Berger VLD Bullets

[MDGrand]

Hey, I just ordered a box of these in 7mm Rem Mag.. was curious if anybody else here is a huge believer in these bullets?

I actually had some handloaded, 190 VLD made for my 300 Weatherby but because of the free boar and secant ogive I got some less than favorable groupings.. so they are out..but my 7mm seems to love the secant ogive hornady and I am really looking forward to putting these bullets to the test. From what I have heard and read.. these bullets are really special as they will penetrate then expande leaving massive wound cavities as oppsed to other bullets that immeidately expand upon impact being less than useful on large game but still penetrate like a bonded but live larger wound cavities..

Does anyone use these bullets regularly and if so.. what have your results been on Elk, Bears, etc?

[haugenna]

I love their accuracy on paper.  Don't know what is going to happen when they hit an animal.  I am a little concerned that they will fragment once they get inside the vitals, shredding the vitals of course.

I know they will kill with bullet placement.  My concern is the lack of blood trail in thick brush.  Its easy to follow a blood trail with an exit wound in vine maples.  Its not that easy to find a deer that ran 60 yards with no bood trail in vine maples.  I will be trying them out this year though. 

[jjhunter]

I shot my wyoming buck from 645 yards with a 140 VLD out of 6.5x284 last year.   It was not a bang, flop...but he went to sleep pretty quickly.    My wife used my custom 300 WM with the 190 Berger at 3110 fps this year.   It was probably the most violent whack that I have ever seen in my life......she shot it from 224 yards - it seemed to drop before she pulled the trigger!

At the range, the 190 is something to behold.   A hunting rifle that shoots in the .1's gives ya a little confidence.  Also shot groups under 2" at 600 yards.

[MDGrand]

I love their accuracy on paper.  Don't know what is going to happen when they hit an animal.  I am a little concerned that they will fragment once they get inside the vitals, shredding the vitals of course.

I know they will kill with bullet placement.  My concern is the lack of blood trail in thick brush.  Its easy to follow a blood trail with an exit wound in vine maples.  Its not that easy to find a deer that ran 60 yards with no bood trail in vine maples.  I will be trying them out this year though. 

Well, from my understanding that is exactly what they are supposed to do.. fragment once they get inside causing a massive wound cavity. Most of these bullets from my understanding do not exit the animal. From what I have learned they are kind of a controled ballistic bullet.. and supposed to be REALLY accurate!

[MDGrand]

Thats a nice buck!

Sure wish my 300 Weatherby liked the 190 VLDs.. because of the freeboar and I think because of the ogive, it shoots em all over the place!

Looking forward to trying them out in my 7MM Rem Mag.. apparently that is what they are most used in.

[jjhunter]

Thats a nice buck!

Sure wish my 300 Weatherby liked the 190 VLDs.. because of the freeboar and I think because of the ogive, it shoots em all over the place!

Looking forward to trying them out in my 7MM Rem Mag.. apparently that is what they are most used in.

Not too bad for her first five minutes of ever hunting  

The 168/7mm combo is tough to beat!    If you got a decent rifle, you should be good.   Of course, the best thing to do is to order/chamber your barrel around the bullet.   Eliminates the guesswork.

I'd show you a pic of my WY buck, but I am totally decked out in Sitka Optifade  

[MDGrand]

Aww.. I dont care if you want to pay more money for something that is not as good 

[jjhunter]

Aww.. I dont care if you want to pay more money for something that is not as good 

Let's just say I don't pay retail   

[MDGrand]

Me either..

Hey its not possible to re-chamber a rifle around a bullet is it? I don't know what kind of work would have to be done there.. But given the accuracy and knockdown power that these Berger bullets seem to be in and its seems they are more advanced that most if not all bullet capablities in their delayed penetration and wound channel generation.. maybe it would be worh it?

BTW.. how do you post a pic? "Insert image" aint working for me...

[jjhunter]

Me either..

Hey its not possible to re-chamber a rifle around a bullet is it? I don't know what kind of work would have to be done there.. But given the accuracy and knockdown power that these Berger bullets seem to be in and its seems they are more advanced that most if not all bullet capablities in their delayed penetration and wound channel generation.. maybe it would be worh it?

BTW.. how do you post a pic? "Insert image" aint working for me...

Yes, you can rechamber a barrel.   I don't think that I would spend the money on a factory barrel, though.   You'd be better off with ordering a barrel from any of the better barrel makers.  That way, you know it will shoot and you can also specify the optimal twist for the bullet that you want to shoot.

For inserting pictures:   When you post, you will see a link at bottom that says "Additional Options".   Click this link and it will allow you to browse and attach pics.  Pretty easy.   If the files are too large, it will not allow you to post so you may have to resize some pics.

[Huntbear]

You are not rechambering the barrel, unless the throat is to long to begin with.  All you are doing is getting the throat reamed to match the long bullets.  The best thing is to get a chamber cast done.  That will tell you what the throat looks like, for length.  Then go from there.

