I've just loaded my 243 with 44.5 of RL15 under a 65 v-max. I'm getting an average velocity of 3895 fps. That is quicker than expected and 100 fps faster than a Remmy 700 with the same length barrel??? Anyway: I have taken a few foxes with this and the damage s considerable, but I took one at 80 yards last night and it casued massive amounts of damage on the surface, but little penetration. I would have thought over 2000 F/lbs of energy would have given me some more penetration than that.
With bullets travelling at high speed will they fragment before getting through the surface.

DW,

The term used by many is "splash". In my experience it has occured more when I hit the heavier shoulder area, but can occur regardless of where you hit the creature.

You are pushing a frangible bullet at high speeds and you will get this. Not all the time but I would expect a lot of damage.

You need to slow down that bullet to around 3000 or less. Or go to a different bullet. No bullet is perfect but many hide hunters are using a less frangible, game type bullet that will not splash. The bullet will go through but the two holes are small and can easily be sewn up.

Jim

quote:

I took one at 80 yards last night and it casued massive amounts of damage on the surface, but little penetration

From your post-mortem, I must assume that you recovered the fox and that it was killed by the shot. The bullet did what it was designed to do: Fragment explosively and kill quickly on a small animal. Write again when it fails to kill a fox.

YOu are using a varmint bullet that is designed to explode a varmint...not be fur friendly...

your better bet would be an 80 grain full metal jacket...

don't be impressed with the high velocity of the 65 grain VMax.. because of lack of aerodynamics and weight, a good old 80 grain SP or FMJ will fly as flat, and farther...plus will not ruin your foxes hide....

From what I have read, the 75 V-max is the best 6mm out there.. A bc of .33

The 87 has a bc of .4, but you end up loosing 2-300 fps.

Yeah Nortman, but if one looks at a ballistic chart, you will find, that by cranking up your elevation on your scope, that you can compensate by the loss in velocity...

however, at longer ranges, the heavier weight of the 87 grainers make the bullet flatter shooting....

and the point being, the 75 grain V Max, is not designed to be fur friendly.. it is designed to explode prairie dogs and sage rats.... and it will do the same to a fox....

so I wouldn't recommend using it, if you want to save the hide....

Just a interesting note.
Range to the target will have an efffect on the results of the wound on small varmits. My .204 Ruger averages 4065 ft/sec with 32 grain Blitz Kings. I shot a Jack Rabbit at 80 yards and the exit expolosion was impresive. Resulting in half the rabbit missing. 10 muinutes later I shot a second jack at about 15feet and the exit was a nickle sized hole. The bullet passed through so fast it did not have time to expand.

Intresting note about the 75gr V-Max in a 243. I've been using them and explosive might be an understatement. At 200yds shooting at targets hung on a 2" piece of styrofoam with a piece of photo mat, about 1/16th" the V-Max's are leaving their jackets about 10yds behind the target! Really accurate tho. Shot a raven with one at 347 paces and the bird exploded, looked like black snow out there!

Originally posted in the single shot pistol forum as a reply to my question about pelt friendly 6mm BR handgun bullets, here's the reply from Bobby Tomek:

Bobby Tomek one of us Posted 01 October 2006 10:45

Unfortunately, pelt friendly bullets in 6mm (at the velocity level you are working) are few and far between -- and even these aren't always a sure thing. What has worked best for me, though, is the now-discontinued Sierra 80 grain Single Shot Pistol bullet at around 2700 fps. I always get exits, but they are quite small (seldom more than dime-to-nickel-sized). Many distributors still have a supply of these bullets, and you can still get them directly from Sierra.

The terminal performance of the Sierra 80 grain BT varminter is almost identical (except at close range). But my 2nd choice would be the Speer 80 grainer, also at 2700 fps or so. The 55 grain Nosler sometimes work well and does not exit, but I've also experienced some rather gaping exits with them -- and that's extremely frustrating.

I'm fond of the 87g V-Max at 3125 fps.

Tiny entrance wound in groundhogs - generally no exit wound provided I make a solid body shot.

They seem a little more destructive at higher velocity - but with the high BC of this bullet, I'm happy right where it is at.

Hopefully will get to try out on some coyotes soon.

Johhny-thanks for the report, for fur friendly bullets out of a 6 of any size I've found two bullets to be helpful.

First off the 55 NBT is about as good as it gets, I run this out of my 6/06 and it is very friendfly for a bullet running 4K and or more.

Secondly, you could always try the 85 TSX, it has worked well for me also in my 6/06.

Lastly try hard to miss the 3 major bones:

*spine
*shoulder
*breast (on a frontal shot.

Mark D