Now Hunting with CRD Nosler Varmageddon 90 gr. Ammo

[GregP42]

Brian,

Can you tell me the OAL that you have on yours? Mine came in the mail today and I am going to try them out with my go to load for the 90gr TNT and see if they play well. The data sheet says 2.240, but I can stick them out way farther than that in my pistol or bolt gun.

Greg

[Double Naught Spy]

2.2495 is off the cartridge from my magazine. Seems like a big difference, but they are cycling just fine from my AR15.

[Double Naught Spy]

Finally used it on some varmints - skunks. Works great when you hit them. Seems oddly ineffective when you don't.

[video=youtube_share;Hrt7qJVU2Gs]https://youtu.be/Hrt7qJVU2Gs[/video]

[Double Naught Spy]

I got an opportunity to hunt with the guy who is making ammo for me. He got a chance to see how I hunt and what my needs are. Chad, is himself a hunter and as it turned out we meshed pretty well.

I misjudged distances on the first property where we encountered a group of coyotes. This was a brand new property that I had toured for the first time just a few hours prior with the landowner, surveying recent hog rooting. We should have had 2 coyotes, but only ended up with one.

On to the next property, my skunk property where the landowner has been plagued with skunks this winter and Chad blew up a skunk quite nicely with a .224 Valkyrie. This was the first skittish skunk I had encountered. After he beat us the first time, I think it got personal with Chad, LOL. I bet we tracked him 300 yards and set up in him 3 times before Chad finally got a decent shot and he made the best of it.

We got onto hogs and tracked them across a muddy field and over a hill where we found out that the original 5 we saw were part of a much larger sounder. We had part of the hogs out in the open and part in higher vegetation up near the ridge top and I suggesting we take the hogs out in the open and avoid shooting over the ridge top. We ended up taking just 2 sows from the group, though I believe a couple more hogs were hit. Chad's hit on his second hog went down, but did not stay down. In total, we hit it 6 times with it going down each time, only to get back up again 5 times. We didn't necropsy, but found no exit wounds. I don't know about .224 Valkyrie performance at all, much less with ELD-M ammo, but the Varmageddon's lack of penetration is really starting to show. As will be seen in my next video (next night), the Varmageddon really isn't up to dealing with hogs. It can work, but there are just so many other better choices. I had been warned about this and now I am convinced. I have been warned about several of the bullets I have tried, LOL, some of which have done extremely well form me such as the TNT 90 gr. bullets. I like to see for myself how things will perform.

[video=youtube_share;Va0IuzPwJpk]https://youtu.be/Va0IuzPwJpk[/video]

[A5BLASTER]

I got an opportunity to hunt with the guy who is making ammo for me. He got a chance to see how I hunt and what my needs are. Chad, is himself a hunter and as it turned out we meshed pretty well.

I misjudged distances on the first property where we encountered a group of coyotes. This was a brand new property that I had toured for the first time just a few hours prior with the landowner, surveying recent hog rooting. We should have had 2 coyotes, but only ended up with one.

On to the next property, my skunk property where the landowner has been plagued with skunks this winter and Chad blew up a skunk quite nicely with a .224 Valkyrie. This was the first skittish skunk I had encountered. After he beat us the first time, I think it got personal with Chad, LOL. I bet we tracked him 300 yards and set up in him 3 times before Chad finally got a decent shot and he made the best of it.

We got onto hogs and tracked them across a muddy field and over a hill where we found out that the original 5 we saw were part of a much larger sounder. We had part of the hogs out in the open and part in higher vegetation up near the ridge top and I suggesting we take the hogs out in the open and avoid shooting over the ridge top. We ended up taking just 2 sows from the group, though I believe a couple more hogs were hit. Chad's hit on his second hog went down, but did not stay down. In total, we hit it 6 times with it going down each time, only to get back up again 5 times. We didn't necropsy, but found no exit wounds. I don't know about .224 Valkyrie performance at all, much less with ELD-M ammo, but the Varmageddon's lack of penetration is really starting to show. As will be seen in my next video (next night), the Varmageddon really isn't up to dealing with hogs. It can work, but there are just so many other better choices. I had been warned about this and now I am convinced. I have been warned about several of the bullets I have tried, LOL, some of which have done extremely well form me such as the TNT 90 gr. bullets. I like to see for myself how things will perform.

