300RUM/200gr.accubond

[W_Ellison2011]

The Accubond might leave a little to be desired at the extended ranges bit is a devastating bullet. If looking to change it up in the future...215 or 230 Berger  A ballistic monster that is definitely tough enough for a big critter.

Maximum weight retention for deer, elk, black bears is overrated IMO. It's cool for a picture but it is definitely not the end-all-be-all metric for terminal performance that some people tend to think it is. No offense meant to the Barnes Boys, just my perspective 

Everybody I've talked to says the Bergers blow up. If they work for you then cool but I personally wouldn't want to be picking chunks of lead and copper out of the meat.

[kselkhunter]

The Accubond might leave a little to be desired at the extended ranges bit is a devastating bullet. If looking to change it up in the future...215 or 230 Berger  A ballistic monster that is definitely tough enough for a big critter.

Maximum weight retention for deer, elk, black bears is overrated IMO. It's cool for a picture but it is definitely not the end-all-be-all metric for terminal performance that some people tend to think it is. No offense meant to the Barnes Boys, just my perspective 

Everybody I've talked to says the Bergers blow up. If they work for you then cool but I personally wouldn't want to be picking chunks of lead and copper out of the meat.

The Berger VLD is a fragmenting bullet.  Designed to penetrate a couple of inches and then fragment. 

[Jonathan_S]

The Accubond might leave a little to be desired at the extended ranges bit is a devastating bullet. If looking to change it up in the future...215 or 230 Berger  A ballistic monster that is definitely tough enough for a big critter.

Maximum weight retention for deer, elk, black bears is overrated IMO. It's cool for a picture but it is definitely not the end-all-be-all metric for terminal performance that some people tend to think it is. No offense meant to the Barnes Boys, just my perspective 

Everybody I've talked to says the Bergers blow up. If they work for you then cool but I personally wouldn't want to be picking chunks of lead and copper out of the meat.

Dont shoot the meat 

As mentioned the Bergers are designed to penetrate and fragment. Definitely more than one way to create massive internal trauma, that was my point with my first post.

[Taco280AI]

So what's the real difference between a Berger "hunting bullet" and a standard target bullet? They both come apart and don't retain their weight. Seems like they slapped the name "hunting" on a target bullet and sold a ton.

[Jonathan_S]

Jacket thickness. Correct they dont retain their weight which is good because they aren't designed to.

[W_Ellison2011]

Jacket thickness. Correct they dont retain their weight which is good because they aren't designed to.

They aren't designed to... but the idea of a hunting bullet is to retain weight while properly mushrooming so you hold and transfer more KE as the bullet penetrates more. I'm not saying other bullets won't fragment, I'm simply saying theres bullets with as high of BC that tend to retain more weight and either don't fragment or fragment a lot less. Which means more KE carried through the bullets path in/through an animal and less picking of lead and copper out of meat. Personally... I shoot both a 300 wby and a custom 300 win mag. The 300 wby is 600 yards or less and is pushing a 200 gr barnes tsx at a mv of 3150 fps. The 300 wm, practical hunting range would be 600 yards or closer but if conditions were right I could easily do a 1,000 yard shot, pushes a 212 ELDX at 3075 fps and its got better weight retention than the bergers with just as high of a bc or better in the weight class. The hornady ELDX 212 gr bullet has a g1 bc of .673 while the 210 gr berger hunting bullet has a g1 of .631. Being honest more store bought rums, wby, and win mags are going to have a 1:10 twist barrel that will do a 210 or 212 gr bullet at the most.

[Jonathan_S]

Pretty sure the idea of a hunting bullet is to kill animals. Bergers are one of many that are fantastic at it.

 Agreed that ELDx are better at weight retention. Matter of fact, the last one I shot a deer with presumably retained most of its weight as it penciled through 

[W_Ellison2011]

Pretty sure the idea of a hunting bullet is to kill animals. Bergers are one of many that are fantastic at it.

 Agreed that ELDx are better at weight retention. Matter of fact, the last one I shot a deer with presumably retained most of its weight as it penciled through 

Bergers will kill an animal. Thats true. How much extra blood shot meat do you get though from that bullet basically shotgunning the inside of your animal? A lot more! If you had an ELDx not expand and pencil through... are you sure you didn't use an ELDM by accident? The reason I ask that is there is such a small chance of a poly tipper bullet not expanding that you should have gone out and bought a lotto ticket... that is unless you were taking a shot at such a range that the bullet was traveling too slow for expansion.

[Karl Blanchard]

Your comments seem to come from a place of inexperience. Touting the eldx as superior to a berger or most any other bullet is a bit silly. I shot 20 animals in 2 seasons with eldx and they are just a high bc cup and core bulket with poor lot to lot consistency. They are prone to full jacket/core separation and I've seen several expansion failures including the one Jon talks about. I've been a part of hundreds and hundreds of harvests and what you are saying about bergers is just "internet" jibberish.  The guys that have issues are the ones shooting small for caliber and pushing them way to hard. I've seen well over 100 animals taken with appropriate sized bergers and I've never seen this grenading and massive neat loss you speak of. If you shoot any big bullet into solid parts of an animal you are gonna get meat damage from Barnes, berger, hornady, nosler, or a round ball from a side lock.

[Magnum_Willys]

I'm much more concerned about Bergers Not exploding at low velocity.  Yorke's expansion tests sold me on sticking with SMK's instead. 

[W_Ellison2011]

Your comments seem to come from a place of inexperience. Touting the eldx as superior to a berger or most any other bullet is a bit silly. I shot 20 animals in 2 seasons with eldx and they are just a high bc cup and core bulket with poor lot to lot consistency. They are prone to full jacket/core separation and I've seen several expansion failures including the one Jon talks about. I've been a part of hundreds and hundreds of harvests and what you are saying about bergers is just "internet" jibberish.  The guys that have issues are the ones shooting small for caliber and pushing them way to hard. I've seen well over 100 animals taken with appropriate sized bergers and I've never seen this grenading and massive neat loss you speak of. If you shoot any big bullet into solid parts of an animal you are gonna get meat damage from Barnes, berger, hornady, nosler, or a round ball from a side lock.

yeah... you might want to rethink that about Barnes... I have a good friend who shoots animals with a 338 wm using a 225 gr barnes tsx. Eats all the way up to the holes... my information is from people who have first hand experience and me talking with them in depth about various bullets and using them for hunting specifically. Personally I use a bow and arrow to kill most of my animals but I will take a rifle for bear and mt lion. So basically my comments do NOT come from a place of inexperience lol. My previous comment might have come off as condescending or negative but it was me actually asking. I know a person that bought the wrong box of hornady ELD bullets for his 6.5 cm for mule deer hunting and couldn't figure out why his bullets didn't expand... he was shooting the ELDM and not the ELDX bullets and didn't realize it until later. With the actual ballistics tests I've seen of the different bullets the bergers have the least weight retention and tend to shrapnel or grenade depending on velocity on impact. Thats an actual fact.. not a guess or some internet jibberish. If you are shooting a match grade or target bullet in the bergers then I could see them not doing that but I would personally NEVER use a match or target bullet for hunting. Idc how many animals you have killed or been a part of killing. It doesn't mean you know the best. It just means you think what you have is the best and its your opinion. My personal experiences are that bergers are great target bullets but not great for hunting. The ELDX is in fact superior and that has been proven by the amount of animals that have been killed with them already, their better weight retention than the berger hunting bullets. Mind you I am basing my info off of what I have seen with my own eyes and have been told. Then again the saying,"treat rifle and bullet people like used car salesman," comes to mind. All of this being said. Lets agree to disagree and let the OP make up his own mind.