Hunting & Fishing Berger bullet performance on animals

Weaselthis

Weaselthis

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 28, 2009
213
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Roseville,Californicatia
#1
Just gettin back into reloading after a 17 yr. hiatus. (Finally ran outta the many 160 Partions I had loaded up!). btw....wtf is up w/ the componet game? I digress...

Anyone have any actual "dead animal" experiences using Berger bullets?
I'm particularly interested in what cal., game taken, shot placement, distances to shot, distances animal went before dead, any lost?, etc. Been hunting for over 45 yrs.and (knock on wood) never lost an animal yet. Loading up 150 rounds of Partitions (last me the rest of my life) but am interested in Berger 160g. out of a 7mm Remmy. I hunt elk and deer in CO. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
 
#2
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

I use bergers for hunting. I use the 190gr. vld at 2970fps out of my 300wsm. I have shot 5 bucks a couple of big hogs and a couple of Javelina's. All DRT! The bergers for me work pretty damn good. Furthest shot was a whitetail buck at 400+ on the shoulder he never knew what hit him..
 
#3
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Thanks, nolo. How about meat damage? I usually shoot em behind the shoulder & thru the lungs. Horns are purty but meat is beautiful! Got cow tags this year and don't wanna chase em, and don't wanna lose any meat either. Guess I'm gettin old and want it my way or the highway! LOL.
Cake & Jack Daniels and eat it too! Thanks for the reply.
 
#4
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

I took 2 whitetail bucks last year with a 7mm rem mag loaded with 180 gr. bergers. I shot one right behind the shoulder at 167 yards and he ran 20 yards. The other was shot at 273 yards, high shoulder shot, didn't take a step. They where running 2800 feet per second. And shoot very well in my rifle.
 
#5
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words. I just started hunting with them last fall.
He's a shot I took on a Mulie Buck at 150 yards with my 7 RUM. 180 VLD at 3007 fps.
DOA!!
hunting014.jpg


Shot this fat cow the same weekend. Neither took a step!
hunting035.jpg
 
#7
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Shoot a mule doe at 770 with 7WSM and 180 VLD. Not so great. Both through the chest cavity. Lots of damage to the opposite shoulder coming out. I chased her about 500 yards after I walked up to her and dropped her with a head shoot using an ar-15. Figured she would be dead by the time I walked up to her. Layed down the first shoot and put a second into her just in case. She didn't even stand up. Granted at that distance alot of energy is lost. My muzzle velocity was around 2800 if you want to figure it out. I'ld guess about 25.5"hg atmospheric pressure at the time.

The wind was hard enough I had to lay down next to my pickup. Wind would blow my rifle while prone without the pickup as a windbrake. How is that for a bullet cutting the wind...
 
#8
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

A friend dropped a big mulie buck last year at 974 yards with the .308 210 gr. VLD, once behind the shoulder and then a high shoulder shot put him down for good. You'll ruin the off shoulder meat if you if poke them through the shoulder, but through the ribs are your meat will be fine. That's been our experience atleast.

Another friend used the 7mm 168 gr. VLD on two different does last year. Through the lungs put the one down immediately, the other doe was a bad quartering to shot that hit a long ways back and went into the off side ham. I was VERY surprised when we butchered her that most of that meat was still good. Hardly any bloodshot, which I had expected. Not bragging about the bad shot, but she did lay down and didn't get back up, although she did crawl a short ways until we were able to put her down.
 
#9
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Thanks for the input, longrangegunner5. I'd really like to shoot the 180's but I have an older Rem700 (1981) w/ 1-9.25 and it won't stabilize them according to Eric Berger. So, the 168's are the hot ticket and they shoot well in Ole Maggie also.
 
#10
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Great pix, Tip em over! Thanks for sending em. Looks like ya need to miss the bones w/ these bullets! That pix of the fat cow on the ground gives me wood! LOL, 2006 we had 5 cows & 1 6x6 on the ground within 25 minutes of shooting time on opening day! Can't beat it.
 
#12
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Ya know, they can be strange animals, huh? I shot a young 5x5 bull thru both lungs w/ 7mm RM w/ 160 partitions at 365 yds. Called the shot,heard the "whop", saw him flinch and run, followed the blood trail....for 650 fricking yds. UPHILL w/ both lungs wasted. TOUGH animal.

Put another 160 NP thru a bull in the heart at 243 yd. He never flinched or kicked or anything. For minute I thought I missed. He ran about 75 yds. and stopped. I'm trying send him another one, fighting sun in the soope and he ups and goes tits up, dead. Must've been all of 1.5-2 minutes there w/ heart obliterated. Serious.

