Most explosive Gopher Bullets, Since the season is on hot and heavy

[Dean2]

After trying so many different bullets the last few years, thought it might be worth listing them out and summarizing my personal opinion/experience with them.

I rate bullets on three elements, accuracy, explosiveness and price. I know people that say, price is irrelevant, they go stictly for accurracy, but when you can burn up 500 rounds a day, for many days a year, price is a big consideration for me. These bullets run the ganut of 17, 20, and 22. All products listed have been tried in all three calibers, as long as the bullet is made in that caliber.

So with that in mind here is my list

Least favourite bullet Barnes Varmint Grenades - they are difficult to get to shoot good groups, many guns won't shoot them at all. Any gun I have got to shoot them well for group, they needed to be shot at the very top end of loadings, and with a fair amount of jump. Bullet demonstrates a highly variable performance on game. Some blow up, many don't. Lot to lot variance is quite noticeable too. Not nearly as explosive as their ads lead one to believe.Finally, they are near the top of the price range. $28/100

Next would be the Speer TNTs and actually most of speers varmint bullets. Accuracy has only ever been so, so. Also, in most calibers, the TNT bullet is a hair undersize, which can be a pain in the butt, if you are trying for realtively light neck tension. Big hollow point is fairly explosive. Cost is on the cheaper end of the spectrum. $22/100

From here up, they are all pretty good.

3 - Nosler Ballistic Tip Varmint - Accurate in most guns. Quite explosive. Cost is their big draw back, we can't get the bulk seconds so pay $28/100

4 - Berger Varmint Bullets - very accurate bullets, never found a rifle that would not shoot them great. Pretty explosive on gophers but not as much as the plasttic tips. B.C. tends to be lower than the plastic tips and can generally shoot a Vmax or Blitzking 5 grains lighter, get much better velcoity and still a better B.C. Other major drawback is cost $29/100.

5 - Sierra Blitzkings. Of all the rifles I have shot these in, the only one so far that would not should them great is a 204. It shoots them okay, every other gun, great groups. The Vmax and Blitzking are pretty much tied for exposiveness in my books. Mid priced $24/100. For Hornets, Bees and the like the 40 grain BK would take my first place.

6 - Hornady V-Max - Accurate at good to great in every rifle I tried them in. Very explosive on gophers. Decent price $22/100. In 17 Caliber the 25 grain V-Maxs would take my first place, as does the 32 and 40 grain in 20 Caliber, and the 40 and 50 grain 22 claiber ones are pretty impressive too.

7 - Favourite Bullets for high volume shooting. The dependable and inexpensive lead core spire points - Hornady SPSX or SP. Very accurate in every gun I used them in. Have always been able to get them to shoot great, usually with almost no work but occaissionally with a little work. Explosive as all get out and among the lowest priced bullet we can get up here. $17/100 Only draw back is they don't make them in 17. The 45 grain SP in 20 caliber is good but a lighter option would be great. In 22 there are none lighter than 50 grains, though the 45 grain Hornet bullet works very well as long as speeds are below 3000 fps. The 55 grain SPSX works great in 22-250 and the 220 Swift.

Would be very interested to see and learn from everyone elses experience with bullets specifically for gophernating. So what do you guys have to say.

[elkhunter11]

I find that I usually end up using either the V-max or ballistic tips in my varmint rifles. Either one or the other is usually the most accurate varmint bullet in my rifles, and both are very explosive in the lighter weights.

[hardy]

My friends .222 cant tell the difference between the blitzking or the vmax bullets needless to say it shoots them both very well. My 22-250 shoots the 55 vmax or 55 noslers very well and I would have to say the vmax is top dog when explosiveness is what you want. My 250 launches gophers and my other friends .220 swift saw its first gopher last week. When the 55 vamx hit the gopher launched from the swift it blew into two pieces and were 30 yards apart. Awesome in my books!

[7 REM MAG]

i shoot the grenades in my tikka 22-250 at max load and they shoot very well, i dont think they explode as much as their adds say but when i shoot yotes with em the exit is smaller than a quarter and the inside is jelly, gophers really dont like em

[duceman]

my favorite for accuracy is the 50gr btips. i find the speer tnt's not far behind, and lots cheaper for high volume shooting. lee

[Dr. Phil A]

My 204 loves the barnes VGs. And I am finding them for 17.99/100 so it makes them pretty reasonable. Using some RL - 10X with the 26 gr VG is showing some promise. Currently the BLC2 is doing the job.

I have found a load using Varget and 32 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip that is making one ragged hole.

I find it hard to compare to what others are seeing as my 204 is a 28 inch barrel giving it some more advantage in the accuracy department.

In my 243 the Horndady 58grs are the ticket and the Speer TNT 70 gr are not far behind.

Blitz Kings I feel are not living up to the hype.

[Cowtown guy]

I have had great results with the Varmint Grenades. I seat them 20 thou off the lands and run them under max loads for best accuracy. I have experienced some major carnage with gophers and Coyotes but then again I am shooting them out of a .243 Win.

[Scott N]

My favourite gopher bullet is the Hornady SPSX as well. It's accurate and blows the crap out of gophers, even at the modest velocity that my 222 has.

[ShawnM]

I experimented a bit with the 36gr VGs at a mid-velocity load and they didn't really curl my toes. With the 52gr VMax I was at dead center of the target and with the VGs I was about 1" to the right. But they did group consistently and I'm sure they'll work much better with a max load.

I haven't gone predator hunting with them yet and the pelt saving ability was what drew me to them in the first place.

Overall though my favorite is the 52gr VMax. They fly straight and hit like a sledge hammer. But if I'm out to create as much gopher carnage as I can then it's my 10/22 in .22lr with CCI stingers. Much cheaper to shoot...

[sureshot73]

I was out yesterday blastin gophers with my 223, it was the first time i got to try some 50gr. spsx's on critters, very xplosive, cheap and shoot good on paper, i normally shoot shoot 40gr nosler bt, but for the price difference its all hornady now, as for my 22 hornet 35gr v-max and 33gr speer's are very impressive!

[eric2381]

I haven't tried the sierra blitz king or the Speer TNT.

I agree with you on everything you said. My favorite cheap bullets are the hornady SP. Cheap and shoot great! The vmax are my favorite for explosive hits on gophers. Nosler BT are great, but more money.

[eric2381]

http://www.budgetshootersupply.ca/fr...&CategoryID=36


That's the cheapest deal I've found on bullets for gophers. He was a great guy to deal with too.