vmaxs produce. My guess is that the VGs need a little more speed and a little more resistant target. I got satisfactory results out of a .243 on red squirrels with the VGs

Switched to the nosler 40gr (lead free)and like them. Tryed both 35 and 40, could not tell much difference. Good accuracy to 400yds. Much better than the Barnes vg. Used w748 in both 223 and 22-250. Almost as good as lead, but those days are gone and this is working for me. They seemed to like going fast, 3500 in the 223 and almost 4000 in the 22-250. This season I will play with the loads a little more. If your going out of So. Cal. you can shoot lead, I would. Good luck, Bill.

I'm going to AZ, so most of the ammo I'm taking is with lead-core bullets. But I want to try the lead-free stuff out for when I am shooting ground squirrels in CA.

I live and hunt behind the lead curtain as well. I'm working up a couple loads for my .221Fb and .223AI. I was disappointed with the VG's in accuracy, BC and explosiveness. Hoping that that Nosler or Hornady will deliver a winning substitute.

Billfish: Curious where you hit max pressure. I was basically loading the 36g VG using 40g lead data.

I have used the 35-grain lead-free Nosler Ballistic Tip in the .223 and .22-250 considerably. It is normally very accurate, easy to get to shoot, and highly explosive.

One of my pets is the 35 VM for gophers over Blue Dot. I would presume that a more-streamlined Nosler (I take it it is about the same physical dimensions as a 50) would have a skosh mo-bettah BC, but not be a VLD by any means.