MSS Varmint Nightmare Bullet Reviewwww.midsouthshooterssupply.comMidsouth Shooters Supply a GBO Sponsor has been selling bullets under their name and calling them Varmint Nightmare for at least a couple years now. I’ve bought some from them in the past for my .17 Fireball though I’ve not tried them yet and bought some of the 50 grain .224” SPs as well and have used those in the past. In fact the 50 grain SP has proved to be my most accurate hand load so far for my Remington 700 SPS Varmint rifle in .22-250. I’ve not done extensive load development for that rifle yet either but my first series with it using H380 and the MSS 50 grain Nightmare delivered groups hovering right at the half inch mark at 100 yards. I called it good for then as I had a prairie dog shoot to go to and just didn’t have time to do further testing at the time. Sadly I’ve not gotten back to it for further development yet but with a load that shoots like that it just hasn’t been a priority.
The same 50 grain bullet has worked well in some loads for my pair of .223 Remington Varmint rifles I took to a previous shoot as well. I’d have to hunt hard to locate the specifics on those loads but suffice to say they were up to the task for prairie dog shooting.
I had a marathon shooting session this morning (10-08-09) firing a total of 100 rounds from two rifles for a total of 20 five shot groups. Over all I was a bit disappointed that groups were no smaller but some were quite excellent and some were rather dismal. I did shoot fast and the barrels did get hot and at times mirage was a factor so might be a partial excuse for the larger groups.
I did learn the chamber of the Model Seven Predator is much tighter than the M700 SPS Varmint as with all rounds chambering was more difficult and all rounds were full length sized. Over all the SPS shot more accurately but I guess that was no surprise. Loads were not specifically worked up for either rifle just pulled from manuals at random and put together. I think smallest five shot group was around a half inch and largest around two inches. Most were around 1.2” or less. Within the larger five shot groups many three and four shot clusters were quite tight perhaps indicating my shooting or the mirage was at fault not the ammo or rifles. With AA2460 powder all groups with the SPS varmint were well under an inch whereas in the Model Seven that group shot the second worst of all so what one rifle liked had little bearing on what the other liked and really proved to me the overall results mostly just indicated I need to work up specific loads for each rifle with the MSS bullets to see just how well the bullets can perform.
Within some of the not so great five shot groups based on max spread of the full five shots I had several with sub clusters of three and four shots that measured a mere quarter of an inch center to center. Those loads are definitely worth exploring more for those rifles as I’m sure my hurried pace and/or the mirage from barrel heat made that one shot go wide that changed an otherwise super tight group into a so-so group for five shots. That some loads turned in five shot half inch and less groups tells me the bullets are clearly up to the task.
It also showed me what I’ve seen in the past and that is that I prefer 40 and 50 grain bullets over 55 grain in the .223 and that all the shooting I’ve done so far with all my rifles in .223 it seems all preferred the lighter bullets over the 55s though some groups with the 55s have proved to be very good indeed. I just tend to have more of those really good groups with 40s and 50s no matter the bullet maker.
I’ve now shot their (MSS) 55 grain bullets in three rifles in two chamberings (.223 and .22-250) and can form some opinions on the bullets. They seem to work as well as anyone’s and do cost considerably less than most and seem to be in stock most of the time. I think they are an excellent choice especially so for volume shooting in ARs and such due to their economy and they do shoot as well as any other standard bullet in my experience.
Currently they offer .224” 55 grain bullets in quantities of 500 or 2000, .224” 50 grain SP in 500 count boxes, 55 grain .224 Premium SP and HP bullets in 500 count boxes as well as a 34 grain flat base HP .224” bullet also in 500 packs. They also have bullets for your .204 Ruger rifles, a 34 grain flat base HP and for your .17s they have a 20 grain .172” flat base HP and as with the rest they sell them in 500 count boxes. Current catalog prices run from $35.24 to $44.67 per 500 but prices are subject to change so do be sure to check for current pricing. Still some premium bullets run that much or more per 100 and these are well made accurate bullets from my experience to date.
Some highlights from today’s marathon shooting session showed my SPS Varmint really liked these 55s with AA2460. I loaded three loads at 23.0, 24.0 and 25.0 grains and seated bullets to 2.250” C.O.L. Groups respectively averaged 0.9”, 0.50” and 0.75” for five shots at 100 yards. Not bad for loads just pulled from a book and not yet tweaked for the rifle.
By way of contrast the Model Seven Predator shot those same loads into 2.0”, 1.5” and 1.2” groups respectively showing it didn’t like the same thing the SPS did. My best for the day with the Model Seven came with Varget where both loads gave five shot groups of 1.2” and four shot groups of only 0.8”. That really is pretty much as good as I’ve gotten from that rifle so far as I recall. I think I had one load that turned in about the 0.75” to 0.80” size groups that I took to the PD shoot this year but due to limited shooting with it before going I can’t say if it can or can’t do better yet.
Varget turned in the second best performance from the SPS followed by AA2230 and W748 surprisingly to me came in dead last in the SPS with groups of 1.4” and 1.45” with the two loads tried. I’m sure some development work can do better as in the past some of my all time best .223 loads have come with W748 powder with both 40 and 50 grain bullets.
I will update this review from time to time as I do more load development with the MSS Varmint Nightmare bullets. I still a supply of them in both 50 and 55 grain weights in .224” plus an unopened box of the .172” 20 grain to work with in my .17 Fireball.
For now I can say that if you give them a try I’m sure you’ll be pleased with their performance and more than pleased with their price.
First follow up on review:
I did some more shooting for this review today (11-03-09)
Using the Rem 700 SPS Varmint .223 I shot a group with the MSS 55 grain bullet over 25.5 grains of AA2460. I had a flyer that opened group to 0.9” but the other four went into a tight cluster measuring only 0.276”. Flyers were a common thread in my shooting today for some reason. I think that reason was the shooter.
It was the only group fired today with this rifle that I think was valid. It obviously has become fouled and accuracy has degraded badly from last shooting session. I’m going to clean the barrel and shoot these loads again as I just don’t think today’s results other than this one were indicative of what the loads are capable of. I’ve lost count of the rounds fired since last cleaning on this rifle and it’s just not fair to report specifics until I clean it and see if it repeats the good or the less good results of today.
Below is the one group I’m reporting on today.
