First Look: Hornady V-Match Ammunition

For those who love the pursuit of woodchucks, rockchucks, prairie dogs and other varmints, Hornady has given much to be happy about with their new V-Match ammunition line. Loaded with the new ELD-VT projectile, this is an excellent means of creating the ‘red mist’ that varmint hunters love.

The new projectile is the key to the equation, as it blends the uniformity, aerodynamics and accuracy of the ELD-X and ELD Match lines with a thinner jacket which results in near-explosive expansion. The Hornady AMP bullet jacket is very uniform jacket, and it renowned for its excellent concentricity. Mate the AMP jacket with the proprietary Heat Shield polymer tip—which will maintain its integrity throughout the flight of the bullet—and you’re looking at the main ingredients of the ELD bullet formula, but with the ELD-VT projectile, the lead core is significantly shortened. This moves the bullet’s center of gravity considerably rearward, as well as leaving a large air void behind the Heat Shield tip. Upon impact, that tip will move rearward, into that air cavity, and the compression of the air will violently force the bullet jacket outward; this gives the violent expansion that varmint hunters love.

So with a new bullet design, Hornady has released the V-Match line of ammunition, which is available in 22 ARC with a 62-grain ELD-VT, 6mm Creedmoor with a 80-grain ELD-VT, 6.5 Grendel and 6.5 Creedmoor, both with a 100-grain ELD-VT. The bullet is also available in component form for the reloaders, with the .224-inch 62-grain, 6mm 80-grain, 6.5mm 100-grain and (perhaps most interestingly) .308-inch 174-grain all being on the menu. Based on the successes and longevity of the ELD Match and ELD-X bullet lines, and the results Hornady has shown, I feel comfortable saying that the ELD-VT projectile line and the V-Match ammunition line will be equally successful.

For more information on the new V-Match ammo, visit hornady.com.