[carpsniperg2]

i asked the same a while back seems like the big concern was holding up threw bone and allot of people said at 100 yards they shot only o.k. with other bullets beating them but down range when the other bullets started to group poor the berger was still like it was at a 100 yards

[haugenna]

I shot my wyoming buck from 645 yards with a 140 VLD out of 6.5x284 last year.   It was not a bang, flop...but he went to sleep pretty quickly.    My wife used my custom 300 WM with the 190 Berger at 3110 fps this year.   It was probably the most violent whack that I have ever seen in my life......she shot it from 224 yards - it seemed to drop before she pulled the trigger!

At the range, the 190 is something to behold.   A hunting rifle that shoots in the .1's gives ya a little confidence.  Also shot groups under 2" at 600 yards.

Nice looking setup on the 300 WM.  What are the specs on that gun?

[haugenna]

I love their accuracy on paper.  Don't know what is going to happen when they hit an animal.  I am a little concerned that they will fragment once they get inside the vitals, shredding the vitals of course.

I know they will kill with bullet placement.  My concern is the lack of blood trail in thick brush.  Its easy to follow a blood trail with an exit wound in vine maples.  Its not that easy to find a deer that ran 60 yards with no bood trail in vine maples.  I will be trying them out this year though. 

Well, from my understanding that is exactly what they are supposed to do.. fragment once they get inside causing a massive wound cavity. Most of these bullets from my understanding do not exit the animal. From what I have learned they are kind of a controled ballistic bullet.. and supposed to be REALLY accurate!

I like the idea of shredding the vitals.  My only concern is a blood trail.  I don't think you are going to get the penetration through the other side like you would on a TTSX.  I am just a little nervous hunting in rough country.  Sage brush doesn't concern me that much as it is easy to circle.  High rough country, the further they go could add hours of extra time and work.

[MDGrand]

Me either..

Hey its not possible to re-chamber a rifle around a bullet is it? I don't know what kind of work would have to be done there.. But given the accuracy and knockdown power that these Berger bullets seem to be in and its seems they are more advanced that most if not all bullet capablities in their delayed penetration and wound channel generation.. maybe it would be worh it?

BTW.. how do you post a pic? "Insert image" aint working for me...

Yes, you can rechamber a barrel.   I don't think that I would spend the money on a factory barrel, though.   You'd be better off with ordering a barrel from any of the better barrel makers.  That way, you know it will shoot and you can also specify the optimal twist for the bullet that you want to shoot.

For inserting pictures:   When you post, you will see a link at bottom that says "Additional Options".   Click this link and it will allow you to browse and attach pics.  Pretty easy.   If the files are too large, it will not allow you to post so you may have to resize some pics.

Well, I have a Shilen barrel on my 300 weatherby already.. and I really like it! Albeit I am a bit dissapointed in how my rifle treates the berger VLD bullet.. I will have to ask my riflesmith what he thinks.. Maybe he has an idea, rechambering might be one of those.. I just know what the 7mm Rem Mag does with these bullets.. and was thinking that if the 7MM does that.. what will a 300 Mag do?

Here is a pic of my bull and rifle.. very proud of this one!

[jjhunter]

The 7mm is tough to beat with the 168 or 180.   The B.C. is so high with these bullets and the 7mm mag drives them at the ultimate VLD velocity.  When you factor in BC, speed, recoil, efficiency - this combo may be the best deer/elk combo available.

I have always had really good luck with the 300 WM.   It is a time proven, inherently accurate cartridge.   A good caliber to build a highly accuarate rifle around.  The 190 at 3100 is about as good as it gets for the 30's to 1000 yards.    I can shoot this rifle all day long - recoils a little more than a .243.

Some with disagree with this, but I am not a huge fan of Shilen Barrels.   I know that they make some outstanding barrels, but any barrel maker that makes "grades" of barrel loses my business.   I only buy Hart as I have never heard or read a bad thing about them.   I have owned 5 and they all shot and cleaned like a dream.    Very good barrels!   A focus on sheer precision and accuracy is what I am after.    I was buying barrels before the emergence and popularity of LR hunting.    There are many more choice today than we had when I started.   I have chosen to stick what has worked for me in the past.   

[shaneman153D]

If you look the bullets up on Midway there are reviews on them.  The 180s shoot great out of my 7mm, and they have a super-high BC.  Great for long-range work.   Haven't tried it out on game yet though.

'cept rock chucks!

Shane

[rbros]

I have used Berger VLD's from the 6mm 105's on up to the 180 7mm's on game out to 1120yds.  The results are pretty much flawless.  All bang flops.  I will say, I was more impressed with the performance of the 180's than the 168's in the 7mm.  Both did the job, but the 180's seemed to just work better.

[whacker1]

I did some loading over the weekend trying to find something that will make the groups smaller for my 300 RUM.  I loaded Berger 168's.  Nosler E-tip in 168 and Nosler E-tip in 180's.

Looking forward to testing them out at the range this week.

[MichaelJ]

MDGrand, what kind of twist rate is your barrel?  Might be a little slow to stabalize the bergers right out of the gate...  And have you experimented with a different powder/amount?  LOTS of guys are shooting the Bergers out of their 300's with great success.

I'm re-chambering my REM 700 Long Action this summer into a .280 ackley and am going to be using the Bergers...  should be an awesome deer/elk gun with enough energy to still take down an elk at 600+ yards.


Michael