Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 53 grain V Max

I have never used these but seem to remember reading they are a bit too long and can be troublesome in a 14 twist, any feedback would be appreciated

It depends on how fast your are pushing them and what elevation you will be shooting. I have 4 22-250's that love the 53gr v-max and they have 1 in 14" twist barrels. I also have to say that precision/accuracy of these bullets in all the rifles I've tried them in have been top notch. Not just at 100 yards, but out to 600 yards as well.. You will get somewhat of an idea if this bullet will stabilize in your rifle by using a twist rate stability calculator, such as the one Berger offers on their website.

I use these for prairie poodles in MT with the slower twist. My favorite bullet for the purpose and no sign of destabilization.

I've probably got a lifetime's supply of 50 and 55 grain VMax bullets, so the 53's have been of little interest to me. However, I tried a box of the 53's once, and found that in my 223's there was no noticeable difference between the 53 and 55 grain bullets. The rifle I shot most of them in was a 1-9 twist bolt rifle.

Not that it matters much, but the 53 has a better bc than either of the bullets you mention. My 1 in 9 twist 223 bolt action rifles loved them as well.. After seeing how well they shot in my slow twist 22-250's, I ended up buying 2,500 of them. Great bullet.

I've used/use lots of them in my 700 222 (1-14") for sage rats. They work quite well.

Your question is definitely warranted. The Hornady manual says not to use these bullets in a 14" twist rifle. I remember when swift52 was having issues with these bullets in his rifles. Seems he was having issues in every rifle he owned. Some guys just have issues. I don't know if it's actually a rifle problem or a person problem. Probably the latter. Oh, he got pissed when I posted something to the effect that he was the problem because they work just fine in my rifle.




When a bullet shoots 1" groups at 400 yards, I'm not complaining.^^^^^^^^^^^^

Like I told old Swifty, they work just fine in my 14" twist rifle. YMMV.. Oh, at 600 yards, they work well on yotes too:

Hornady claims they won't work in a 1 in 14 twist... however, I've never had a problem with them in a 1 in 12 or 1 in 14.

even called Hornady on that, and they claimed over the phone they couldn't get it to work in a 1 in 14 twist, even out of a 22.250...

Well this thread appears to show I am not the only person, that is having experiences that they claimed I shouldn't be seeing and telling me evidently I had a faster twist than 1 in 14....

Locally at the range at least, the altitude is 1200 ft above sea level... but I've fired them at 4000 and 5000 ft here in SW Oregon...

they still worked just fine for accuracy....

I’ve said it on here a dozen times, but they do stuff out of my 16” AR (1:8”)that a 16” AR “can’t” do.

@3,000fps holds 1,800fps to 400 yards and supersonic to about 700. More fun than should be legal to 600. All owing to its .290G1

Only killed one coyote with them, hit too far back and low, ran about 40 yards with lung hanging out the exit, so possibly not fur friendly.

Mean little pills they are…….

I was thinking of re-barreling a .222 to 12 twist so as to use them. But not sure if they would stabilize even in a 12 twist .222 at low altitudes. JBM gives 1.558 stability with an 11 twist at sea level. Don't think I can get a .224 11 twist barrel. Muzzle velocity would be about 3050-3100 fps I expect.

Thanks to every one for reporting on the 53. Been wanting to try them, but was concerned about stabilizing in a rifle or 2 of mine, & up until lately they've been scarce anyways.

I just changed my 50 gr. V max numbers to the 53's weight, BC & reduced the velocity by a theoretical 50 fps. The 53 is better by 3moa @ 700 yards, which is where my scope gives up with the 50's.

A win, on paper at least. Damn sure look good enough to try, now that they're becoming available again.

Thanks for the replies
The Berger stability calculator gives them marginal stability at 3600 in a 14 twist, which reduces the BC substantially, but from the sounds of it they will be worth a try in my Wilson Arrow
I am guessing I should be able to get somewhere around 3700 to 3800 out of them

If you don't mind, let us know how they work out for you. I'm running mine at around 3,400-3,500 fps (different rifles and barrel lengths) and 5,000'+ elevation. Thanks..

The nice thing is they are not overly expensive either. The ones I bought last year were $20/box. I see midsouth has them in stock for $23/box.. A few months ago I ran into some that were $18.99/box, but I already have a good supply of them.. With a bc of .290, they edge out even the 60gr V-max that has a bc of .265.. They are actually quite surprising on paper (target downrange). Buy a box of them and give them a try. Your numbers indicate 3 moa difference at 700 yards, that is quite a bit really. About 22", which is pretty substantial.

My Remington 700 in 22/250 with 1:14" twist must have read the Hornady manual before trying the 53 gr V Max as it doesn't like them at all. It doesn't care for the Nosler Varmeggedon either. It will shoot 52 gr Speer hollow points into small enough groups though.

My Savage Axis in 22/250 has a 1:12" twist and shoots the Hornady and Nosler bullets very well. It shoots well enough that I had to find a different donor to convert to 250 Savage. I already had a Savage barrel otherwise the Remington would have been the donor.

This is in Minnesota where we are not much over sea level. I'm also wondering if the twist rate is somewhat variable with the twist rate varying from the standard to some extent. JB has written of it happening with the Savage 99 in 250 Savage and wonder if it still can happen today?

My Tikka T3X Lite 223 8 twist loves the Federal factory loads. I was shooting the factory Hornady 55grn vmax for a year or two out of it and was pretty happy. Picked up a box of the 53grn to try out and man what a difference. It will shoot consistent 3/4” 5 shot groups at 200. I also noticed a lot less wind drift out to 300 yards as well then I did with the 55’s.

They may well do anything you ask them to. My own view, 1/14 in a .220 Swift with a 26" Hart barrel at reasonable elevations, mile high and higher so I expect to get the best out of marginal is that performance looks better than it delivers with the actual ballistic coefficient much less than reported. It was this bullet that made me realize failure to keyhole is not the only consideration. Marginal stability means I'm paying for a premium performance I don't get. Too bad as the reported B/C is well ahead of the competition so great for .223 and faster with the right twist but I try not to kid myself.

What's the overall length of the bullet? I haven't used any yet....

yep

prob so........

I run 'em a 9T 223 Improved

0.2875"

decimal in right place ? (: