by John Markwell | Contributing Editor
The Thunder Ranch MVP rifle from Mossberg was a stellar performer with the new American Eagle .223 Varmint/Predator ammunition. The 50-gr. hollow point bullets should be poison on varmints.
Although we consume a serious amount of handloaded ammunition, we are always on the lookout for economical factory fodder for our varmint rifles. Federal (federalpremium.com) has recently stepped up with a new addition to the American Eagle line with their Varmint & Predator bulk-packed ammunition. Available in the following calibers; .17 Hornet, .22 Hornet, .223 Rem., .22-250 Rem., .243 Win. and .308 Win., the V/P ammo is put up in 50 or 40 count (243 & 308) bulk packs that are just the ticket for high-volume shooting.
We managed to get a supply of the new Varmint/Predator ammo in .223 Remington and tested it in four rifles with three different barrel twist rates. As expected, the 50-gr. jacketed hollow point bullets did not perform all that well when fired from an AR carbine with a 1:7 twist Bergara barrel. This barrel is accurate with heavier bullets but it did not like the light 50-grain varmint bullets at all, posting groups in the 2 to 3 inch range.
It was an entirely different story when the 50-gr. HP bullets of the 223 V/P ammo was fired in a group measuring .68” with three of the bullets cutting one small ragged hole. The average of five groups was .87”. To say we were pleased is an understatement. We also shot the .223 V/P ammo through our Manners-stocked FN TSR rifle, again with a 1:9 twist barrel. This barrel shoots 77-gr. SMK ammo extremely well which has led us to believe that it is a faster than normal 1:9 twist barrel. We could be wrong on this, but that’s our theory.
Anyway, the FN TSR consistently shot the .223 50-gr. JHP load into groups measuring just barely over 1 inch. Lastly, we shot the V/P .223 ammo out of our Marc Soulie-built Spartan Walkabout with its skinny Bergara 1:10 twist barrel. We could not for the life of us fire a group with the Walkabout without a called flyer. Every group exceeded one-inch by a fair amount so we ended up averaging the best four shots of each to get the average indicated in the chart. In many cases, three shots from the Walkabout were in a tight cluster with the remaining shots enlarging the groups; not typical for this rifle.
Statistics:
Rifle/bbl. Twist/length Velocity/extreme spread Group size
Mossberg MVP 3156fps/23 .87”
Thunder Ranch 9 twist/ 18”
FN TSR 3155fps/41 1.32”
1:9 twist/20”
AR 15 3040fps/47 2-3”
Bergara 1:7 twist/16”
Spartan Walkabout
Bergara 1:10 twist/20” 3162fps/33 1.15”
The 223 Rem Varmint & Predator ammo is put up in virgin brass cases. These cases are reloadable, but do come with crimped primer pockets. We use a C& H primer pocket swager for quickly and easily dealing with these pesky crimps. We do not know if the other calibers of V/P ammo have crimped primer pockets. The V/P ammo is ignited by Federal primers and, depending caliber, is loaded with either jacketed hollow point or polymer tipped varmint bullets.
We feel Federal has hit a home run with this premium bulk-packed ammunition. For those who do not reload, the Varmint & Predator line of ammunition offers a good value for the volume varmint and predator hunter. Priced, at this writing, from $33.95 for 50 rounds of 223 to $52.95 for some of the other calibers, the Varmint & Predator line of ammo offers shooters great performance at an affordable price. We are looking forward to busting some furry critters with this new ammo. Good Shooting.
