minimum??????

[model 12 toby]

what's the minimum bullet you would suggest to shoot ground hogs out to 800 with a fairly good chance of hitting them in 6 mph winds or less?

 

[284driver]

What caliber are you inquiring?

 

[Dogbone]

What gun? What twist rate?

 

[Nomad47]

If you are asking about humanely killing them, I think you need to determine what the minimum amount of remaining energy is needed at 800 yards. But the type of bullet also has to be considered. And, of course, where it is hit also has to be considered.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say 500 ft/lbs is the minimum as my 6XC has killed a groundhog at 1062 yards and 500 ft/lbs is my remaining energy at that range. 105 AMax leaving the barrel at 3100 fps.

 

[357Mag]

M12 -

Howdy !

I've operated w/ 450ft lb KE in-mind, as the minimum for a clean-kill on groundhog out as-far-as 1,000.
This is a tad less than what Nomad has said.

This is an obtainable level in a reasonably large capacity .224" cal case/cartridge.
As regards a .224" cal application, I vote for the 75 "A"-Max as a good way of "getttin there ".

In some instances and w some cartridge/bullet combos, the scales might tip a bit more towards bullet
wt. Bullet wt help retain ( more ) energy, as weights increase and ranges become further.

Really, a fairly knowledge shooter will go w/ a known distance bullet design, when reaching for those further ranges. When things like VLDs are reached for, bullet weight sort of takes care of itself.
A long aero bullet ( VLD for example ) will tend to be at the upper levels of the calibre's bullet selection wt range.

Non-lead bullets ( like a Barnes TTSX for example ) will be longer that an equal-length lead core bullets of the same bullet wt & cal. What the world needs, is a good selection of well designed & constructed
powdered-metal core varmint bullets. These could be/would be longer than traditional lead-core offerings of the same cal & wt; which would help keep them aero. And, super-explosive when the terminate.

Best of luck in your endeavors !

With regards,
357Mag

 

[model 12 toby]

in general. best of the best. take your pick. 50 bmg or 17 hmr. pick what you want.

 

[5spd]

Ive popped off P-dogs to 850 yards with no issues with a 50g vmax in my .223.
Your GH may be bigger, but Id still do it with my rig.

 

[Nomad47]

Ive popped off P-dogs to 850 yards with no issues with a 50g vmax in my .223.
Your GH may be bigger, but Id still do it with my rig.

Considerably bigger, 5spd. I've shot both. A 50 grain bullet won't "launch" a groundhog like it will a prairie dog. In fact, many will crawl off to their hole when shot with the same shot that will leave a p-dog in pieces.

 

[model 12 toby]

50 grain v-max? 223? what's the wind drift at 850 with 6 mph wind? enough said.

 

[fordwrench]

140 class 6.5 mm bullet 3000 fps.. and one that will expand.

 

[357Mag]

Gents -

Groundhogs:
I tried 50s in my .224" calibre wildcat for 3 summers; and had to walk away from their use.....
Was gettin' the occasional "crawler", and each one of those is one too many ! ( 50gr SX ).

Mind you, w/ 50s, my wildcat was running powder charges on-the-order of 42gr W760.

In my gun w/ my loads on NE Indiana groundhogs, I capped the predictable kill distance for 50s @ 235yd.

I switched to use of 55SX @ 3,690fps; and never looked back.


With regards,
357Mag

 

[model 12 toby]

which 140 6.5mm do you suggest? 55 grainer at 800 is just nuts in my mind. just seems like the wind drift would be ungodly with even slight gust. that's just my opinion. not trying to be a smart elec. course 3 summers ago I never thought I'd hit a 2.9 bull at 800 yards with any gun. ;D

 

[fordwrench]

Try sorting some amaxes. Most of the high bc bullets do not open well. They do for me..

 

[Nomad47]

A couple thoughts.

IMHO, the 6mm 105 AMax is King for groundhogs. I've had more kills that don't even move one foot at ALL ranges with that bullet than all other bullets that I have shot combined. In other words, the 105 easily has the highest percentage of "dead right there" at any distance than any other bullet I have used.

In a 55 grain bullet, its not only wind drift but killing power that limits it at long ranges. At a muzzle velocity of 3800 fps, the 55 VMax is barely above the speed of sound at 850 yards and energy is down to 162 ft/lbs.

 

[model 12 toby]

I've shot 162 a-maxes out of my 7mm rem mag, 123a-maxes and 140 a-maxes some out of my 6.5x47 lapua, I'm trying to get 100 a-maxes to shoot out of it right now. I love a-maxes. shoot ar for smaller gun. still shooting 69 smk but might try to shoot 75 bthp out of it. they say 75 a-maxes have to be single loaded. hope hornady bthp's will do as well. sure wish there was a smaller 7mm a-max than 162's. trying to get together different guns for different size hunting ground.