I would like to know what everyones favorite go to bullet is for the various varmints out there.

My favorite bullets for varmiting are sierra 75gr blitsking for my Sako 243win, sierra 125gr sp for both my Rem VSF 308win and my Tikka T3 300winmag:
Just love to see the Ravens and seagulls turn to a cloud of feathers with a pink mist when hit be the 125gr sp from my 300mag

I like nosler bt too but the sierras are cheaper and really accurate out of my guns:

Regards

For prairie dogs, ground squirrels, etc. I like the Hornady V max in .224 and .243

45 grain Hornet by Hornady, or the 85 BT in .257

Hvy barrel: I will identify my favorite Varmint Bullets by caliber for you.
The criterion I use to favoritize Varmint bullets are (in no particular order) accuracy, lethality, price, availability, frangibility (no ricochet prone bullets need apply!) and consistent performance over time (year after year).

17 caliber: 25 gr. Bergers

20 caliber: 32 gr. Sierra BlitzKings

22 caliber: 50 and 55 gr. Sierra Blitz and Speer 52 gr. FB/HP

24 caliber: 55 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips and
the 70 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips

There are lots of great Varmint bullets available today but these are my favs per caliber right now.

Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

my favorite for my .243 is the hornaday 65 grain v-max moly coated. dont know if the coating helps but they are only 2 dollars more a box and they look cool!

you'ins all think I'm crazy, but I shoot a lot of a bullet I've never seen mentioned here on the varmint hotline. It's the old Hornady 53 gr. MATCH hollowpoint. Not a fancy bullet but it has shot consistently over the years in just about every 22 centerfire I have owned. I like the Nosler BT, 55's in both 22 and 243, but have found better accuracy with v-max's. The 125 gr. BT in my 300 win. mag. is a lot of fun for long shots on coyotes. One coyote even managed to run into one, very unlucky for him, but then I mostly only kill the unlucky ones. jp

hvy barrel,
In .22 cal. the 50 gr. V-Max is hard to beat
In 6mm I like the 58 gr. V-Max in 6 BR and .243 Win..Over the years, I've taken a lot of p/dogs, G/Hogs and Coyotes with these two bullets and have never felt like I needed another a bullet...Good luck..George

There are a number of wonderful newer varmint bullets out there today, but I guess I am still somewhat sentimentel. Over the years, I've poured countless Hornady SXs and Sierra Blitz bullets down the bores, and I have many good memories with them. Therefore, I'd have to say these -- especially the 50 grain, .22 caliber Blitz and the 6mm, 70 grain SX -- rank as my overall favorites.

Vmax's if I'm not saving fur....Hornady SP's if I am.....

20 cal. 32gr. BKs and Vmaxs

.224 cal. 40 and 50 gr. Vmaxs, 50 gr. TNTs

.243 cal. 58 gr. Vmax

If you do a search, you will find a thread were an overwhelming amount of groundhog shooters prefer the .224 Speer 50grain TNT. Real explosive!

Another vote for the 50 grain Speer TNT. In .243, I like the 70 grain Nosler BT. But for economy and dependability, its hard to best any of the traditional Sierra conventional lead tipped bullets.

For me, varmints means groundhogs and crows. I don't worry about hides, or shooting larger animals (coyotes, etc), that require "more killing".

So, I use what is most accurate. And that is always either a Nosler Ballistic Tip or Sierra MatchKing.

In .223, the 50 gr Speer TNT is hard to beat. I also use 40 gr V-Max or Ballistic Tips in that caliber. For my .22-250, I use 50 or 55 gr Ballistic Tips.

has any body used speer 52grn hollow points in 223 ?

Speer 50 grain TNT!

My all time favorite in .222, .223 & 22-250!

Accurate, explosive and good value in the 1000 pack!

Geez, I guess I'm the only poor man in here. If I were shooting groundhogs or an ocassional coyote, I'd maybe use some sort of top end bullet. Bergers.....geez.
As I'm a Pdog shooter and may shoot almost a 1000 rounds on one hunt, I use the cheapest bulk bullet I can buy. The Pdogs never know the difference. 55gr Rems by the 1000 (22-250)and I've heard that Midway dogtown bullets ain't bad. I use 50gr's in the .223. I get sub MOA with both.

That is what I love about Varmint hunting.... the competition out there.. Is there really a bad varmint bullet made in the USA at least????

I know you can't shoot some of them out of a rifle with a fast twist to it...

but that isn't the bullets fault if it is suppose to be explosive....

Heck, if I listed all my favorites or the ones I shoot....

Guess it is like asking a whino, what his favorite wine is... hell he loves them all...

When they do get cheap I do have more affection for them then... So I can buy MORE! for my dollar.....

