I just was wondering how many 7mm pistol shooters knew the Hornady 7mm 120 V-Max & Hornady 7mm 120 Single shot pistol bullet are one and the same?

Leverman,
Looking in the Hornady handbook, the two bullets have identical values but their catalog numbers are different.

When Hornady discontinued their 7mm 120 gr. ssp I contacted them to see what they recommended. They didn't tell me they were the same, but they DID say that the 120 gr. V-Max should perform well on deer at 7mm TCU velocities, which is what I had been shooting the ssp out of.

Internal construction may be very similar, but obviously the polymer tip on the V-Max is different. "Similar performance" was probably the point being made rather than "identical bullets".

When Hornady announced they were discontinuing the 120 Single shot pistol bullet, I was really panic stricken. I called up and talked to their ballistic technician named Bob who also shoots T/C Contender pistols. He indicated the two bullets are the same. He even went so far as to send me two 120 V-Max's that had been cut in half vertically. Inside was the Hornady interlock ring of the 7mm SSPB. If the 120 V-Max is shot at high velocity from a 280 Remington it acts like a V-max bullet. If it is shot at moderate velocities like the 7-30 Waters the bullets expands like a single shot pistol bullet. The intelock ring hold the jacket and core together at lower velocities.

I never thought about this before but you could make a reduce recoil load using H4895 and Hodgdons youth data for a 280 Remington or even 7mm Magnum and run the bullet at a velocity of 2500 fps and it would make a great youth deer load.

Anyway it is a great bullet either way.

Well, there ya' go. I don't remember who I talked to, but they only told me it would "perform about the same". Now I know why.