Berger bullets?

[Duckslayer89]

Anyone have first hand experience with the hunting vld?

[actionshooter]

I have killed my last 1/2dozen or so bucks with 7mm, 180gr VLD hunting bullets. They are not your typical hunting bullet, they do major damage and you pretty much wont find any jacket or core. But they are extremely accurate and the bottom line is everything I shot died where it was standing.   

[duckmen1]

That's the same luck we've had. Baseball size wound channels. Ruins some meat but animals don't go far. Quick recoveries. I like these bullets to put deer down quick.

[kselkhunter]

Yes. 168gr in 7mmRM. Quick kills on deer.  I have not tried on elk. I prefer Accubomd and Partition on those.

[Duckslayer89]

I'm looking at having some 308 reloads done for my kimber as I'm getting low on factory ammunition and high on nosler brass. I love the accubond but my buddy swears by bergers in his 7 Rem mag. Also been thinking about building a 7 Rem mag and trying to decide on 160 grain accubonds or 180 bergers. Primarily elk/deer/bear gun

[kselkhunter]

I only use 168gr Berger and Nosler 168gr ABLR in my 7mmRM. Great long range performance. And both absolutely hammer deer. I use the ABLR's for elk, when I'm not using the 35 Whelen. 

[W_Ellison2011]

You guys should try barnes bullets. They shoot really well through my 300 wby mag. Have a friend who hunts blacktails with a .338 win mag and barnes tsx bullets and loses very little meat with the bullets expanding perfectly and holding 95-100% weight.

[kselkhunter]

Yes I plan to load some 225gr Barnes TSX up next in my 35 Whelen next. But just helping Duckslayer on his Berger question.

[W_Ellison2011]

Nobody i knows shoots the vld hunting bullets for actual hunting sadly. I figured with the meat loss and huge wound channel talk maybe giving him an idea of another bullet to try for less meat loss with good expansion might be helpful. If he really loves the bergers then go for it. They have a really good high bc for shooting but they do tend to blow up from what i have heard.

[Duckslayer89]

Nobody i knows shoots the vld hunting bullets for actual hunting sadly. I figured with the meat loss and huge wound channel talk maybe giving him an idea of another bullet to try for less meat loss with good expansion might be helpful. If he really loves the bergers then go for it. They have a really good high bc for shooting but they do tend to blow up from what i have heard.

I use to shoot the sst out of my 338 and really didn't like how those blew up. Quartering towards me shot on a whitetail didn't even penetrate from like 60 yards and had to have a follow up shot. The Barnes TSX might be a good bullet for my 338 though to reload, I'm almost out of factory ammo for it too and it's a rare caliber hard to find. 338 RCM. Love it though. I don't know if a 308 can get a tsx to open up properly?

[kselkhunter]

Well the Bergers are designed to fracture and create more damage. For me it's been a mess. Like setting off a concussion grenade inside a deer.

Also for elk I prefer a round that holds together if I have to take a shouldering shot on elk. Hence the Accubond, partition, and now testing some Barnes TSX

[Duckslayer89]

I have killed my last 1/2dozen or so bucks with 7mm, 180gr VLD hunting bullets. They are not your typical hunting bullet, they do major damage and you pretty much wont find any jacket or core. But they are extremely accurate and the bottom line is everything I shot died where it was standing.   

I do like the idea of something dropping where you shoot it. With my 308 and accubonds there has hardly been any kind of blood trail on the last few deer. I hunt thick timber and it's hard to track them when it's getting dark and raining which is why I started thinking about the bergers

[kselkhunter]

Nobody i knows shoots the vld hunting bullets for actual hunting sadly. I figured with the meat loss and huge wound channel talk maybe giving him an idea of another bullet to try for less meat loss with good expansion might be helpful. If he really loves the bergers then go for it. They have a really good high bc for shooting but they do tend to blow up from what i have heard.

I use to shoot the sst out of my 338 and really didn't like how those blew up. Quartering towards me shot on a whitetail didn't even penetrate from like 60 yards and had to have a follow up shot. The Barnes TSX might be a good bullet for my 338 though to reload, I'm almost out of factory ammo for it too and it's a rare caliber hard to find. 338 RCM. Love it though. I don't know if a 308 can get a tsx to open up properly?

Advertised expansion velocity is usually 1800fps.  Even if assuming a higher 2000fps you should be fine. A 168gr 308 TSX should push 2700fps. Smaller options would be even faster. Unless you're looking for long range setup the Barnes should perform fine in 308.

[actionshooter]

I was originally a huge Accubond fan, and really still am, I started using the Bergers because that's what the gunsmith who built my rifle recommended (Rbros). I am super impressed with bullets accuracy, BC, and consistency. The 1st buck I killed I was shocked by the damage the bullets created, but I consistently am shooting 3/8" groups with the load.

With the way the deer go down and stay down, loosing a few pounds of meat isn't a big deal.

[Duckslayer89]

I was originally a huge Accubond fan, and really still am, I started using the Bergers because that's what the gunsmith who built my rifle recommended (Rbros). I am super impressed with bullets accuracy, BC, and consistency. The 1st buck I killed I was shocked by the damage the bullets created, but I consistently am shooting 3/8" groups with the load.

With the way the deer go down and stay down, loosing a few pounds of meat isn't a big deal.

I might have copper creek make me a sample pack of bullets in 308 with the Berger and see how the gun likes them. Any recommendations on what grain to use in a kimber mountain ascent in 308 Winchester? 1-10 twist I believe