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Here are some pictures of my new (bought near the end of May 2002) Marlin 25MN 22 WMR Rifle. I have mounted a Simmons 3-9X32 Blackpowder scope on it that I got a killer deal on ($21.95 at www.natchezss.com. Please click on either image for a full size picture. |
| I have been shooting several different rounds in my new gun trying to figure out what the rifle likes the best. I have tried Winchester 40 gr. JHP (gray box), 34 gr. JHP (black box), CCI Maxi-Mags Solids, +V, TNT and Remington V-Max. So far I like the V-Max the best but they are really expensive. The +V shoot almost as good. My next favorite so far is the Winchester 40 gr. JHP. They are relatively cheap, shoot OK, and have great penetration. Should be good on bigger critters.
6/24/02 I have added some pictures of some targets I shot recently. I have also added pictures of CCI TNT bullets I pick up. 6/27/02 I have added picture of Winchester Supremes and a picture of a peice of hardwood I shot some Winchesters thru. I also added a link to a page at the bottom about not letting your brother shoot your silhouette. 07/30/02 I added the Marlin 25MN field test page. |
 CLICK TO ENLARGE Click here for CCI's web site |
 CLICK TO ENLARGE Click here for CCI's web site |
 CLICK TO ENLARGE 50 yds CCI +V 3 shots 0.69 inch group |
 CLICK TO ENLARGE 50 yds CCI TNT 3 shots 0.79 inch group Notice how the impact point is high to the right. |
 CLICK TO ENLARGE Click Here for Winchester's ammunition web site. |
 CLICK TO ENLARGE Click Here for Winchester's ammunition web site. |
   CLICK TO ENLARGE Top: 50 yds Winchester JHP 3 shots 1.25 inch group Middle: 50 yds Winchester JHP 6 shots 0.73 inch group Bottom: 50 yds Winchester JHP 7 shots 0.90 inch group |
 The above picture is a peice of 1x4 hardwood popular. Its as with most wood, acutally only 3/4 inch thick. I had it laying around so I put a few Winchester bullets through it. Click on the image and take a look at the front of the board and see if you can find the three 40 grain Winchester JHP (gray box) and the two 34 grain Winchester JHP (black box). The answer will follow on the next page. |
 CLICK TO ENLARGE |
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  CLICK TO ENLARGE Top: 50 yds Remington V-max 3 shots 0.50 inch group Bottom: 50 yds Remington V-Max 5 shots 0.98 inch group |
 CLICK TO ENLARGE 1) Winchester 40gr JHP (gray box) 2) Winchester 34gr JHP (black box) 3) Remington 33gr V-Max 4) CCI 30gr Maxi-Mag TNT 5) CCI 30gr Maxi-Mag +V |
I got a little bored so I carefully cut a few cartridges open and pulled the bullets out. Thought I would take some pictures of the bullets so here is what I got.
Notice that even though the V-max only weight 33 gr. it is the largest volume of the four bullets. That ballistic tip takes up a huge volume of the center of the bullet. I was actually surprise that the +V were jacketed. They looked like they were just coated in lubricant like Remington golden bullets and not actually jacketed. If you look carefully in the picture you can see a very thin copper jacket. The Remington and Winchester and CCI TNT bullets had much thicker jackets. The TNT has a huge hollow point that has a hexagon shape. A 3/32 allen wrench will just fit in the opening of the hollow point. The jacket is scored at the corner of the hexagon. The Winchester supreme has a very long thin hollow point and had a very deep crimp as you can see in the picture. So here is a picture of the four bullet types side by side. I have also taken a picture of the bottom of the bullets, notice the concave depression in the TNT. Click on the image for a close up. My digital camera is not the best for this close work but it did OK. |
| To cut the bullets in half I used a 4 inch razor blade that you use in a wall paper scraper and carefully drove it through the bullets with a small hammer. It seemed to work pretty well.
I notice that the Remington had very little crimp on the bullet. The TNT also had very little crimp. The CCI +V had a decent crimp and you might see the crimp mark in the picture. The Winchester JHP had a deep crimp into a crimp ring and was the hardest to get out of the case. It appeared that the CCI and Winchester was using very similar powders. It was a very fine uniform powder that the grains were nice and round and smooth. The Remington powder was slightly courser and some of the grains had flats on them and was slightly less uniform in size of the grains. One other interesting note. Remingtons web site says that the V-Max bullet is a boat tail but its clear in this picture that the bullet is not a boat tail. Did I get an old box of these? Is the boat tail new to a new production run? Is there web site incorrect? Hmmmm.... |
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