Put two 160's thru both lungs of a cow...she just flinched and turned around, so put one in the neck--shame on me for trying that at 225 yds., my vainity got the better of me but she went down at the shot. She was still trying to get up when I got there an put one in the back of her head. The neck shot only shocked her, and missed anything of value. Won't do that agian. Tough old gal, but I tell ya, GREAT eatin!

This berger business was all begun because we have 14 Pref. Pts. for Colo. and wanted to hunt 61 cuz I'm too damned old to ever bingo 2 or10. Scouted there last yr. and the 3 outfitters I inteviewed all said that shot could and probably would be in the 500-600 yd. range, across the canyon and be prepared. Saw that 'hype' video about the animals falling like a meteor hit em and now here I am. The research continues......
 
#13
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

You guys are great! Wealth of info on this site. Thanks. If I'm meat hunting (which is almost always!), then I'm gonna keep em in the boiler room. However, got get "knowed up" and get Maggie to making puddles outta them Bergers (BC is outta sight!) so IF I get to go on the once in MY lifetime hunt and piss off all my pref. pts. to shoot a BIG bull and he's across the canyon, think I'll go for the high shoulder shot and hope for the best on the rest of the meat. Sure hate ruining any backstrap, but maybe the elk gods will forgive an old man just this once in the quest for the biggest bull of HIS life! Thanks for the heads up,Troskie.
 
#15
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: PGS</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Get or borrow a .338 Lapua....elk dont argue with that!!! </div></div>

This is what I have moved up to, and is what I will be hunting with next year! I dont care much for shoulder meat anyway..
 
#16
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

LOL... when it only costs 25 cents to go completely around the world and ya don't have the scratch to make it to the edge of town, gettin a new Eargesplittenloudinboomer ain't the sop of the day! Guess I'll have ta make maggie do.
 
#18
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Depending on what you are looking for in a hunting bullet, the Bergers are very destructive on meat. They will penetrate a few inches, then have massive upset. The bullet will penetrate a maximum of about 16"-20". I took two does within about 30 seconds with my 260 Rem with a 140 match VLD from about 90 yards, both DRT. One was a high shoulder shot, and the other was right in the shoulder. I ruined some backstrap on the high shoulder shot. I was also finding bullet fragments all over the place. One fragment penetrated the stomach, so gutting it was rough. If you used their hunting bullets, they have a thicker jacket, and will hold together better. They are a great bullet, but very destructive for hunting.
 
#20
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Chad, were ya using the hunting bullets? Good info. Thanks. Sounds like I'll be using the Partitions (as I have been doing for 29 years) for the majority of my hunting. BUT...if we bingo the pref. pts. for CO in the trophy area w/ possible 600-700 yd. shots, I'll use the Bergers and put one in his shoulder so I don't lose him in the dark stuff. Preesheeate the input.
 
#22
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

scan0052.jpg


I killed this 6X6 bull with a .280 Remington at 300 yards, broadside lung shot....150gr Nosler partition. He died right on the spot. SW Montana 1994.

Nothing wrong with old technology.
 
#23
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

scan0001-3.jpg


I was guiding this fellow when we encountered this big boy.

Taken down with a .270 shooting 150gr partitions with 3 well placed shots at 300 yards. This giant measured 7 feet from the bottom of the front hoof to the top of his withers. Quite an imposing animal!!
 
#24
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Weasethis</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Chad, were ya using the hunting bullets?</div></div>
No, they were the match VLD's. So the jacket is very thin. The hunting bullet jackets are thicker, and should hold together better. The Partition is a great bullet. It has a lower BC than other bullets, and will have more wind drift and loose energy faster than a high BC bullet will at distance. If you are planning for a long shot, get you a good bonded bullet (Hornady Interbond, Nosler Accubond, etc) or a Barnes Tipped TSX for the longer shots. But, the Berger hunting bullets would do fine, as well.
 
#27
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Chad, are you sure you dont have that backwards. From my understanding, the match bullets have a thicker jacket because the velocity/spin of some of the 3-groove barrels in 6.5 caliber were not reaching the targets, so Berger thickened the jackets of the match bullets to compensate for this phenomenon. Before the current match bullets were called match bullets, they were called thick bullets because of the jackets. The hunting bullets are the original thickness bullets(hence thinner jacket).

That is my understanding of the different bullets.
 
