TAM

Did everyone hear that??? Gino's buying dinner tomorrow night at the Olive Garden in Flagstaff!!!! What time should we meet you there?

Does anyone have any experience/opinions on hunting with Berger Bullets? Good or bad. Thanks! TAM

Don't quote me on this but I think someone on another site said that last year the results were posted on March 23rd.

I own a .270 Weatherby mag and it is very tempermental. It is very difficult to hand load for this rifle which I think has a lot to do with the free bore. For me, I'll stay away from Weatherbys in the future. Don't get me wrong, I love the rifle and now that I've found a good load it shoots very well. It just took a lot of patience to get there.

I wasn't trying to take credit for being the first to post the link. I just reposted it because Casey brought it up. Jason, how come I didn't see your name on my ballot the other day?

Casey, is this the article you are refering to? http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/hl248partial.pdf You are 100% correct it does seem to indicate that the Bergers penetrate about two inches. After that the pictures also indicate that they open up very quickly and expend nearly 100% of there energy inside the chest cavity of the animal. Wouldn't this be considered a good thing? Also wouldn't a bullet need to have the muscle to penetrate a couple inches of hide and bone to get to the internal organs of an animal? I'm just curious how any of this could be considered a negative. I'm still very open minded and willing to listen to anything that can show a legitimate contradiction to this. For what it's worth I personally don't believe that there is such thing as a single bullet that will preform perfectly in any hunting situation. I think part of considering a bullet should be a careful evaluation of a persons personal style of hunting. For me this means very few shots at under 200 yards.

Casey, I think the fact that Gino is 2/2 with Bergers does mean something. You are right that it's not a large sample size, but it does mean that according to Gino they performed perfectly with the two animals he used them on. I also saw first hand the damage they inflicted on Jason's buck and it was devastating!!! I'm not trying to discredit anything you say, but as I mentioned in my PM, so far you are the only person I've talked with that has anything negative to say about them. You are right they were designed for paper, there is no disputing that. It also appears that they have what it takes to be an effective big game bullet, or at least that is what the vast majority of the evidence I've seen is indicating. I'm smart enough to know that the guys at Berger are trying to pimp there stuff and are probably a little bias. That's why I asked the question here to see if there was real world evidence supporting there claims. I've yet to see any evidence that would fault these bullets for big game. If there is any evidence, I'm listening. Thanks, Tim

When I first heard the news I was SHOCKED, and I hated the deal. With some time to consider the scheme behind the deal I think it could help us in the play off's against LA and San Antonio. The key is to make sure Shaq is 100% and ready to go during the play off's. His minutes during the rest of the regular season should be limited.

Thanks everyone for your responses! Casey, I respect everyone's opinions regarding the question. So far you are the only person to not like them for hunting. Do you have anything to substantiate your position? If so I'd like to hear it? Thanks, Tim

Larry, One thing you can do to ensure that your scope will work without the shims is to zero it at 300 yard versus 100 yards. That way it will require fewer clicks to get from 300 yards to 800 yards. It will also make it easier to shoot at animals 300 yards and under because you won't need to make any adjustments at all. This is how I have my Ziess Conquest 6.5-20 scope set up on my .270 Weatherby mag and I have no problems getting out to 800 yards. Much beyond that and I would need the shims. Good luck!

Thanks guys! I know everyone has different opinions, but my opinion is that when I shoot something I want it to instantly fall over stone dead. I don't want to track if for a hundred yards like a bow kill. I have always purchased hunting bullets with this goal in mind. I want to expend as close to 100% of the bullets energy in the animal. I don't care if there is anything left of the bullet, I'm not looking for a souviner. I've heard that's how Berger's perform and I've heard they are accurate to boot. Is the best of both worlds really possible? Jason, I'm glad you reminded me that you killed your buck with a Berger, I had almost forgotten. I sure did its job!!! I'm really looking hard at the 168's for everything from coues to elk, assuming they fly well. Thanks again, Tim

Thanks, I love my fox. I just need to take a better picture. The taxi did a great job with him!!! I'm thinking of having a custom rifle built from the ground up in .300 RUM. The guy that builds the rifle will also get me started on working up some custom loads. I just need to let him know what bullets I'd prefer to shoot. I'm strongly considering the Berger VLD's in 168 grain for my deer round, and perhaps the 210's for my large animal round. I mainly want to know how the bullets perform on animals, since they were originally designed for the bench. Before anyone tells me, I know the gun is over kill for coues and deer sized animals. I am building it so I can have a versitile rifle that would be suitable to also hunt Elk, or to take to Alaska or Africa some day. Thanks! TAM

Great job Gabriel!!!!

Way to go amigo!!!! That is a good lookin pigalina!!!

Congratulations. Javelina are the perfect animal for kids.

Way to go Eric and Gino!!! I hope someday I can draw a sheep tag and get similar results.

That buck looks nearly identical to a buck I killed about 3 or 4 years ago. Pretty cool!!!

Congrats, that's an awsome buck!!!

That was one of the weird things about Dan's camp. Every morning it seemed like Jason would end up with a whole bag full of butterfingers and no one else would get a single one! Weird??? Perhaps butterfingers and snoring are related? I hunted with Ted all week. I believe it was his son Taylor who glassed up Jason and Tommys bucks.

Yep, 10 rifle hunters and 80 archery hunters. They are slowly killing off the herd so they can eventually develop the land.

I think the Fain ranch is more like a 70-75 inch antelope hunt anymore. Last year there was one buck that may have been 78-80 and another buck that was 76-78. Those were the two biggest bucks that I know of. It's not a large area and they offer a bunch of tags! You'll still see quite a few goats, but nothing like there was a few years back.

Bowhunter4life, I'd think twice before burning 10 points on 19A (Fain Ranch). It's no where near what it used to be in terms of trophy quality!!! I live in Prescott and see it every day. 19B still produces some quality bucks, but I'd steer clear of the Fain Ranch if you're looking for big bucks.

That's a nice buck!!!! Make sure to be real careful when you're hanging him in the tree. You wouldn't want to accidently hit one of his antler tips against a rock and break it.

Soooooo much trash and so little time!

I've come across 3 or 4 while out in the woods and I'll have to admit that each time I was really tempted to leave them a big shiny moon on their picture card, butt... (pun intended) each time I just looked around and left them alone! In fact one time I left the camera alone and a few weeks later went into Don's Sport Shop in Scottsdale and had one of the employees show me some of his trail camera pictures and sure enough they were from the same spot and he had my picture walking by. I'd have been pretty embarassed if he had my shiney moon smiling for the camera! I agree with Josh, if it's not yours and you take it you're just rationalizing stealing.