Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints I Love A 40 Grain BT

I realize that some shooters like to shoot heavy bullets in their 223's and 22-250's, but for my use, I prefer those light weight bullets pushed as fast as I can. Every 22-250 I've ever owned has shot these 40 grain BT's very accurately, and my current one, a Remington Model 7 Predator is no different. It loves this load, which is 39.5 Varget and in this case, a Nosler BT. In other rifles, the 40 grain VMax has been just as accurate, and shot to same POI as did the Nosler.

I don't save fur, but this is the most fur friendly load I've ever used. Shot on this coyote was at 200 yards, and I couldn't even find an entry hole, let alone an exit one.

My favorite varmint bullet, my experience using them on coyotes has been exactly as shown in your post. But they also do a great job of exploding ground squirrels and PD's.

drover

Shoot a crow with one from a Swift, when you walk over all you'll find is a beek and some feet.

Used a 40 grain Nosler Varmageddon on this coyote at about 65 yards from my .22/6mm 2-3 years ago.

The Varmageddon is a completely different bullet than the Ballistic Tip. Thinner jacket, not a heavy copper solid base and a bigger cavity under the tip, a much more explosive bullet than the BT. Quite often when you hit the edges you'll get blow outs like that. I shoot the 40gr NBT out of my 22-204 at near 4000 fps and it has been a solid performer pelt hunting coyotes. They are pretty accurate also, I shoot them out of my varmint/target 222 Rem rifle also.

That would have been a very nice pelt.

I use the 40g NBT in a .223 Rem 700 Varmint rig and love the accuracy with them and do also push them out fast at 3900fps. The same load in my AR leaves the barrel at 3600fps.

That 40g NBT is a super hunting bullet with that thick base and noting that Nosler rates the velocity on this bullet as unlimited is a thought provoker. I love the accuracy I get in both shooters as this NBT replace the Sierra 53g HPBT for my reloading and that Sierra used to be considered an accurate bullet.

I use the 40g NBT in a .223 Rem 700 Varmint rig and love the accuracy with them and do also push them out fast at 3900fps. The same load in my AR leaves the barrel at 3600fps.

That 40g NBT is a super hunting bullet with that thick base and noting that Nosler rates the velocity on this bullet as unlimited is a thought provoker. I love the accuracy I get in both shooters as this NBT replace the Sierra 53g HPBT for my reloading and that Sierra used to be considered an accurate bullet.




(JOKE) Did you have to track him very far ??? (JOKE)

RedHill...

Erich and RedHill,that little 40 grain Varmageddon is scottin' along at 4400 fps from a 26" barrel.

The coyote in the above pic was looking at me when I killed it. Was kind of surprised when I seen the damage.

Killed this coyote at 30 yards (IIRC) using a 55 grain NBT at 4000 fps. It was hit in the shoulder as you can see in the picture.

Entrance...


Opposite side.

I shoot the 40BT's in my 22-250 and my 223 AI - a result of having standard 12 twist Remington barrels and some experimenting when reloading. Both of these is over 4000 fps and the accuracy is superb in both my rifles. I've had just about the same results as shown here on dogs with them, but crows and squirrels is another world altogether. Usually, there are just bits and pieces left with the crows and squirrels and the cloud of crow feathers usually doesn't clear for 5 minutes it seems like.... Think I'm going to go out next week and try a few more of them out on some coyotes and crows...

I shoot 40gr NBTs over 41gr of H380 for 4012 fps in my Remington 700 in 22-250. Best group I ever shot was 5 holes covered with a dime.

Had a cow down calving not one hour ago, calf was still sacked and lying on the grass, saw better than a dozen buzzards hopping all around the baby and mother, I hollered and clapped my hands so hard together they were on fire, creeks up so I couldn't drive over to run them off, didn't have that kind of time to spare anyway, have had the eyes plucked out of live baby calves by buzzards, threw my bow field tip target across the bbq grill and sent one to that big gut pile in the sky at 236 yards with a 55gr ballistic tip leaving my 22-250 at 3800 fps.

They got the message and faded outta sight at what must have been two miles through my bino flying east along the mountainside, good, and don't come back, I have a lot more mamas that'll be dropping babies over the next month or so.

Try Varget in your 22-250's. Very fast and very accurate in my rifles...

10-4, CFE-223 is no slouch either.

I have killed a LOT of coyotes.

the thrill of shooting a fast bullet fades fast as yardage approaches 250-300 and beyond. These light bullets bleed off velocity very, very fast. A hit behind the diaphragm, you will never find the coyote.

For example, At 275 yards, MV of 3850 fps, a p. dog will just fall over.

So, I make mine 55g Nosler ballistic tips, great penetration on coming and going shots, break shoulders and hips, keep on penetrating.

You will loose coyotes with the 40's, but the Nosler is the best of them all.

I use the 40 gr Nosler BTs in my 223, over a hot load of H335. It drops coyotes like a rock. In the 220 I still use the 55 gr BTs.

The first coyote I shot with the 223 and that little bullet went down so fast that I thought I had missed. Same with most of them. My thinking is that all the energy must be transferred to the coyote at impact, and not to trees on the other side of the coyote.

Schit's gettin' pretty deep, pretty quick on here.

I've always found the 40's to be pretty fragile, but never worried about them taking down a coyote or anything smaller out to fairly extended ranges. Not buying the argument that they lose so much energy at 400 yards they won't take down a coyote cleanly. I've done it enough to know that's nonsense.

Now, I've shot rock chucks also with the 40's and the hole they put in them could accurately be described as "softball sized'. I've also found that if the bullet hits a stout blade of grass or branch it will disintegrate before reaching the target. On one chuck I shot it was sitting on a rock sunning itself about 250 yards away. The majority of the rock was sloped up and behind the chuck when I shot. The chuck never moved and when I went to check on it, the head was mostly gone, but the bullet fragments were all over the rock behind it and the pieces looked like little pieces of brass about the size of ground pepper. I've had this happen several times since so I know pushing them hard enough makes them extremely explosive. Once they slow down they still work fine and will easily take down coyotes for very long ranges. IIRC, the longest dog I ever took with my 22-250 was around 700 yards and my 223AI was pretty close to that.... they went down like hit with a hammer....

Bob

I've shot 40 NBT in my Fireball for forever and killed alot of coyotes with it. Kerplunk, drt.

Heck I killed a deer and about 15 pigs with 40gr Varmeggedons out my old 16” AR. Put one in the slats and they go right down. I even shot shoulders on a few pigs just to see what would happen, they all dropped and paddled is what happened. No huge ones, biggest was probably #250 or so.

I MUCH prefer 40 gr BT's






In my 204 !