Berger VLD vs Berger Match Hunting VLD

[phorwath]

Originally Posted by Ackley Man

This is converse to what they emailed to me.

One-potato two-potato three-potato four...

[Gene]

The quote from Bryan Litz is correct. But here is my complaint. I shoot a tight neck 6mmBR, fully tricked out Rem 700 with NF on top, in long range competition. I have not been able to get the 105 gr. Target VLD to produce sub MOA. Tried a box of Hunting 105 VLD's, and WOW, they just cut one hole at 100 yds. Shot them in a match, and at 500, they were still under MOA. Bought two more boxes of the same bullet, and could not believe what I saw. Same load, at 100 yds, groups jumped to 3/4". They were jammed .015". I was getting average 2920 MV with the Target bullets, did not chrony the Hunting bullets. Gotta do that.

Since then I have read several comments on accurateshooter.com about the inconsistency of the Berger Hunting bullets. I believe Berger is in the process of correcting this, but you should be aware of this when you are at the range.

[Kevin Thomas]

Bryan already answered this in the piece that MT Rifleman was good enough to bring forward, but the Berger's now labled as "Hunting" are precisely the same Berger's you've been buying all along. The new, thicker jacket was a move to resolve some issues that are more specific to target shooters shooting longer strings of fire. The solution, as Bryan described, was to make the jackets slightly thicker through the bearing surface area.

Thick jackets are harder to draw concentrically than are thin jackets, and that's just a fact of life. It's also exactly why SMKs jackets are thinner than their GKs, and why J-4 has always gone with a very thin jacket; they're easier to get consistent accuracy. Walt and Eric were very much aware of this when the decision was made to thicken the jackets for those bullets dedicated to Target use. As such, the thicker jackets are held to the same tolerances for concentircity as are the thinner jackets, despite the fact that it's a real pain in the butt to do so. They should be applauded for that, 'cause it's not an easy feat. Bottom line is, if there's any difference in how the Target/Hunting bullets are shooting, it's probably due to something else in the mix, or simply the variation we normally see from one lot of bullets to the next.

Kevin Thomas
Lapua USA

[Forrest Ebert]

I can tell you that the Hunting VLD works just like they say excellent expansion and dropem where they stand ! That with the 168 7mm couldn't ask for any better performance !

[Gene]

Kevin - I didn't say it clearly, but that is the rap on the Berger hunting bullets; lot to lot inconsistency.

[Kevin Thomas]

Gene,

again, I think we may have wires crossed here; inconsistency in Hunting or Target bullets? The Target bullets are the ones with the thicker jackets, and hence harder to get to deliver consistent accuracy, while the Hunting bullets are the same thickness J-4 jackets they've used all along. If you're seeing issues with the Hunting bullets, since essentially nothing's changed with the bullet itself, something else is most likely going on. Don't know quite what to diagnose over the monitor here, but there's gotta be some difference in there somewhere. Have you voiced the concern to Eric or Walt? They're usually pretty good about getting to the bottom of this sort of thing. Just a thought.

Kevin Thomas
Lapua USA

[phorwath]

Here's a thread I started a while back asking about member's experiences using the Berger Target VLDs on game. Most were having good experiences regarding expansion on game animals. One member did send me a PM saying he'd seen some failure to expand with the .257 115 gr VLD Berger Target bullets out of his 25-06 when no bone had been hit on deer-sized game animals.

Berger Target VLDs for Hunting Experiences?