Berger bullets for hunting

[loco4coues]

I have recently been considering making the change to the 168 VLD for my 7mm. I started a thread a month or so ago asking for opinions. My concern was meat loss. I have been shooting partitions for about 3 years now, before that the accubond. Im a die hard nosler guy. However, last year my wife made a lethal shot on her buck with the partition and it took backing out and recovering the animal 5 hours later.....not to mention the tracking job was not easy. The buck I shot 2 nights ago was with a partition. I double lunged him on the first shot (full pass through) and had another full pass through in the liver on my follow up shot. I watched the buck go 20 yards and bed down very much alive. I backed out and had to recover him yesterday morning.

 

I know its all a matter of opinion and I am a HUGE believer in the Nosler product. With that said, being a reloader, I am always trying to improve things. I will be developing a load for the VLD for next year starting real soon. Id rather have a little meat loss and save the anxiety of not dropping the animal where he stands.

 

I am also interested in hearing more opinions.

The bergers are great. We killed 3 coues last year with the 150 gr. VLD out of a .270. If you are stuck on Nosler, give the longrange accubond they came out with this year a try. My brother shot his buck this year with the 150 gr. LRAB out of his .270 and it worked great.

 

There are so many great bullet options out there. Let us know how it goes.

[hunter1026]

I'm using a 243 built off a Mauser action and a Douglas barrel with a 1 in 10 twist I was able to get half inch groups with the berger bullets

Hunter- what rifle and cartridge? my experience is they do just great, and are the most accurate bullet also.

[BRYCE CANYON]

A 300 grain Berger worked just fine for me this year.

 

[AZkiller]

They kill stuff ded!

[Chimichanga]

My wife shot a muley this morning with a 168 grain Berger hunting vld out of my 300 win mag. Dropped in its tracks with one shot @ 400 yards deader than dead. Meat damage wasn't too devastating either.

[willhunt4coues]

I have just bought a Remington 700 .308 SPS AAC-SD Tactical and have been using Bergers in my Howa M1500 .308. The 700 did not like them at first. I shot a 5 inch group at 100 yards and this being a bull barrel knew I could get better results so I seated them to 2.820 and took my group to 1/2 moa (recommended COAL is 2.810 but I had mine at 2.800 that's what my howa likes). So if you do decide to get them get you a COAL gauge and email berger for the specs on your bullets. They will send you all the info for what powders to use and a guide for COAL. I will tell you at 200 and 300 yards your grouping even gets better than 100. I have shot many steel targets and when a berger hits them they almost swing upside down. You will not be disappointed.

[FlyingW]

My daughter shot the 168gr vld's out of her 7mm-08 this year on her jr deer/elk hunts. Both animals were in excess of 220 yards and both did the two-step drop. I recovered the bullet in both animals and the meat damage was minimal. I was impressed to say the least....

[Coues Sniper]

You can have a great experience with the worst of bullets and you can have a horrible experience with the very best of them.

Best advice on this thread. It's like the never ending broad head debate - which one is best. Bergers are a great bullet, as are several others. They're definitely worth a try anyways.

[PRDATR]

You can have a great experience with the worst of bullets and you can have a horrible experience with the very best of them.

Best advice on this thread. It's like the never ending broad head debate - which one is best. Bergers are a great bullet, as are several others. They're definitely worth a try anyways.

 

Some bullets are more finicky and everything needs to right. Many years ago when PMC sold components I picked up some 140gr's in 284. Nothing special just some soft points I was going use for Chickens and Pigs in my 7-08 for HP Silhouette as they were about $8 a hundred and it was when MIDWAY still had free shipping.

I couldn't get them to group under 2" at 100 yards in a rifle that put darn near everything I tried into one ragged hole. Frustrated I shelved them. A couple of years later I has worked up a load with the original Barnes X Bullet in 120gr for my 700 7Mag and decided to load up some of the PMC 140's for practice. I was pretty shocked, but pleased to have them shoot under 1" just by pushing them 200fps faster. Both rifles had the same twist and barrel length.

[luvdemcoues]

It took a bit of work for my old 270 WSM with the 140 grain bergers. But persistence paid off. That gun is an absolute machine now. My Dad ended up buying it from me after he dropped a buck at 650 yards with one shot. I am working on a load for my new 300 WSM with the 168's. I already tried a couple I developed for my brother's 300 WSM and they shot pretty well through mine. I will likely just have to make a few tweaks one way or the other.

 

My experience is that it is worth the time to find out how your gun likes them. Once you do, these bullets don't let animals get away. I have yet to see a deer hit by one go anywhere. Sure, some may take a follow up, but they won't go anywhere. It is very nice having the confidence that you are shooting one of the most (if not the most) accurate bullets made while have the knock down performance you can count on when your looking through your scope getting ready to shoot an animal.

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

I have heard mixed reviews on the berger bullets for hunting what are your guys thoughts on them and experience with them

I have been using 168gr VLD out of my 300 WBY Mag for about 6-7 yrs... we have recovered EVERY animal that has been touched by these bullets... Very happy with them.

[recurveman]

I just shot a coues deer at 400 yards with my 6.5X284 shooting a 140 grain berger VLD. I hit the deer right behind the shoulder exactly where you would want to hit it. The deer stood there for about 20 seconds and went down. We went over to the deer about 15 minutes later and it was still alive and took off running. Then I got to practice with my glock 22 for a few shots. Needless to say I was not very happy with the performance on a small deer. I really think the bullet would have done fine if I would have hit bone or more tissue. Normally I shoot 90 balistictips out of my .243 and that deer would have dropped in its tracks with that combination. I really want to hear about more experiences with shooting smaller critters with the berger bullets. I've got 500 of them and they shoot REALLY accurate and would like to continue to shoot them.

[STOMP442]

The 6.5s penetrate really well to begin with and when you don't hit a bone on a deer that's only 12" wide at the shoulder there's not a lot there for the bullet to work on. I always aim for bone and the bergers have no problem penetrating then causing massive damage. Keep using them.