Bullet experences requested, Help me understand the Berger for big game

[jasnt]

I shoot begets cause noslers are icky

[Crunchy]

I love my bergers.  Not much of a rifle guy but have killed two deer, and three elk with them.  None of them made it more than 40 yards after the shot, and a couple of them dropped on the spot.

[carpsniperg2]

I pretty much slum them all. So far nosler/Hornady/serria/ct/barnes have all killed animals in my guns this year alone. Still have Winchester and maybe even a old corelock might find its way into one of the critters I shoot this year. Berger is the only one I wont use anymore and If a guy wants to spend his earned money on them and they work for him all the more power to him.

I'm not brand loyal on bullets they all work. My personal guns accubonds and eldx are pretty much the choice now days. Plenty of critters die from match bullets not designed for hunting. RUN WHAT YA BRUNG 

[Karl Blanchard]

I just hope nobody tells all the animals I've seen killed under 200 yards with them that they are not effective because I think they'd be really pissed that they are dead

I wouldn't trust anyone who talks to animals anyways, they would have a screw loose and probably shoot a creedmoor

Oh I know they will kill shooting them through ribs at that range. Heavy bones they are flat not designed to act like a bonded bullet and will blow up the majority of the time and require follow up shots.

  I've had literally the exact opposite experience.  I can say with 100% certainty that neck, shoulder, vital, and everything in between that I've never seen a berger failure.  Cant say the same about barnes.  Nosler are all great.  Eldx dont excite me much on the performance scale.  To me they perform like a high bc ballistic tip

[Curly]

The only issue I’ve ever heard of is if the tip gets bent closed, they won’t shrapnel at close ranges and act like a pencil.  That could have potentially been the issue with bobcats buck...

That's likely what happened. The entrance and exit hole were the same size. The bullet likely penciled right through.

[M_ray]

It got dark and I was in a hurry to get to town to get the meat on ice. This was in early September and it was hot.

  I'm not going to lie bobcat I'm a little surprised by this. Swearing off something and doing it publicly without giving some due process to finding out what went wrong is out of character for you. 

For all you know that bullet went in and did exactly what it was supposed to 

 

[M_ray]

I have had zero prob with Berger’s and no failures ..: shot deer from 75-500 and Tmikes wife took her elk at 300 yards (full frontal shot) with my 7mm and 168 Berger’s last month. My experience says if you hit them right then you could prob kill them with several types of bullets, If you don’t hit them right you’re going to loose them regardless of bullet. I got them because at the time they had the highest BC of any out there and they are accurate. I have to admit I’m not in it for the meat only and if I have a 200”er in front of me I don’t care how much meat is destroyed I only care that the horns hit the ground. 

[mountainman]

Nice bear Jasnt👍

[carpsniperg2]

I just hope nobody tells all the animals I've seen killed under 200 yards with them that they are not effective because I think they'd be really pissed that they are dead

I wouldn't trust anyone who talks to animals anyways, they would have a screw loose and probably shoot a creedmoor

Oh I know they will kill shooting them through ribs at that range. Heavy bones they are flat not designed to act like a bonded bullet and will blow up the majority of the time and require follow up shots.

  I've had literally the exact opposite experience.  I can say with 100% certainty that neck, shoulder, vital, and everything in between that I've never seen a berger failure.  Cant say the same about barnes.  Nosler are all great.  Eldx dont excite me much on the performance scale.  To me they perform like a high bc ballistic tip

Yup as with most things results very. What ticks me off is I have put over a dz eldx into animals and haven’t recovered one bullet!!! Would love to dig some out and see. At close range I see ballistic tip results and around 4-5 and plus they act more like a accubond.

At least your shooting Rad broadheads so I still have faith 

I even hacked up and modified a couple tikka mags and those things are expensive to make the bergers work they shot so good and long range stuff was great preformace. Was the close stuff that turned me off.

Barnes rifle bullets suck for me I have had failures with them as well. I only shoot them in muzzleloaders and handguns and they work great in them.

[Kenaiwild]

Shot a .300 WM with hand loaded 180 gr rem core lokt’s for ~ 20years.  Always put the animals down and bullets held together.  Been shooting 168 gr Berger vld’s out of 7mm rem Mag for ~ 5/years and bullets mostly explode and put the animals down.  Some went farther than others and both depended on shot placement.  I will say the bergers seem to knock the legs out from under them.  I would not hesitate hunting elk with bergers.

[bullfisher]

I have read that several years ago, bergers QC on uniform meplats was not what it was today. A very small percentage of bullets would leave production with the hollow point completely closed or non existent at all. After tests resulting in near fmj performance, berger put more emphasis on the QC of the meplat. There is a tool out there for uniforming meplats but most guys just use a pin drill if they feel its necessary.
I suppose improper seating dies for non vld bullets could do the same and smash them closed.
I've never tested this theory myself but I assume the rare fmj like performance from them in the past, could suggest that it has some truth.. 

[Karl Blanchard]

@carp, once again I've had very different results with the eldx.  I've gotten jacket/core separation on every single animal I've shot with the eldx.  Lot of copper jackets somewhere around here.  I personally dont care as like Mray stated, I want my bullet to get in there and really make a mess of things.  I like my vitals scrambled

[kentrek]

Here's a good video for you guys 

There will never be a perfect bullet for everyone
..compramise for confidence

[jasnt]

Nice bear Jasnt👍

thank you

[Curly]

Here's a good thread over at Rokslide about Bergers. https://www.rokslide.com/forums/long-range-hunting/48965-berger-failures-real-8.html

About halfway through the thread there is a buddy of Mike's from Hells Canyon Armory telling of 4 failures he had where the bullet penciled thru.

Anyway, it's a long thread and has some very good info if anyone cares to take a look. Sounds like a good idea to check that the hole in the tips is opened up all the way to the lead.