#28
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Chad you do have that backwards. The thin jacket is for hunting(the original jacket). Berger made the thick jacket because of the original bullet jackets seperating in high round matches. Bergers origianl plan was to make the thick jacket and do away with the original. They did hunting test with the thick jacket and the results were not up to par. So in return they now mark the thin jacket for hunting ( the jacket has to be thin for proper expansion on game animals).

Now I was told from Brian Lyitz that you can shoot the original jacket and the thick one right after the other and the point of impact will not change at all. I have not tried this. But he is Bergers man.

As far as performance. Shootone made a great shot on a Saskatchewan Whitetail last year at 505 yards broadside. The deer travleled only a few feet. It was shot with a Patriot Arms built 7 WSM. The deer scored close to 165 BC. Or Guide has cleand hundreds if not thousands of deer and elk in Saskatchwan and Alberta. He said "He has never seen devestation on a animal like that of what a VLD does". He is now shooting them. That means alot to me. I am now shooting them as well to see if I have the same results. My father in law also took a nice buck last fall in Saskatchewan with a 168 VLD in a HS Precision built 7mm Rem Mag. Same bullet preformance. His shot was less than 100 yards broadside.

As far as the Partition. Untill the VLD proves diffrent to me. The Partiton is the best bullet for whitetails period. I have taken 3 Saskatchewan giants with 120 grains loaded at 3400 fps with a 257 weatherby. The farthest a deer has travled has been maybe 25 yards at the most. Two broadside shots through both shoulders. One quartering to me. All with complete pass throughs with a 120 grain bullet on 300 pound deer. Hard to complain. That being said my partition load would shoot with any match bullet out there to 200 yards. After that the accuracy of the VLD is hard to beat.
 
#31
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Lancer,Shootone,.257:
Now that's what I'm talkin bout! Great knowledge and experience here from ALL you guys! Thanks for posting the info and the pix. I have YET to have a partition fail me or lose an animal w/ them. BUT, these Bergers are killin machines! When the time comes for " he's way out there so hit him good" comes, I'll switch over to Bergers. In the process of workin up some loads for this weekend at the range.
Thanks again for sharing guys.
 
#32
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

I'll post up some pictures when I get them off of my phone. I was out looking for coyotes the other day to test out some Berger VLD's. Well we saw a coyote, he was running and I let my buddy take the shot (he was on his side). He was running at 263 yards when he was hit. The bullet hit off of his front leg "elbow"? and continued into his chest/heart area. The bullet was VERY upset when it glanced off of his elbow and I have NEVER see a bullet do quite what that one did. It split the chest cavity from his sternum all the way to his testicles, right down the center of his chest. He made 2 turns to the left, raised his head to look at the sky and fell over. When I got to him all of his intestines, heart, parts of lungs, kidneys and liver were laying in a pile OUT of his body. I didn't really pick him up or move him around to look more carefully than that because he was COVERED with the mange. He was completely bald on the tail and hind end. I'll post up some pictures when I get them off of my phone. It was a 190 grain Berger VLD (match), fired from my 26" Krieger out of my .300 WSM at just over 3,000 fps. I don't know that I want to use one on a deer, I think I may stick with my 180 grain accubonds. I'm gonna shoot some hogs with them for further data. I'll keep you posted when I do.
 
#36
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Dayum! She got a hole in her! I bought 200 older Bergers in 7mm (168 gr. VLD) and Walt Berger confirmed via email today that they were INDEED the thinner jacket hunting bullets! Bought them without knowing all I now know about Bergers! Yeehaw! Working up a load for maggie. Got bolt problems, but bought a replacement from Slayer 21420 on this site. D. & W.O.B. (dyin & waitin on bolt!) lol. Just got a new Sightron III 6x4x50 in today! Yipeee! "Elk must die"! I will post pix as well when I get them and learn how to post em! Thanks for sharing.
 
#37
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Tactical Support</div><div class="ubbcode-body">" When I got to him all of his intestines, heart, parts of lungs, kidneys and liver were laying in a pile OUT of his body. </div></div>

<span style="color: #FF0000">You could call this an Out of Body Experience!!</span> [/quote]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Weasethis</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Well, that makes guttin and skinnin a little easier! Look forward to seeing the pix! </div></div>

LOL, I wasn't gonna gut that nasty b@stard. This was the mangiest coyote I've ever seen in my whole life, you'll see in these photos what I mean. I'm sorry that it took so long to finally post these photos up, and they're not the best quality. I took them on my phone, so there's only so much detail and everything that you can make out, but ya'll will get the idea. As I said before, this was a 190 Berger VLD that glanced off of his shoulder blade/elbow area and went just behind the shoulder. This is exactly how he looked when I walked up to him, nothing was moved. After I took these photos I moved him some and there were even some parts of organs hiding beneath him. Anyway, these bullets are devastating and if I wasn't going to headshoot a deer, I probably wouldn't used them on a shoulder shot. I like to use shoulder meat for sausage and stew meat, so I like to keep what bit does come from them. Anyway, no more stalling, this is what it did.