[video=youtube_share;Va0IuzPwJpk]https://youtu.be/Va0IuzPwJpk[/video]

Great vid as always bro.

No problem with testing ammo. Good on you for that. I bet them big boys I gave you will do good.

[HuntTXhogs]

It’s pretty cool that you got to hunt with the guy that makes the ammo !

I believe you’ve certainly done sufficient field work with the Varmageddon to support that it isn’t up to hog hunting terminal effect standards of other options - you have certainly saved many time and money.

It seems to have other qualities outside of hogs that make it a “keeper” for Grendel ammo options - it’s accurate and hell on lighter body game.

[Bigs28]

Wtf, no necropsy on the skunks? Sad days.



Great work as always.

[CJW]

Bigs..Now that is TOO damn funny.

[Double Naught Spy]

Last Varmageddon hog video. I really don't like how the bullet performs. It can work, but is far from ideal as far as I am concerned. While I like rounds that fragment and do a lot of damage, they also need to penetrate sufficiently and I just don't think this round is doing as well at this job as other rounds will do. I know it isn't designed for hogs or larger game, but then again, the Speer TNT 90 gr. (another varmint round) isn't either, but it kicks butt on hogs. Maybe I will get some coyotes in and get them killed with the Varmageddon bullets. Otherwise, I will be moving on to Hornady V-MAX 95 gr. bullets to see how they do.

[video=youtube_share;sAKwAFDeS2s]https://youtu.be/sAKwAFDeS2s[/video]

[CJW]

I am amazed you didn’t find that first hog.....

[Double Naught Spy]

I knew right it was as well. It was on a pile of leftover hay from a round bale. No blood. No idea which way it went. ERRRRR!

[Michael-95037]

DNS, Another great video. For those of us hunting in non-lead states, have you done any hunting/testing with copper bullets? I'm thinking of loading up some Barnes TTSX 100gr. Would you recommend them? I was using a Win 270 with 130gr. Nosler Partitions until they became illegal. I'm getting back into hunting and I'll be switching to the Grendel and copper for pigs this year. No night hunting in California, so I usually hunt just before sunset and my typical shots for pigs are right around 75-125 yards.

Thanks

[Double Naught Spy]

DNS, Another great video. For those of us hunting in non-lead states, have you done any hunting/testing with copper bullets? I'm thinking of loading up some Barnes TTSX 100gr. Would you recommend them? I've been using a Win 270, but will be switching the Grendel for pigs this year. I usually hunt just before sunset and my typical shots for pigs are right around 75-125 yards.

Thanks

I have hunted with Cavity Back bullets. HuntTXhogs has done some work with Maker TREX bullets. I have some Barnes LRX 127s that A5Blaster gave me to test, but haven't yet.

In the mean time, the first 11 results of this search are Cavity Back results...
https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRan...avity+back
There are some informative videos in this group that will give you some idea how the bullets perform, but be sure to check out this video. I lost the hog, but it was a pretty amazing loss, I thought - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDHUyk-J7sU&t=6s

Also see these for Maker TREX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnepAXQPhUc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wququucKsY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFJF_7shv6Y

The Maker TREX seem to hold on to their petals better than the Cavity Back Bullets.

[CS Vrdad]

I wish Maker sold loaded ammo in 6.5 for those of us who can't reload.

[Double Naught Spy]

That is where companies like Precision Firearms or Custom Reloads of Dallas (who does my ammo) come into play and can make ammo for you. CRD does new ammo or reloads as desired. http://www.DallasReloads.com Precision Firearms has a wide select that they offer. I don't know if they would do actual custom work or not.

[A5BLASTER]

I wish Maker sold loaded ammo in 6.5 for those of us who can't reload.

They use to sale a 6.5 grendel trex load?

[Bigs28]

Cs. Paul at maker will load ammo for you. Just call him.