338 cal "HUNTING" bullet, highest ballistic coefficient ?

ChaosTraitor said:
The Berger would be ideal for me , I've just read so much negative threads about them it's hard to buy a box .

But if they fixed them Im all in . I love them in my 7mm and 300RUM , so it would be cool for the lapua .
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The new 300 gr Bergers fly great about 4.5 minutes or 6.5 feet less elevation for me @ a mile but they explode like nothing I've seen definitely not a long range hunting bullet.... Just mty 2 cents.
 
Not to hijak, but for the guys slamming the Bergers for hunting, have you actually tried them?

I shot my moose two years ago with a 210gr Berger BLD out of my 30-06 and it worked exactly as advertised. Pinhole entry wound followed by a thermos sized void in the animal that nothing could survive. When I got back from my trip I immediately reloaded another 50 rds for future use...
 
Northman999 said:
Not to hijak, but for the guys slamming the Bergers for hunting, have you actually tried them?

I shot my moose two years ago with a 210gr Berger BLD out of my 30-06 and it worked exactly as advertised. Pinhole entry wound followed by a thermos sized void in the animal that nothing could survive. When I got back from my trip I immediately reloaded another 50 rds for future use...
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I've only used the VLD's and like I said They explode I have experienced zero penetration... For a long range target or rock smacking it's all I shoot. I shoot them in 3 different calibers and love them.
 
Northman999 said:
Not to hijak, but for the guys slamming the Bergers for hunting, have you actually tried them?

I shot my moose two years ago with a 210gr Berger BLD out of my 30-06 and it worked exactly as advertised. Pinhole entry wound followed by a thermos sized void in the animal that nothing could survive. When I got back from my trip I immediately reloaded another 50 rds for future use...
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First off maybe its best to read the Berger Web site......

They have 2 kinds of bullets, one for targets and one of game.

According to a previous poster, Berger has 'fixed' the 300gr 338 projectiles. Velocities over 2800 are now 'ok'. (to be honest I have yet to check the info). AFAIK they are still not offering a 338, 300gr. 'Hunting VLD' in 338, 300gr.

I have heard lots of these storys about Berger boolits being the best thing since the partition, but my personal experiance with them on game = garbage!

I love 'em on paper; tight groups, easy to build a load & easy to find (everyone always seem to have them in stock)... I will never shoot another animal with a berger bullet. 3 rounds into the rib cage of a moose @150y not a singe piece of anything made it through, made a HUGE mess of the hide.

My hunting partner finally put it down with a 150gr Nosler BT out of a 270. I was shooting a 30-06, 185gr Berger VLD, yes the hunting ones, at about 2700 fps at the muzzle. That bullet shot like a house on fire out of my 30-06, by far the very best bullet I have ever tried out of that rifle.....

YMMV, but for every success story there is another........
 
I'm still in the process of working up loads with the 225 Hornady Interbods out of my 338wm. It's showing potential but I havent settled on anything yet. I played around a bit with the Sierra 250 Gamekings but didnt have much luck. (which is really strange because I've always had good luck loading these in other calibres)

I just aquired a 338 Lapau and havent even started on loads for it yet. I only plan on punch paper and gongs with it, so I'm hoping for some good luck with the 300 SMK's.
 
The 250 gr plain vanilla Hornady Interlock performs very well on big game all the way out to 400 yd, and needs less than 12" of correction for that distance out of a 338 Win Mag when sighted in three inches high at 100 yd.

Ted
 
If your going to hunt with a bullet, you have to decide how far you will be shooting. If shots are close with 338 Lapua you better use well built bullet, and forget about B.C. If your shooting at long distance you want high B.C so the bullet is still traveling fast enough, and will penetrate and expand. It is never ending...
 
Ive used them for hunting , and if your shot is on target they work great , same as every bullet. I've taken a ram at 450yrads , bull elk 260yards , whitetail buck 60yards , 7mm rem mag 168gr bergers . All dropped one shot .

My dad won't shoot anything but partions and has tons of game on the wall , a premium bullet is going to do the job . I just want to explore the long range "hunting" options . as I finally decided I'm good enough to try big game at extended ranges .
 
It's worth pointing out that the VLD Target is a bit tougher than the VLD Hunting, so if the hunting VLD's are a bit too explosive for you, you may want to try the target version. This is the advice a friend received straight from Berger. I like the target version, myself.

If you don't like Bergers, then the SMK, Horn BTHP, Lapua Scenar, and Barnes LRX would all be good options. If Matrix makes a heavy .338 VLD, that would work well, too. Nothing wrong with a heavy AB or BT, either.

I'd be looking at a heavy Berger, Scenar, or Hornady BTHP, if it were me.
 
I have seen what the bergers in the smaller calibers will do, and I won't use them for hunting. The 300gr hybrid is not quite the same as a 140gr 6.5mm, just on pure weight alone it will penetrate, but you should be ready for a big hole if you are shooting a small animal especially at close range.

It may not be a great test, but I use a rubbermaid bin packed tight with stacked newspapers. At 100 yards a 200gr accubond from a 300 win mag will go in about 9" and leave a hole about 2 1/4" diameter, and still weigh 120 - 140gr. The 190VLD will make about 7" and make a hole about 3" diameter but all that is left is tiny bullet fragments. The 300gr berger will go through the entire box end to end, and leave a hole about 4" diameter running half the length box, the jacket is normally in that section and the lead exits the back of the box. From what I have seen I wouldn't hesitate to use the hybrid past 300 yards. In my rifle I run the 225ttsx in the mag, and if I am going to shoot 400plus yards I have plenty of time to single load a hybrid.
 
338edge ai 30" barrel. I have pushed them to over 3000fps when I did a ladder test, but my best accuracy was at 2940fps. The speeds seem high for a edge and I dont think the AI gains much, but my drops line up very well with that out to 1200 yards. I ran the gen 1 bullet from 90gr to 95gr H1000, at 94gr I started to get the "issue" with the acurracy going to 2-3moa. That was at just under 3000fps, the 95gr load pushed 3070fps but was dam hot, big ejector mark on the brass and primer pocket stretched out.

I shot the gen 2 with the 94gr load, no problem but the accuracy is still at 91.5-92.5gr.
 
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