204Ruger

It seems like the no one has tried J. Calhoon .20 cal. bullets in 33 &39 gr. going off the zero replies to my previous question. If that's the case, would anyone say why they haven't tried these bullets.Lets have some answers. Pretty please.

I was happy with the 39gr BK's & the 40gr Bergers & I don't really care much for bench shooting so I just quit when I found what I was looking for with those.

Glen, please excuse my ignorance. I didn't realize that J Calhoons bullets were for target shooting. When i read DHP i assumed they were some super duper varmint round. Thanks for the education lesson. Ken.

I use the 52grn DHP JCalhoons in my 22-250 with great results on coyotes. Taken from under 100yrds to just over 300, they all took the dirt nap with no need of a follow up. Very fur friendly with usually no exit. I have a .204 in a AR and have the 33s loaded up with 27.5grns of Benchmark at a chronied 4020 fps. I have yet to get out with this set up to see how they do on yotes. Like you, I have inquired other peoples feedback on these pills with little to no response. Myself, these are all I use. Amazingly accurate, very fur friendly, and like TNT on PDs. My .204 is 1:12 twist and don't know how the 39s will work. The 33s shoot good on paper, just need a test subject from the sagebrush to see how they compare to my 22-250. I also am not a bench rest shooter but these sure work great in the field. Hope this hepls.

platapus, Thanks very much for that useful reply. Cheers, Ken.

The only "problem" with the Calhoon bullets is distribution and marketing. He doesn't sell to distributors, so they are sold "word of mouth" pretty much. You can't run down to the local shop and buy 100 to try out, so people are somewhat wary of them.
Calhoon boxes his bullets in 250 count packages, which "ups" the price, which also makes folks wary of them. I'd never have tried any, except a friend who lives close to Calhoon sent me a "box" of them for a slight favor I did (nothing worth a whole box of bullets, I'd have done it for nothing).
FWIW, the little .224" 37DHP is fun to play with in .223 rifles. I haven't gotten round to ordering any .20 bullets, yet, but I DO intend to order some bullets from him, some day. I just haven't needed any bullets this year, I haven't done enough shooting to justify buying anything at all. Oddly enough, I got better accuracy out of the 37s in my .223s than I did the .221 Fireball, which would seem to be better suited to such a light bullet. . They sure kill a PD with authority, if the wind isn't blowing too much.

G.A; That puts things into perspective. I asked the question because i have a 19 cal. barrel on order and thought i may as well order some of his 20 cal. bullets to come at the same time.Thanks,Ken. glen, i thought you were saying that Calhoons were for paper punching, i've now sussed out what you were meaning. Regards, Ken.

We used to shoot Calhoon bullets in our .223 guns for pd's. They were VERY accurate in my Tikka varmint, and they would really explode on impact. And if my memory is right, they were cheaper than most of the other varmint bullets at that time. I knew they would shoot in my .223, and buying a box of 250 bullets didn't bother me. But, the price increased (I think), and I could shoot v-max cheaper. Then after switching to .204's for pd's, I just didn't want to order boxes of 250 bullets, not knowing if they would shoot in my Coopers. The Blitzkings shot very well, and guess I just never got around to experimenting with the Calhoon's.
Don't get me wrong, Calhoon makes some fine bullets, wish I could buy some in smaller quantities to try.

Well kenbrofox, I didn't respond to your post because I've never used the 20 cal. Calhoun bullets. But, I do use them in 223, both the 52 DBH and the 37 DBH. My results have been the same as platapus's with the 52's. As of yet, I've never shot any Coyotes or Fox with the 37's, but I have every intention to this year. Buying 250 bullets at a time never really bothered me, especially since the Berger 17's come in 200 count instead of the old 100 count. When I bought 17 cal. bullets from Chappie (Genco Bullets) I never bought less than 500 at a time, therefore, 250 seemed like a small order to me.
James Calhoun is one of the nicest fella's you will ever meet. When I bought my first bullets from him I explained what I was looking for and he recommended the 52DHP. He then sent me 250 of his "seconds" to work loads up with also.
As for accuracy, they are as good as the 52gr. match bullets I have. I don't do much benchrest shooting and the 223 rifle I use once in a while for Coyotes is a Ruger Ultralight still in factory form. With a bunch of W 748 stuffed in LC brass with Rem. 7 1/2 primers to ignite it, it averages 1/2" to 3/4" at 100yds. I can't ask for anything more. And that is with either the 37gr or the 52's.
I don't know if this helps or not, but that has been my experience with Calhoun bullets.

