210 Bergers Get it Done!

[Scrubbit]

Great story and beautiful animals. Yup, I would have been a little jumpy...

 

[birddog67]

Wow great animals ! Congrats

 

[Tumbleweed]

Oh but wait sir, don't you know that Bergers don't work at short range! And certainly not on big, tough, dangerous game animals!
Sorry, couldn't resist. Great animals and awesome bullet performance!

 

[stewartrecords]

Tumble Weed- I couldn't agree with you more. I hear people say that all the time about Berger. I hear all the time, your crazy to go Grizzly bear hunting with Bergers. All I can say is that 2 shots from a 300 win mag took down a 900lb Grizzly quick. The second shot and he was dead as he flew backwards down the Mountain.

Thanks for the post!

 

[extreme]

Tumble Weed- I couldn't agree with you more. I hear people say that all the time about Berger. I hear all the time, your crazy to go Grizzly bear hunting with Bergers. All I can say is that 2 shots from a 300 win mag took down a 900lb Grizzly quick. The second shot and he was dead as he flew backwards down the Mountain.

Thanks for the post!

Both are great trophys but why 5 shots on the moose..

 

[stewartrecords]

Good question, A bull moose has as much as 12-13 gallons of blood in his circulatory system. That takes some time to for an animal that large to bleed out. I have seen several large bull moose take 3-4 rounds from larger calibers than a 300 win mag. They are flat out tough animals, they are so huge and can suck up rounds. The 5th round was for good measure. He was just a fighter I guess, all the shots where in the boiler maker.

 

[varmintH8R]

Not to mention if you let a bull like that walk off wounded and you aren't able to track/find him - that is the stuff of nightmares!

 

[rick523]

Congratulations on a successful hunt and two awesome animals. Yep if there still on there feet just keep shooting until, 1. They go down, or 2. You run out of bullets. with a big grizz at 40 yds. #2 is not a good option.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I shot the grizzly at 40 yards, on the side of a mountain, blowing snow storm. Shot him facing me, between his kneck and shoulder. The round traveled the length of his body and embedded under his skin by his back hip. Second shot was broad side through the shoulder and embedded just under the skin on the far side shoulder. Didn't have time to recover the bullets but you could see were they where due to the damage. We needed to get off the mountain with the weather and it was late in the day.

The moose was shot at 75 yards. First shot was facing me a bit but quartered. Hit in the shoulder and ran the length of him. All pass through shot on the moose. The wound channels where huge. Exit wounds were base ball sized.

Congrats on a couple of fine animals!

Which 210 were you using, the target or hunting? the reason I ask is that the performance you experienced seems to be inconsistent with what others have experienced at close ranges and higher velocities.

Berger advertises penetration of about 13-15" and this has been consistent with results of other members at closer ranges and no exits.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Oh but wait sir, don't you know that Bergers don't work at short range! And certainly not on big, tough, dangerous game animals!
Sorry, couldn't resist. Great animals and awesome bullet performance!

I think Bergers are great and highly effective hunting bullet. That said, they are by design a highly frangible bullet and highly frangible bullets do not make the best penetrating bullets. They are great for being shot into the vitals and causing massive damage, but I would question intentionally planning to use them for deep penetration on dangerous animals. I have no problem using them on game up to elk size and smaller bears with shots directly to the vitals but I would hesitate to use them at high velocity on a large moose size animal and definitely not on a large bear. They obviously worked very well for the OP, but based on what Berger advertises and the documented results of other members here, his results are not consistent with that.

 

[stewartrecords]

I was using the Hunting VLd 210's. I have been around or shot myself several big game animals and whitetails with Bergers. They are amazing rounds, some are pass through shots and some aren't. I have used the 168's,185's and 210's. All of which at some point have passed through inside 100 yard shots except for the Grizzly. Meaning there has been a handful of times each one of those grains as made a pass through. Lots of factors of why maybe but it doesn't happen often.

I would assume my shots that passed through on the moose where due to velocity. Those 210's where chronographed at 3090 Ft per second.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I was using the Hunting VLd 210's. I have been around or shot myself several big game animals and whitetails with Bergers. They are amazing rounds, some are pass through shots and some aren't. I have used the 168's,185's and 210's. All of which at some point have passed through inside 100 yard shots except for the Grizzly. Meaning there has been a handful of times each one of those grains as made a pass through. Lots of factors of why maybe but it doesn't happen often.

I would assume my shots that passed through on the moose where due to velocity. Those 210's where chronographed at 3090 Ft per second.

Actually, the rule of thumb for the Bergers is, greater velocity = less penetration. This is because of their frangible nature. High velocity produce more violent expansion. If you read through this thread by Broz using the 215 hybrids (a "target" bullet) you'll see that shots inside 500 yards higher velocity) usually did not produce exits whereas farther shots with lower impact velocities did produce exits.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/comparing-berger-210-vld-215-hybrid-88657/

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Actually, the rule of thumb for the Bergers is, greater velocity = less penetration. This is because of their frangible nature. High velocity produce more violent expansion. If you read through this thread by Broz using the 215 hybrids (a "target" bullet) you'll see that shots inside 500 yards higher velocity) usually did not produce exits whereas farther shots with lower impact velocities did produce exits.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/comparing-berger-210-vld-215-hybrid-88657/

Let me re-phrase the above,

In shots on elk, shots usually showed no exits. Closer shots showed greater expansion and generally less penetration.

How far would you say it was from the entrance to the exits on your moose?

 

[extreme]

Good question, A bull moose has as much as 12-13 gallons of blood in his circulatory system. That takes some time to for an animal that large to bleed out. I have seen several large bull moose take 3-4 rounds from larger calibers than a 300 win mag. They are flat out tough animals, they are so huge and can suck up rounds. The 5th round was for good measure. He was just a fighter I guess, all the shots where in the boiler maker.

Ok that's a good enough answer for me. I have killed a few moose in my hunting career and several black Bear and Grizz but I only hunt them with 338/378 wby mag or 338 lapua using 250 to 300 gr.bullets.. Two hair raising episodes while Elk hunting and guartering a Elk taught me that 250 and 300 grain bullets are worth there weight in gold ,,especially when shooting from the Hip at 5 feet away.