berger match 185

[mphstigerfan]

I am shooting a 300 wsm and pushing berger 185 match bt bullets at around 2900 or so. I am very curious about the terminal performance of this bullet at different ranges.

 

[mphstigerfan]

My rifle loves the 168 vld and shot some great groups including a .09" but I felt I need more bc and thought I might like the terminal ballistics of a heavier bullet better. worked with 190 vlds and got 1/2-3/4" with 7828. Then a friend suggested the 185 bt and it has shot some groups under 1/2" with rl19. When I stretched it out to 300 the 185 outshot the 190 by a good margin. Which brings us to my concern about what it will do on game. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mkg]

I shoot the 185's out of a Savage model 12 .

As with most ( all as far as I know ) Bergers you will get great performance on game.

I have taken NE Tn/ SW Va whitetails with the 185s at 2995 ft/sec and the internals are swiss cheese.

Mike

 

[Oliveralan]

Mkg,

he is talking about the 185 match BT-LRs. Berger's tangent ogive bullets. I am also interested as I have the same bullets, but 210 grainers.

They are made on the target jacket, hopefully someone here has tried these already, if not I'll probably stick one in a VA whitetail next weekend.

 

[mphstigerfan]

What are you shooting the 210's out of? How fast are you pushing them

 

[Oliveralan]

I've got 2 rifles to try them in. .308 win 28" bbl with RL17 and .300 ackley magnum 30" bbl with RL25. Should be around 2600 and 3150 respectively. Ill mainly interested in it's results in the .308 win, and that's what I'd use to shoot deer with.

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I shoot the 185 VLD hunting. Why dont you just buy them?

 

[Oliveralan]

Because my .308 simply doesn't like VLDs. I have tried just about every possible seating depth with numerous primers, cases, and 4 different weight VLD bullets.

The tangent ogive bullets are much easier to get to shoot accurately, and I'm still looking for a bullet to replace the 208gr A-max I used to shoot.

I assume mphstigerfan has similar issues, and even if not, sayin just shoot a different bullet isn't very helpful...

 

[mphstigerfan]

The 168 vld shot my best 100 us group ever but I think it's a bit light. The 190 vld did ok at 100 with 7828. The difference was at 300 the 185 was shooting 2" and the 190 wasn't even close

 

[elkaholic]

My rifle loves the 168 vld and shot some great groups including a .09" but I felt I need more bc and thought I might like the terminal ballistics of a heavier bullet better. worked with 190 vlds and got 1/2-3/4" with 7828. Then a friend suggested the 185 bt and it has shot some groups under 1/2" with rl19. When I stretched it out to 300 the 185 outshot the 190 by a good margin. Which brings us to my concern about what it will do on game. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

If you are talking about the target bullets with thicker jackets, chances of expansion at longer ranges is very doubtful. Since longer range is what I assume you are interested in, I would definitely use the thinner skinned hunting bullet......Rich