Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .223" 40 grain V-Max VS Varmageddon

Used to think the Varmageddon was the best, but I have recently been won over by this Hornady V-Max. It has a small boat tail that aids in seating over the Nosler's flat base & a slight advantage in BC. That and the groups @ 100/200 yards are are just plain smaller 😁

I run this particular bullet in my TC .22 Hornet as well as my heavy barrel 5.56/.223 AR-15.

How have you found the competition?

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I have tried both and I use Hornady V max for 223 and 22-250. V-max for the win

Much difference in terminal performance? I’ve only punched paper to this point.

My 22 Hornet loads are doing 2800 fps, the 5.56mm loads are considerably faster.

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I can vouch for the performance that a 40 grain VMax or a 40 grain Nosler BT going 4000 fps out of a 22-250 gives on a coyote. You won't mind an exit hole, but the insides will be a mushy. Never used a Varmageddon, but I suspect they would be similar in performance.

Of the .224" 40grain bullets my first choice is the Blitzking for accuracy and performance, I do use quite a few V-Max on prairie dogs just because they are cheaper

I’ve only used the 40 gr. Varmageddon. It was accurate and hell on prairie dogs. Good lift. But, not a gun writer.

I have shot quite a few Hornady .224 40-grain V-Maxs and Varmaggedon Tips at ground squirrels and prairie dogs in several cartridges from the .22 Hornet to .223 Remington. Both work very well, but the finest accuracy often depends on the specific rifle.

The 40gr vmax is my go to prairie dog bullet. Part of the reason is they are cheap and more available locally than anything else. I have used Blitz,BT and Varmagedons. The terminal performance is about the same on prairie dogs.

That's what I've seen as well. I will add that the 40gr Varmageddon is a tough bullet. My buddy was pretty impressed that his 22-250 loaded at around 4,100 fps cratered my AR500 plate pretty good. Much better than anything else we fired at it that day.


I told him to shoot paper or yotes with that thing from now on because he was fn up my steel.

Shoot whatever shoots best in your rifle...or whatever you can get the best deal on. I usually buy V-Maxes for my varmint rifles except my .204 Ruger, which shoots the Sierra 39 gr best--and ballistically it performs better than the other options.

They work very well in all my 22 centerfires, accurate and explosive.

Gotta agree with that

I thought AR500 was pretty close to the same as Hardox500 but it must be somewhat softer, those bullets wouldn't even scratch my Hardox500 gong's

12 responses and very few answered the OP's question!

Hip

Which ever one is available

I haven't used 22 cal Varmageddon bullets. Have used their 17 cal
20 gr version, and found that it shot just as good as Hornady's 17cal 20 gr V-Max.

In 22 cal, I prefer the 40gr V-Max for varmints in light 223 loads going mid-2000's fps. Ideal for big jackrabbits trying to eat my young trees. Otherwise I prefer Hornady's 50 and 53gr versions. I like the ease of loading non-flat-base bullets, particularly the tiny ones.

Is the 40 gr weight the one you most prefer for PD's?

Yeah, that's what I thought as well. Your Hardox500 has the same Brinell hardness as AR500 plate. 460-540 vs. 470-530 (Hardox500). The reason they call AR500 plate, AR500, is because it has a Brinell hardness of roughly 500. The same can be said for Hardox500. They are both thru hardened and heat treated the same way, but not composed of the same alloys.

From smaller .22 centerfires, yes I prefer the 40-grainers, especially in .22 Hornet up through .222 Remington.

Have also used both V-Maxes and Varmaggedons considerably in various .17s and the .204 Ruger. In the .204 I tend to prefer the 40-grain V-Max, because it has the highest BC of any commonly available boattailed .204 bullet. But so far as can determine there are no commonly available boattailed .17s, so I use the .17 Varmageddons a lot, though much prefer the plastic-tipped version, both due to a little higher BC and more violent expansion.

Vmax, Varmageddon and Blitzkings (40 gr) have all done well for me. Overall, for accuracy, more of my rifles prefer the Blitzking over the others. Although I already have a good load for it, I tried the 40 gr Varmageddons in one of my Hornets and they were right with its other favorite load. It just depends on the rifle.

From the 222 do you think the 40 V-Max gives as much splat factor along with an air show as say the 50 grain SXSP or even a 50 grain V-Max?

Generally yes, due to the higher muzzle velocity--which also increases bullet-spin rate.

I had a 9twist 223 that shot the 40gr tipped Varmeggedon better than any other bullet I tried. It would pile them on top of each other with the max load of TAC in the older Ramshot manual.

Consequently I bought an shot a bunch of them. I’ve found them to be great killers on coyotes but they also work unbelievably well on even large pigs if you stay off the shoulders. On rib shots they make a wound that looks like you drilled a hole in the hide and stuck a shotgun in the hole and touched off a load of 8s. There won’t be an exit but you can pour their lungs out their snout and they won’t go very far.

Same results from the 40 vmax in our thermal AR.