Barnes Varmint Grenade - Updated: field results in!

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prosper

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Well, these have been out for a while, and I just picked up a couple boxes of them :)

Does anyone have any experience with them yet? How well do they perform at lower speeds? I'm thinking of loading some up in my Hornet

Anyway, for such a long bullet (they're about the size and shape of a 50 grainer), these 36 grainers sure have a sh!tty BC at .149. Hell, add 4 grains, and the 40 grain VMAX pills are in the .200 range. With such poor aerodynamics, these varmint grenades seem to be intended for strictly short (inside 200 or so) range gopher detonation. Still, they're 50% more efficient than the 35 VMAX and are only one grain heavier. They fit in the mag of my Hornet, and should be coming out the muzzle at the same speed as the 35's

Update:
Back from Viking. Shot a hundred Varmint grenades, and a hundred 35 VMAX, as well as a handful of 40 VMAX out of my Hornet today.

The 36 grain Grenades had shown a lot of promise at the range, and shot to nearly the same POI out to a hundred yards as the 35's, at nearly identical velocities. The 40's demonstrated poor accuracy when seated to magazine length

In the gopher patch today, most shots I took with the Hornet were around a hundred yards, with a handful out to maybe 200. There were a lot of little tiny mouse-sized gophers out, and a few bigger ones. All bullets performed about the same on the big guys; i.e., bang-splot! On the smaller guys, though, the Grenade was less than consistent. Sometimes you saw a lot of red in the scope, sometimes, the bullet just drilled through producing similar results as a 22lr.

I think I'll continue using 35's for the most part, with a few Grenades loaded and handy for windier conditions - they's about 50% more efficient than the 35's, and about equal in all other regards 'cept price.
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their actual shape makes them appear to have a BC of .230-.240

they struck me by looks to be a 53-55 grain flat base

the 6mm version (62 grain) look like a 75-80 grain HP


I havent shot any but will try some this summer in my 221 fireball. I am impressed by the look of them that is for sure.
 
check over at predatormasters.com. A few guys have done some tests and so far all results have not been good.

I was kinda hoping they would be good. I will try some anyways but it doesnt look promising.
 
From what I'm reading on predatormasters, they seem to deliver as advertised on gophers and smaller critters. And, as usual for Barnes, they seem to be picky to load for.

They're a little spendy, too, so I find myself hoping that they're nothing special, and I can go back to my 40's
 
Well, I just got back from the range. Fired off a few of these from my Hornet, and they're amazingly accurate.

I coated them in Danzac (tungsten disulfide) as I do all of my bullets, and loaded up a bunch of Hornet rounds. I had to seat them extremely deep so they would still function through the magazine, thus compressing the powder charge. Most accurate load was the same as the most accurate load with the 35 grain VMAX, my usual bullet for the Hornet at 13.1 grains of hodgdon lil-gun. MV was about 3050, slightly higher than what the 35 grainers give, though the pressure was likely driven up by the much more compressed load and the longer bearing surface of the Varmint Grenade as opposed to the 35 VMAX. Plus, it was a scorcher today, +30 and sunny so the actual MV might be more in line with the 35's on a cooler day. POI was exactly the same as with the 35's.

So, the only remaining question I have is how well (relative to the VMAX in general and the 35 grainer in particluar) do the varmint grenades fragment at low velocities (the impact velocity from a hornet at 200 yards is only around 1900 fps).

If they provide varmint vaporization at Hornet speeds, then I think I'll stick with them in this application. They slightly out perform the 35 grain vmax in all aspects - MV, accuracy (slightly), and BC is 50% better. They're rather more expensive though (damn Barnes!)
 
Back from Viking. Shot a hundred Varmint grenades, and a hundred 35 VMAX, as well as a handful of 40 VMAX out of my Hornet today.

The 36 grain Grenades had shown a lot of promise at the range, and shot to nearly the same POI out to a hundred yards as the 35's, at nearly identical velocities. The 40's demonstrated poor accuracy when seated to magazine length

In the gopher patch today, most shots I took with the Hornet were around a hundred yards, with a handful out to maybe 200. There were a lot of little tiny mouse-sized gophers out, and a few bigger ones. All bullets performed about the same on the big guys; i.e., bang-splot! On the smaller guys, though, the Grenade was less than consistent. Sometimes you saw a lot of red in the scope, sometimes, the bullet just drilled through producing similar results as a 22lr.

I think I'll continue using 35's for the most part, with a few Grenades loaded and handy for windier conditions - they's about 50% more efficient than the 35's, and about equal in all other regards 'cept price.


Next up: testing these guys in the 22-250 and 222!
 
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