K22

Hi Ken. Sorry for the confusion up there.

I was out in the gun room last night & just happened upon an empty box from HSM ammo. It was labelled with the 33gr Calhoun DHP. If I remember correctly my particular Rem 700 didn't shoot them any better than an inch or so at 100yds. BUT that was in my rifle & BEFORE I put the good thumbhole stock with a wider fore end on it. The 39gr BK load I'm using shoots 3/4" at 200yds & I can live with that in my neck of the woods. The 40gr Berger load shoots 1/2" at 100yds with some occasional small clusters,, I'm not good at bench shooting because I don't like it ,, and that is good enough for coyotes where I hunt.

Once again Sorry for the confusion up there.

I've used (or tested) 33gr Calhoon made by HSM. I've no idea of the velocity or any other ballistic info, so may not be of much help. The HSM loading uses the "33gr Calhoon DBL HP -Double Hollow Point" (off the box).
Now my .204 doesn't really like any of the factory 32gr loads, and I don't reload yet. I find the Fed.39gr are best with good accuracy, sometimes 40 and even 45 gr Hornady go well too, but inconsistent. The 34grJHP Winchester do quite well too, but I've really settled on the 39s. However, here they are expensive, and so I thought I'd give the HSM loads a go. Again, in my rifle they aren't brilliant, but a bit cheaper to run. I haven't used them on pests yet, but will when able in the next month or two.
Rifle is a Kimber 84M varmint Wood and stainless fluted. Cheers.

James Calhoon is a custom bullet maker in addition to being a very fine gunsmith. He prefers to sell in larger quantities to make it profitable for himself to make custom bullets. He is not a machine like Hornady or Sierra has to make bullets...

And he is a varmint hunter first and foremost, and not a bench rest shooter. His bullets are designed for varmint hunting purposes.

If you take his prices for 250 bullets - in any caliber he makes - and look at the price you are actually paying for 100 bullets in that cost, you will find that his bullets are very reasonable, especially for a custom bullet maker.

http://www.jamescalhoon.com/

JMo - BCB

Bayou City Boy wrote:James Calhoon is a custom bullet maker in addition to being a very fine gunsmith. He prefers to sell in larger quantities to make it profitable for himself to make custom bullets. He is not a machine like Hornady or Sierra has to make bullets...

And he is a varmint hunter first and foremost, and not a bench rest shooter. His bullets are designed for varmint hunting purposes.

If you take his prices for 250 bullets - in any caliber he makes - and look at the price you are actually paying for 100 bullets in that cost, you will find that his bullets are very reasonable, especially for a custom bullet maker.

http://www.jamescalhoon.com/

JMo - BCB

I have to totally agree with you. Its been close to 15 yrs ago when I first heard of these. My uncle new of three doctors at a local hospital and between them went through literally tens of thousands of rounds a year varminting and he gave me a hand full to try back when we just shot alot of PDs. I was sold and have used them in my 22-250 ever since. They really shine as a fur friendly bullet. I don't shoot as much as I did when I was younger (not for lack of not wanting to, kids came along. lol), but I usuall buy 1000 at a time. They last a little longer than they used to. I could be wrong (and probably am) but I think that one of the reasons behind the DHP design has to do with ricochet. They are very frangable. When I got a .204 I knew what bullet I would be using. When first sighting in the .204 with a peice fire wood as a target holder, I split the wood with an axe. The biggest peice I found was the size of a BB or smaller. They just come apart on impact, not splashing like the plastic tipped bullets making them a better fur bullet IMO. My one and only complaint is that I wish he would make some in the .243 caliber up to the 87-90 grn. They would make one heck of a long range monster. They may not be mainstream, but more than worth a try

As i said earlier, i have a 19 cal barrel,reamer, bullets and cases on order with James. Now due to the exellent response from many forum members i am a very happy bunny and would like to say a big thankyou to all. Cheers,Ken. PS. got 2 muntjac and 1 fallow pricket Sun/Mon. Not able to post pics. sorry.