I have a dpms cmp rifle with the stainless 20" 1in 8 barrel. Does anyone have any idea how it will shoot with the 45 and 50 grain varmit bullets such as the amax? I have a leatherwood scope mount and delta cheekpiece for it and was wanting to try it for varmit shooting.

40 and 45s might be a little too fragile for it.

The Nosler Balistic Tips in 50grn weight will probably hold together, I find the Nosler to be a little bit more heavily constructed than the Hornady Vmax and Sierra BlitzKing.      The Speer TNT at 50grns will probably be blown apart by the 1:8 twist but that is just a guess, that is a VERY fragile bullet.

Any of the varmint bullets in the 55grn weights should do fine though, velocity will come down just enough that they should hold together fine and they will be right on par performance wise with the lighter bullets.

Accuracy or stability wise, 50-60grn bullets in the Vmax or Balistic Tip line should work very nicely.

Just try them at the range,  I have a bushy dcm that shoots win 45gr vp hp verrrrrryy  well.

you can shoot the ligh 40's-50's but velocity's got to be dropped down quite a bit or else nothing will hit the target when it's fired

Quoted: you can shoot the ligh 40's-50's but velocity's got to be dropped down quite a bit or else nothing will hit the target when it's fired

In my experience that is only true when shooting those bullets at .22-250 velocities. I've done a lot of prairie dog shooting with 40 and 50 grain bullets in my AR (1:8.5 twist) with no problems with them disintegrating due to rotational stresses.

The dimensions and finish of both the throat and barrel of your rifle, will be the biggest influence
on accuracy and external integrity of whatever bullet is sent downrange.

The Sierra Blitzking 50gr is a favorite of mine in one particular rifle(1-7) that has a long leade and normally shoots lousy with 50gr bullets.

For some reason the Ogive and the leade work together in this rifle.

As for bullet integrity, don't sweat it with the 1-8 at .223 velocitys.
The old Sierra blitz might "Poof" with a abrupt leade in a 1-7 with max loads, but allowing for a proper chamber and barrel you should be OK even with this load.

Get a box of 2 or 3 different bulllets and tinker. Let the rifle tell you what it likes, each one is an individual.

The V-max, Blitzkings and Speer TNT's are best bets and a good starting point.

Just make sure that after initial firing for groups @ 100m, ya shoot at 200m or beyond to see if they get weird. It's not uncommon for groups to open up drasticly past that point due to distance to stabilization.

Though I suspect your rig will be fine with the general rules and favorite loadings.
DPMS generally does a good job.

Best of luck!
S-28

I like the Remington Premier 50gr. VMAX ammo.Shoots tight and accurate at long range.Very explosive bullet.Works for ground hogs up to coyote's with no problems.I have to warn you though the VMAX will make a mess on small game...that is if you make a bad shot on something you plan to eat.Really fragments and chews.
Raymond

Thanks to all who replied. I will try some vmax and ballistic tips in 50 and 55 grain and see what happens. I am not wanting them to eat, however, I would like to have a couple of prairie dogs mounted.

Mounted?

Then Do NOT use any of the mentioned bullets!!!

Try a heavy match bullet for that.
The lighter weight  varmint stuff makes some impressive "Blowouts" even at some 2-300yds and that's a lot of work for the Taxidermist to patch up!


Tried like mad to get a Meerkat a couple of years ago that wasn't too tore up for the taxidermist.
Ended up using an R4 and RSA issue Ball. Even the cheapo low-tech PMP soft points were tearing things up too bad.

Best of luck!
S-28

P.S.
Didn't get the Meerkat back from the taxidermist.
Umbathuma Taxidermy went bankrupt, and someone saw fit to not transfer the critter to the buyer!

Good luck in the endeavor!