Coyote1-1.jpg


Coyote2.jpg


Coyote3-1.jpg
 
#39
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Shot a big whitetail doe with my 300 weatherby at 70 or so yards, 168vld at 3150. I hit a rib going in, could stick my fist in the exit hole, lungs destroyed. She ran about 75-100 yards or so, dead on her feet. Bullet worked well but she still ran.
 
#40
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

I use the 168gr VLD's in my 30-06 and have shot a couple of animals with it. What a great bullet! It not only gives my 30-06 amazing accuracy but the terminal performance is astounding.
I shot 5 Bluewildebeest about six months ago. These animals are very tough and quite a few are lost every year after recieving good solid hart/lung hits fromk powerfull guns. The Bergers didnt have any trouble to put them down and keep them down.

While my hunting buddies were still out tracking theirs I was skinning mine and having a cold one. I use the 52gr bergers when culling springbuck with my 22-250 and this is bad medicine to anything within 450m.

I am currently working up a load for my 300winmag with 190gr bergers, will report and share pics (if we have time to take some)in july when I take it through its paces.
Can recommend it to any hunter or paperpuncher.
 
#42
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Weasethis</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

Anyone have any actual "dead animal" experiences using Berger bullets?
I'm particularly interested in what cal., game taken, shot placement, distances to shot, distances animal went before dead, any lost? </div></div>

I started shooting Bergers last summer, my first kill with them was a bull elk @ 230 yds, high shoulder, DRT, minimal meat damage. I am very impressed with Berger bullets. 300 RUM, 210 VLD, 2900 fps.
 
#43
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

I shot 2 deer last season with my 7mag and 180 bergers. Decent sized (for Texas) buck @ 470 yards smashed the front shoulder left a nice exit through the oppsing ribs, and dropped him in his tracks. caught both lungs, and the great vessels. 5 min later, I head shot a doe @ 380. Of course she fell immediately and did the headless chicken flop. I've had more damage inflicted on headshots with light/fast bullets though. Of course, brainless is brainless... it's just a matter of how far they splatter.
CW
 
#44
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

A friend and I took some black bears this spring with 168gr VLD hunting bullets out of my 7mm rem mag. They are traveling in the 2940+/- range and certainly make an impression. This was my first experience with the VLDs in a hunting situation and I am a little disappointed. The best word to describe what was left of the bullets is shrapnel. They completely exploded after penetrating the chest cavity without contacting any heavy bone. Although this worked out nicely with black bears and put them down quickly, I don't think I would trust them to penetrate deeply on larger or more dangerous animals such as moose and grizzlies. I would say from from what limited experience I've had with them that they would be appropriate for smaller thin skinned game animals and if you hit them in the shoulder assume that you are going to lose the entire quarter. This may not matter to some of you, but I hunt for groceries and it's very important to me. Antlers make mighty thin soup.
 
#49
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Great shootin! yeah, brainless is brainless and they don't run much then. Never shot anything in the head except w/ a .22-250 and it will pretty much cleanout the brain pan! So, did the Bergers give you the confidence for the shots or are you used to those distances?
 
#50
Re: Berger bullet performance on animals

Like you, I gotta have that meat! Horns are great, but groceries are better! I got into this Berger business just because of what you experienced. I don't want to waste ANY meat, but we are contemplating a hunt where the terrain will dictate the probability of cross canyon shots in excess of 600yds. w/ DENSE cover and everyone knows how much whumpp a bull elk can take and still walk off. Got 13 preference pts. for CO and don't want to waste 13 years on busting a big one only to have him run off and get lost. I know, get closer. BUT....from the intel so far, that MAY not be possible. So, there it is. These Bergers shoot like a MF in my 7mm! I got a .247 3 shot group at 100 yds. last week working up one load at 2700fps. Not the fastest, but the best I've ever shot in my life! This from a very old off the shelf Rem700 w/ absolutely nothing done to it. And they will ring a 15" gong at 800yds like it's outta style! Can you tell me your load that you got up to 2940? I would really like to get to 3000+/- but will take accurate over speed. Did any exit the bears? Thanks for sharing!
 
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