berger vld hunting bullets

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profesional 111

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So i want to try the 168 gr berger VLD in my 3006. How far off the lands typically would a person want to seat the bullet to get started?

Also any info on first hand hunting experiance with this bullet would be good as well. I have always been a barnes fan but have had a few issues with the bullet sticking in the case necks and taking the neck with the bullet. Maybe my damp climate on the coast. Not sure why.

Anyhow I am gonna change things up and see what happens.
 
My 300SAUM 175grn hunting hybrids are .010 off lands and are one hole with my loads
Start at .010 and go from there:)
 
I find .040" of the lands is a good place to start.

I stopped using the Berger VLDs for hunting because of fragmentation. They do cause devastating wounds, as long as you stay away from big bones, but they mostly disintegrate while going though your quarry. I'm talking fist sized exit wounds in deer when shot through the boiler room. That's from 185 gr pills in .308 rifles.

I'm mostly worried about lead contamination in the meat. If you find a Berger bullet you'll usually find a shredded copper jacket with very little lead. I've seen X-ray photos of meat shot with overly frangible bullets and the meat is full of lead particles.

I'm now using Nosler Accubonds instead. Still decent wounding, not as catastrophic as the Bergers, and better weight retention.
 
RangerPark said:
I find .040" of the lands is a good place to start.

I stopped using the Berger VLDs for hunting because of fragmentation. They do cause devastating wounds, as long as you stay away from big bones, but they mostly disintegrate while going though your quarry. I'm talking fist sized exit wounds in deer when shot through the boiler room. That's from 185 gr pills in .308 rifles.

I'm mostly worried about lead contamination in the meat. If you find a Berger bullet you'll usually find a shredded copper jacket with very little lead. I've seen X-ray photos of meat shot with overly frangible bullets and the meat is full of lead particles.

I'm now using Nosler Accubonds instead. Still decent wounding, not as catastrophic as the Bergers, and better weight retention.
Click to expand...

Funny you say that. Thats why i went to a barnes bullet originally. To stay away from lead contamination.
Good advice.
Thanks
 
Both my 140 VLD hunters had pass throughs last fall. Both mule deer had 1" exit wounds. I would like to use Barnes again but the BC is not great on them. I would use them for close range however.
 
[quote=profesional 111

Also any info on first hand hunting experiance with this bullet would be good as well. I have always been a barnes fan but have had a few issues with the bullet sticking in the case necks and taking the neck with the bullet. Maybe my damp climate on the coast. Not sure why.


huh ??? Rj
 
Last edited:
Dogleg said:
Sounds like cold soldering. Happens sometimes.
Click to expand...

For real . I thought i was doing something wrong . But it turns out that if the bullet is left in the case for too long with a monolithic projectile there can be sometype of chemical reaction that bonds the two slightly . It happened to me three times. Once was my fault. and i used a hotter load than i should have. your supposed to load them a little longer and just before you take them out you seat them into the desired seating depth. I never had a problem for 10 years. Then i started making large reload batches and not firing them off right away. Then i had issues. But my brass is always getting soaked up here with our salt air and rain in the fall. Maybe this is a factor..
 
profesional 111 said:
So i want to try the 168 gr berger VLD in my 3006. How far off the lands typically would a person want to seat the bullet to get started?

Also any info on first hand hunting experiance with this bullet would be good as well. I have always been a barnes fan but have had a few issues with the bullet sticking in the case necks and taking the neck with the bullet. Maybe my damp climate on the coast. Not sure why.

Anyhow I am gonna change things up and see what happens.
Click to expand...

A good start will be to go on Berger website and read the article : VLD – Making it Shoot !!!!!!
 
I used the VLD hunting in one of my 6.5mm's, 130gn I believe. Excellent groupings but I had pin hole pass thru on a muley doe at 80yards. The deer flopped over then stood back up. Luckily I was able to put another shot on target and that one expanded properly. After dressing the deer I found the first shot went between ribs on both the way in and out with no expansion. Second shot hit a rib on the way out and made a quick kill.
Windy
 
Have used them was not impressed.Bullet blowup from the muzzle to 600 yards.Using a .270 win and .300RUM.
 
I’ve killed hundreds of animals with VLDs, and also hundreds with TSXs. A couple of the Bergers left me wondering WTF, but there were piles of TSXs that pissed me off. The nature of culling is that large amounts animals are killed, but another aspect is sometimes you have to shoot the ammo you have, or have left. That can leave you shooting what most people consider a lifetime worth of game with a bullet you’d rather throw away.

Bergers and Barnes are about as different as two bullets can get. Talk about one extreme to the other. Take about the softest bullet around and the hardest. Both have tiny little niches where they rock. The good news is just about everything else is somewhere in between. Just about everyone is better off with something in between, just about all of the time. They just don’t necessarily know it yet. ;)
 
I recently ran my first test of the 168 VLD-H in my .30-06, an M-65 Tikka with 22" / 11 twist barrel.

I'm new to Bergers so I followed their recommendations as outlined in the document mentioned by someone else. I'm pleased with these early results, looks promising.

Screenshot_20200307-204411_Photos.jpg
 

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