Deer hunting is boring compared to varmint shooting!

cheers
seafire

Sierra and Hornady 52/53 gr match for my .222 through 220 Swift, 45 gr Nosler or Sierra for my hornet. It depends on what your rifle likes.

My tikka 595 does not like Hornady 55grn vmax factory loads,
yet to try any homerolls im just looking for info on 52grn speer+ varget powder

VMAXS FROM .17-.308 diameters!!! BLOOD AND GUTS, ACROBATICS you name it!!! The VMAXS perform!! The SIERRA BLITZ KINGS do a respectable job also!! Accurracy in several different rifles and chamberings have proven to be Extrodinary!!!
The SPEER TNT's......more testing is needed!! HOWEVER the .308 TNT in 125 grains is a bad mama-jama from a 300SAUM at 3550fps on a groundhog.....not to mention is'a accurracy at extended ranges!!! It will definitely "launch one"!! The 50 grain TNT's are next on the list to dink with in a 22-250!!! GHD

Remington 50gr PLHP's are super accurate in both of the 222's I use. Economical, accurate, and quite explosive on ground squirrels and rock chucks.

My favorits in order of caliber
.172 v-max
.204 blizkings
.223 33gr speer tnt
.224 50gr tnt or v-max it's a tossup.
.243 65gr v-max
.270 tnt
7mm vmax
.308 v-max
.338 180gr nos.bt(this one is not a varmint bullet persay but out of a .338 lapua mag it is awsome.
.458 dead soft cast 305gr hollow points.
338vt

I will edit my post a bit to read that if you're going to shoot varmints with a gun chambered in some variation of 7mm, the 7mm, 120 Hornady VMAX has to be the exemplary nominee!!! From the 7BR to the 7mmMag(I would have included the the 7STW but have not tested that one yet with that bullet!!) that has to be the winning bullet in that diameter!!! GHD

For Goundhogs or other sub-terrainian vermin. I love Speer's 50 gr TNT, very explosive! I have to keep them under wraps in my 22-250, because they can turn into frisbees or exploded from rotaional velocities if fired to fast. Speer says not to exceed 3400fps, but I had no problems pushing them to about 3550fps any faster and weird things start to happen. A lot has to do with the twist of the rifle.

Their are bullets with higher BCs and bullets that are more accurate, but the reason I use them is that they always explode and fragment when they hit anything. They have extremely thin jackets that are fluted their entire length and cores that are made of soft lead. This makes it an ideal bullet to shoot when there may be cattle in far off fields, houses, roads or irrigation equipment in the alfafa fields we shoot in. From seeing the bullets hit the dirt, the furthest I have seen the fragments travel is about 300 yards at most. This means that these bullets break up into small pieces when they impact.

For Coyotes, I like Hornady's 55gr V-Max. They tend to hold together for a split second longer than the TNTs and give a little bit better penetration and give massive exit wounds. I wouldn't recommend it if pelt damage was important to you. The 50gr TNTs never exited on coyotes in my experience. Although they seemed to work OK. But, there have been a few that I gut shoot that we didn't find.

I also like the 55gr BT in 6mm, it seems to work good on both coyotes and groundhogs, accurate and can be pushed very fast in the 6mm Rem, 243, and so on.

My favorites are as follows:

17 Remington 25 Bergers, 25 Starke's and 30 Woodchuck Den Golden Bullets.

222 50 TNT, Hornady 50 SXSP, 40 Blitzking

223 50 TNT, 50 V-Max, 52 Starke's

22-250 50 V-max, 50 Blitzking, 52 Starke's

220 Swift 50 V-max, 52 Speer FB/HP, 55 Blitzking

.243,6MM Remington 70 Blitzking, 70 Nosler BT

6MM/284 87 V-max, 95 Berger VLD

James_B: If your TNT's are coming apart I suggest you move on over to the fine Sierra Blitz bullets (not the BlitzKings!).
The 50 and 55 grain Blitz bullets are also amazingly explosive on Varmints and I find them to be very accurate as well.
They used to have a "speed limit" on them like the TNT's but I have shot these bullets for many many years out of my 220 Swifts and 22-250's and 22 BR's! Not one midflight disintegration ever! I don't know if the "speed limit" is still in effect on these bullets or not.
I have shot the Sierra 55 gr. Blitz's at speeds above 3,700 F.P.S. in my Rifles.
Good luck if you decide to get a few extra FPS out of your 22-250 with the Blitz's!
Hold into the iwnd
VarmintGuy

Most of my varmint hunting is done with an AR so seating depth is an issue, but I have had very good accuracy and good results with the Sierra 60gr. HP..... fits in the magazine and groups under.3".

IV

My favorite bullet hasn't been invented yet. It would be a .17 caliber 30 grain VMAX. Maybe the reason it hasn't been invented yet is because it would probably be too long to be stabilized by a 9" twist barrel.