Berger bullets for hunting? Anyone tryed this?

killswithkimber

killswithkimber

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I recently purchased a box of berger bullets from the states, I have heard they shoot well but lots of people are pretty skeptical an how well they will perform on a animal. Well I decided to find out for myself. I went out last thursday and managed to call in a coyote to about 200 yards. I took a straight on shot and leveled him. But when I was about 100 yards from him he stood up and ran into a narrow creek bottom. He would run about 100 yards at a time and stop to look back . Well to make a long story short Along the way in our chase I made 6 more what should have been killing shots . Two double lungs,two necks , a texas heart and finaly a spine shot to end the chase . I usually shoot blitzkings or V max's and it kills them dead in there tracks. But iI was just curious if anyone else has had a bad experiance using these for hunting?
 
I was talking to a friend one day up north and he had a sim situation when he shot a bear with them it took him 6 or 7 shots to stop it and he hit with eveyone. I guess it could have been shot placement but i'd have to say no as he was one of the better hunters I know an ex hunting guide up in the yukon.
 
Which Berger bullets are you using, and in which caliber? I've killed a couple hundred coyotes with 52 grain Varmint Match and more than a few with Berger Match. There's a big difference between the two, the Varmint Match has a much bigger hollow-point in .224 and .17 caliber, but curiously the .204 Varmint Match looks like the target bullet with a pin-point hollow-point. They don't work so great, but the "real" Varmint Match clobber coyotes.
 
VLD's work excellent for hunting but are an incredably fussy bullet with reguard to seating depth... the match Bergers do not work very well on big game... SMK's and Amax bullets work EXTREMELY well on anything including big game... shoot what works for ya...
 
We killed 3 deer, a moose and a black bear with VLD's this fall, all one shot kills. That many rounds into a coyote he had to be dribbling innards every where, he sure would have even using a 22 lr!
 
Some of the Bergers are good hunting bullets, or I should say they are as good as any standard cup and core bullet (Hornady).

Their hunting bullets are accuracy oriented and focus on the long range hunter....Here they are hard to beat.
Berger does make target bullets and these are hopeless on game.

Up close (inside normal hunting distances) I would much prefer a TSX, Accubond, or Partition...Especially on larger game.

What caliber and bullets were you shooting?
 
I loaded up some 168 7mms and was gung hoe to go shoot a deer,bear, moose out to long distances!

They shot great, After watching some real penetration testing from the beyond belief video, I was not impressed, as they would only go into wet news paper 5-6 inches, and you could not find the bullet, becides the jacket in small bits.. in the same token what looked like a TSX went through the intire Box 3 feet and kept going, and was shot at the same distance of 700 yards.

I shot mine on paper and loaded up 160 TSX bullets for my LR hunting rig.

I have shot a few deer with some match bullets, with succes, even though the VDL is a hunting bullet, berger makes target bullets. If they ever come out with a bonded bullet I will try that one
 
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I, for one, will not be abandoning my favorite "Proven" game bullets for a bullet that may or may not work well. If It is too far to shoot with a Partition, TTSX or an Accubond, then it is out of my range, and will live to see another day. Regards, Eagleye.
 
I had very poor results with 168 grain vlds and my 300 rum. I seen two elk shot with them and the first one was a cow shot at about 200 yards . She soaked up 4 hits in the chest and ran for 300 yards before one in the head finished the job . The next one was a good bull shot at about 80 yards. He was going up a steep incline away from us and took the bullet in the spine dropping him in his tracks. This is very rare for an elk to go straight down as I have found them to be about the second toughest animal to take down. The bullet separated the meat from the spine for 8" on either side of the impact point. I then shot my whitetail with the same rig and the first shot that should have went through the shoulder hit and never penetrated more than two inches of meat and never touched bone. This was at about 100 yards a quick follow up behind the shoulder resulted in a hole you could stick your fist in and a very short blood trail. I think they may be a good bullet in say a 308 or something else that doesn't push them too hard. I think that 3500 fps out of my RUM might be too much for them. The rest will be used as coyote rounds of for gophers. I did shoot 6 or 7 yotes with them and kills were perfect dropped dogs on the spot with out a flicker of their tails after.
 
I don't know much about hunting but 77gr SMK is the chosen bullet for the US MK262 round due to its excellent fragmentation property. 69gr SMK is also acceptable for anti-personel work. The 168 gr AMAX was also supposed to be one of the most excellent anti-personel bullet.
 
Sounds like these bullets are designed to mushroom easily. So lonnnngggg distances are where they are best when the velocity has dropped off significantly. Hit something close up at high speeds and they go into a million bits.
 
tbdtp said:
I had very poor results with 168 grain vlds and my 300 rum.
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Well no sh*t. Too light a bullet for the case capacity.

I seen two elk shot with them and the first one was a cow shot at about 200 yards . She soaked up 4 hits in the chest and ran for 300 yards before one in the head finished the job.
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I refer you to the knowledgeable LR hunters who already said that they were a poor close range choice.

The next one was a good bull shot at about 80 yards.
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Was this also using the 300 RUM? Some people really shouldn't be allowed to choose their own hunting rifles.

He was going up a steep incline away from us and took the bullet in the spine dropping him in his tracks.
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So, are you the rank-amateur the tried the Texas-Heart-Shot on the elk or was this someone you associate with (making you guilty by association)?

This is very rare for an elk to go straight down as I have found them to be about the second toughest animal to take down.
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Yup, elk are right behind Cape Buffalo and just ahead of Elephant.

I then shot my whitetail with the same rig and the first shot that should have went through the shoulder hit and never penetrated more than two inches of meat and never touched bone. This was at about 100 yards a quick follow up behind the shoulder resulted in a hole you could stick your fist in and a very short blood trail.
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Why don't people get a bit of knowledge before they start reloading and hunting?

I think they may be a good bullet in say a 308 or something else that doesn't push them too hard.
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That's what the 168 is for.

I think that 3500 fps out of my RUM might be too much for them.
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And you're surprised that they failed at 80, 100 and 200 yards? A Nosler BT, or Hornady AMax would have failed at that velocity and I wonder how well a Hot Cor, Gameking, Scirocco (a guy I work with thought the 150 Scirocco would be great in his RUM - FAIL) or Interlock would have done? Can anyone explain to me why people buy the biggest, baddest magnum they can get and them use completely inappropriate bullets in them? Spend the money on TSXs if you want to ram them into elk at 80 yards at 3500 FPS (and really you should be able to drive a 180 gr TSX nearly that fast if you've got a decent length barrel). The big 30 and 338 cases (RUM/WBY/Lapua etc) are made to drive big, aerodynamic projectiles (200 grains in the 30 and 300 in the 338) at high velocities for long range hunting. They're not to inflate your ego by having a wicked muzzed velocity with lightly constructed bullets.

The rest will be used as coyote rounds of for gophers. I did shoot 6 or 7 yotes with them and kills were perfect dropped dogs on the spot with out a flicker of their tails after.
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Probably the best thing for you and your buddies to concentrate on anyways. Judging by your prediliction for @ss-shooting elk.
 
WithoutWarning said:
Can you explain this in a bit more detail ?
I have just bought a box of VLD's for my
6.5x55 but haven't loaded any yet.
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You may have trouble with your OAL. Bergers tend to like to be seated just off the lands or kissing them. Some even like to be jammed into the rifling.

Here's a link to a thread on LongRangeHunting.com with a tech article written by a Berger Bulletsmith.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/for...accuracy-berger-vld-bullets-your-rifle-40204/
 
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