Tell Me About 50 gr Varmint Grenades

[urbanrifleman]

I have a whole bunch of these and since my girlfriend is shooting an 8 twist I thought maybe we would give them a try. I heard they blow up really well.

Please tell me your experience with them and if you know anything about where they shoot best as far as seating depth and whatnot.

 

[Wadsworth]

Tried them years ago in my 223 and 22-250. Pretty good accuracy from both. The only problem I found was some of them would blow on entrance as should, and others would act as if they were a FMJ and punch clean through coyote sized animals. I believe they are constructed of pressed and glued metallic frangible cores which would explain this dilemma. That was 10-12 years ago, Barnes may have improved for consistent performance since then. I still use them but not on a calling contest where I need consistency.

 

[Fern]

My buddy used them on a p dog hunt couple years ago (3) and pretty much same result. Some would blow up like advertised and others just punched a hole like a fmj.
My buddy shot the last of them and decided on 50-55 vmax instead

 

[snert]

I tried them and went back to cup and core bullets because of the low BC vs the "cool sintering effect".

 

[effendude]

I gave away all my Varmint Grenades and loaded ammo after one season. What a waste. Never had a prairie dog react to the shot other than run to the hole. On that trip, also had some V-Max and BT's. Dramatic difference in terminal performance.
Scott

 

[searcher]

I have shot many thousands of them and my results (and those of my shooting buddies) are much different than the guys posting poor performance. I shoot Blitz Kings (55's), V-Maxes ( 40 & 50 grn.) and these 50 Varmint Grenades by the thousands yearly. In comparing tens of thousands of rounds fired, there is no doubt in my mind the 50 Varmint Grenade (NOT the lighter one 36 grn.?) blows them up better. When we have a "splat" contest to see how far pieces fly - we pull out the Varmint Grenades. All the lead-free bullets are powder temperamental - really like one or two above all else by a large margin. the one powder we found that shoots these 50's in all of our rifles is a load consisting of 24.1 grains of IMR8208XBR. All well under 1/2 MOA. This is a somewhat lighter load that tends to have a very wide accuracy window. We shoot 1-9" and 1-8" twist barrels with these fired by either a Remington 7 1/2, Russian (Tula or Wolff) or Federal A/R Match primer. If you try these and don't like them - let me know and I'll buy them or do a trade. The BC on them isn't the greatest, but I'll take that if it comes with great accuracy. We favor these over leaded bullets for splat unless shooting beyond around 400 yards, not because they still won't splat - but because they tend to shed too much speed.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I have shot many thousands of them and my results (and those of my shooting buddies) are much different than the guys posting poor performance. I shoot Blitz Kings (55's), V-Maxes ( 40 & 50 grn.) and these 50 Varmint Grenades by the thousands yearly. In comparing tens of thousands of rounds fired, there is no doubt in my mind the 50 Varmint Grenade (NOT the lighter one 36 grn.?) blows them up better. When we have a "splat" contest to see how far pieces fly - we pull out the Varmint Grenades. All the lead-free bullets are powder temperamental - really like one or two above all else by a large margin. the one powder we found that shoots these 50's in all of our rifles is a load consisting of 24.1 grains of IMR8208XBR. All well under 1/2 MOA. This is a somewhat lighter load that tends to have a very wide accuracy window. We shoot 1-9" and 1-8" twist barrels with these fired by either a Remington 7 1/2, Russian (Tula or Wolff) or Federal A/R Match primer. If you try these and don't like them - let me know and I'll buy them or do a trade. The BC on them isn't the greatest, but I'll take that if it comes with great accuracy. We favor these over leaded bullets for splat unless shooting beyond around 400 yards, not because they still won't splat - but because they tend to shed too much speed.

I assume that is a 223?

Very interesting the reviews on these bullets seem to go all over the map. I wonder why? I wonder if people are not shooting enough twist and then other people are shooting more twists and the people with the twist are getting the big explosions..

 

[urbanrifleman]

I gave away all my Varmint Grenades and loaded ammo after one season. What a waste. Never had a prairie dog react to the shot other than run to the hole. On that trip, also had some V-Max and BT's. Dramatic difference in terminal performance.
Scott

What twist barrel?

 

[effendude]

What twist barrel?

1-8" AR's

 

[searcher]

I assume that is a 223?

Very interesting the reviews on these bullets seem to go all over the map. I wonder why? I wonder if people are not shooting enough twist and then other people are shooting more twists and the people with the twist are getting the big explosions..

Yes. .223.
I'm amazed some of the guys don't like them. It takes a minimum of about a 9 twist to stabilize them - as they keyhole out of my 1-12" tube. The one thing Varmint Grenades are known for is their ability to open up quickly and dump energy. I have seen nothing to the contrary. If they are hit in the body - they are going to get pretty much blown up. Another said there was no reaction when "hit". Maybe they weren't hit well or not at all? Its a mystery.

 

[SecondsCount]

A friend shoots them out of an AR and has good things to say. I'm still working off a good amount of 53 V-max.

 

[762willdo]

They do best in a 220 swift and ok in a 22-250 but not very well in a 223, they need speed! just my opinion

 

[searcher]

I assume that is a 223?

Very interesting the reviews on these bullets seem to go all over the map. I wonder why? I wonder if people are not shooting enough twist and then other people are shooting more twists and the people with the twist are getting the big explosions..

It is interesting. We shoot them out of both 1-8" and 1-9" twist barrels. Same explosive performance from both. I haven't tried shooting the out of a barrel with a faster twist. Pretty much all of the sintered metal lead -free varmint bullets - whether Barnes, Hornady, Nosler, etc. - they all are very explosive. The heavier the bullet - the better as a rule. 50's outperform 40's even though slower - as far as really sending body parts flying. That has been our experience, anyway.

 

[effendude]

Yes. .223.
I'm amazed some of the guys don't like them. It takes a minimum of about a 9 twist to stabilize them - as they keyhole out of my 1-12" tube. The one thing Varmint Grenades are known for is their ability to open up quickly and dump energy. I have seen nothing to the contrary. If they are hit in the body - they are going to get pretty much blown up. Another said there was no reaction when "hit". Maybe they weren't hit well or not at all? Its a mystery.

Maybe the newer bullets perform better. These were the first bullets that arrived at my LGS years ago. I watched the video of a grape exploding and I thought wow. My real world experiences were completely different. They were plenty accurate, but it was like shooting FMJ ammo.
Scott

 

[searcher]

Maybe the newer bullets perform better. These were the first bullets that arrived at my LGS years ago. I watched the video of a grape exploding and I thought wow. My real world experiences were completely different. They were plenty accurate, but it was like shooting FMJ ammo.
Scott

Maybe. When hit with one of the 50's, I can hear the loud "plop" with my electronic ear protection turned off. Often lots of pieces flying. I can't help but wonder if some of the guys got the Varmint Grenade confused with another called the Barnes Varminator (in a red box instead of green one the Varmint Grenade comes in). I never tried that one. It is a traditional lead core design, I believe- but not sure. I also haven't shot the lighter Barnes Varmint Grenade (32 grain?) much. The 50's all shot so much better at distance- just never shot too many of them. It could be the very first ones out were not so great - I started shooting them about six months after they came on market. Never had a bad box myself.

 

[searcher]

I'll put in video clip of critters getting popped with the V.G's in a few weeks when I get back from a trip.