Berger "Thick" bullets

[royinidaho]

Has anyone determined just how much thicker the "thick" Berger bullets are over the standard ones?

Wondering if they will hold up in the "extreme" magnum world?

[ss7mm]

I was supposed to have received some 180 gr. 7mm Bergers but that never materialized. I bought some instead and I also contacted Berger and inquired about the thick jacketed bullets.

Tom Hime at Berger said the heavy jacketed bullets do not perform well on game and recommended the light jacketed bullets. He also indicated that the top fps range of the 180 light jacketed bullets would probably be around 3500 fps.

I'd guess the heavy jacketed bullets would hold up but you may have to do another hog test and let us know how they do.;);)

[royinidaho]

We'll see,,,,,,,,,,

I tried the 150s (277) which turned out to not be up to "extreme" magnum barrel twist and velocity. @ 3600 they grouped not good at all.

The longer the jump the larger the group. The "expert" says they were twisting like a wet towel which was greater the longer the jump. Hmmmmm

I have some wilda$$ ideas that just might work..........

Also, Kirby and Shawn are working on some kind of new throat that is supposed to be gentle. Hmmmmm again. They are coming at it from two different directions. Should be interesting.

Nothing like being on the pointy end of an Ice Breaker. The "bleeding edge" so to speak.

[JeffVN]

+1 Roy you got that one correct; the bleeding edge means bleeding $$$$. I'm finding that out on a development project that I have in motion as we speak. I never thought I'd start a bon fire with a stack of $$, but that is what most development projects seem to be....

Did you ever try taking your Bergers in closer to the lands? I know its obviious, but my Berger 180s hate jumping in my F-Class 7WSM, but group like crazy when 0.010 into the lands.

just a thought.

JeffVN

[AZShooter]

I asked the same thing of Berger...."how will the heavy jacketed 180 7 mm VLD bullets perform on game?".

The answer was we don't know but we THINK they might not work as well.

Hopefully someone will post their results on game.

[royinidaho]

JeffVN,

The groups were not good when I jamed them hard into the rifling and got exponentially worse as I backed them out.

AZHunter,

I suspect Berger will be very cautious regarding the "thick"s performance on game. I'm confident that they haven't done the extensive testing as conducted on their 'regular' bullets.

If they made a "thick" in 277 I'd already know how they'd perform against NABs, BTs and SMKs and against standard Bergers. But they don't.

However I do have access to a 7mm RM that will be sufficient to test at LR velocities.

This won't be without its problems as I'll have to figure a way to keep my media from freezing.:( Another one of those bleeding edge things. But the media functions very well for comparing terminal performance of bullets. I'm pretty high on it. Maybe I'll figure a different moisture additive such as antifreeze or some such thing. That would be a mess though. Or I could build a small fire under the container. I think I see a Darwin Award coming my way.

[AZShooter]

I will be trying the thin 180s in Jan. when the rifle get finished and I have time. If they fail in flight I'll be trying the thick versions. The rifle have a 1 in 7 twist Lilja, 30" #7 profile chambered in 7 Rem Mag. I would have used a slightly slower twist like a 1 in 8 but Dan doesn't make that twist. I am a bit concerned with the thin 180 coming apart in flight. He says he hasn't heard of anyone having issues with that 1 in 7 and the 180 VLDs. Watch...for some reason I'll be the first.

I'll bet antifreeze would work with a 10 or 15% mix...consult the label for just enough to prevent freezing for a given temp.