the new Hornady 20 grain is what to use for anything bigger than a Raccoon.
Hornady re-engineered the design of the bullet, putting it back to 20 grains, but making the ogive or something different. Its a tack driver as well, but a better constructed bullet to take larger game like a coyote.
The original 17 grain is still available......for putting little critters to sleep.
Nice kill on the squash!
On the 17 gr VMax:
It is highly frangible. Shoot a paper target backed by plywood and you'll see where the tiny fragments splash back from the surface of the wood, leaving pinholes in the paper from the backside.
Hitting anything disintegrates the bullet.
I found where I had hit a sumac branch the size of my little finger squarely. It left the complete jacket wadded up on my side of the wood, while the rest of the bullet punched through.
This little round is safer than any .22 round for plinking because of this. Out of thousands of rounds that I've fired, I have never seen any evidence of a ricochet.
It is the perfect round for turtles in a pond.
On the 20 gr XTP:
This is all I shoot anymore. It is still highly frangible, but does hold together when penetrating
soft flesh.
A ricochet results in fragments of less than 20 grains which have been scrubbed of speed and energy. I still feel this round is safer than .22 lr.
As for killing coyotes with it, I recommend head shots on stationary animals. Some people have had luck with heart/lung shots, but to me, the risk of the bullet deflecting off of a rib with non fatal results is there.
I know that people have had great results with hogs, making ear/neck shots. I haven't had the opportunity to try that yet.
On coons I have had many one shot kills through the body. Most of those were on treed animals.
I prefer head shots on anything that size or larger. The accuracy, bullet construction, and energy of the XTP has given me great results in that application. I have yet to lose an animal.
As you pointed out previously, when the little HMR comes out, animals die in a big way.
