Berger 208 LRHT on game
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Outdrmn
Well-Known Member
I bought some as well, hope to try em out next couple weeks.
Please post your results when you get the chance to try em.
codyadams
Well-Known Member
Well, got a good sub half MOA load worked up in my 20" 30 nosler, the 208 is singing along comfortably at 2925, gonna test them out on at least pronghorn, maybe deer and possibly elk too
that's smoking in a 20". I have a 300 RUM barrel being spun up currently 28" barrel. I'm going to try them in it. I bet I can get it to 3,200 mark. Time will tell.
codyadams
Well-Known Member
Got some critters down with these 208's.
Two doe pronghorn, got two different range samples, one at 92 yards, and one at 545. First was 92.
Was driving out to a field I had permission on, and about half a mile before the field this doe stood up off the right side of the 2 track road. I expected her to run, but after watching her for a second, she just stood there, so I grabbed my rifle from the passenger seat, unfolded the stock as I stepped out, put ear plugs in, walked to the front of the vehicle behind the hood and chambered a round, stood up and took my shot off hand. As the shot broke I saw the crosshairs perfectly tight behind the shoulder, down low on the heart (in wyoming, you can shoot from a 2 track dirt road as long as you are outside of your vehicle, just not on any county road, state or main highway) I heard the impact and saw her rare up and start running on just her back legs, and disapoear in the little gully below where she was bedded. I chambered another round and walked over, but I was confident what I would find.
She ran about 20 yards in a sprint and tumbled. Impact velocity was 2835, perfect broadside heart shot, however it was so violent upon impact that it ruptured the diagram and the stomach, and blew stomach contents out of the exit wound, even though it was nowhere near the stomach. Goats are pretty light built critters.....exit hole in hide was roughly 1.5", but due to stomach contents being blown out the exit contaminating the meat, as well as heavy bloodshot, I lost about half of the exit side shoulder. Entrance side was only bloodshot for an inch or so around the entrance, lost almost nothing on that side.
Exit -
Entrance -
Internal entrance -
Internal exit -
Second doe was 545. Spotted a group of three bedded in another field I have permission on, drove on the road out to a big haystack, and climbed up on top of a 4x4x8 alfalfa bale for the shot. There was a slight 3 o'clock wind that I should have held just a little bit for, it hit about 2" back from where I was aiming. Shooting at bedded animals is deceiving, you need to aim much lower than you would think, when they lay down they essentially roll back, if you aim center body you will hit spine, if you hit much higher you run a risk of grazing off their back. I held about 2" off the ground on this shot, you will see impact. As the shot broke I got back on in time to see impact, I saw dust come up behind her, and the impact nearly roll her over. She managed to stand up, ran about 50 yards slowly, and stop. At this point I could see my exit in the scope, watched her, she did the typical stumble, catch herself, and stumble again and she was down. Shot took out the back of the lungs and part of the liver, but did not rupture the stomach, it all came out very clean, much much better than the 92 yard doe, and what I would consider optimal performance. Impact velocity was 2393.
Entrance -
Exit -
Internal damage -
Entrance hide off -
Exit, hide off -
I did that last one to show that there was actually no real meat loss even on exit, there appeared to be bloodshot under the rib meat, but once the rib meat was trimmed off, the bloodshot between the outer layer and the ribs was a little jelly that just washed/scraped off, and accounted for no noteable meat loss, not even a hint of bloodshot in the backstrap that was up against the exit, so at this range on this animal, performance was stellar, absolutely perfect. Also note, the entrance was actually between ribs, so the bullet expanded properly with very little initial resistance.
I have one more buck pronghorn, one mule deer and two elk left for this season, so testing is not complete for me yet, however it is off to a good start. If most of your shots are in under 300 yards, I might look to a heavier constructed bullet, as meat loss was on the heavy side in close. My average pronghorn is 500ish yards or farther, so for me, they are about optimal this close goat was an abnormality. Mule deer and elk are usually even farther for me. More to come!
Two doe pronghorn, got two different range samples, one at 92 yards, and one at 545. First was 92.
Was driving out to a field I had permission on, and about half a mile before the field this doe stood up off the right side of the 2 track road. I expected her to run, but after watching her for a second, she just stood there, so I grabbed my rifle from the passenger seat, unfolded the stock as I stepped out, put ear plugs in, walked to the front of the vehicle behind the hood and chambered a round, stood up and took my shot off hand. As the shot broke I saw the crosshairs perfectly tight behind the shoulder, down low on the heart (in wyoming, you can shoot from a 2 track dirt road as long as you are outside of your vehicle, just not on any county road, state or main highway) I heard the impact and saw her rare up and start running on just her back legs, and disapoear in the little gully below where she was bedded. I chambered another round and walked over, but I was confident what I would find.
She ran about 20 yards in a sprint and tumbled. Impact velocity was 2835, perfect broadside heart shot, however it was so violent upon impact that it ruptured the diagram and the stomach, and blew stomach contents out of the exit wound, even though it was nowhere near the stomach. Goats are pretty light built critters.....exit hole in hide was roughly 1.5", but due to stomach contents being blown out the exit contaminating the meat, as well as heavy bloodshot, I lost about half of the exit side shoulder. Entrance side was only bloodshot for an inch or so around the entrance, lost almost nothing on that side.
Exit -
Entrance -
Internal entrance -
Internal exit -
Second doe was 545. Spotted a group of three bedded in another field I have permission on, drove on the road out to a big haystack, and climbed up on top of a 4x4x8 alfalfa bale for the shot. There was a slight 3 o'clock wind that I should have held just a little bit for, it hit about 2" back from where I was aiming. Shooting at bedded animals is deceiving, you need to aim much lower than you would think, when they lay down they essentially roll back, if you aim center body you will hit spine, if you hit much higher you run a risk of grazing off their back. I held about 2" off the ground on this shot, you will see impact. As the shot broke I got back on in time to see impact, I saw dust come up behind her, and the impact nearly roll her over. She managed to stand up, ran about 50 yards slowly, and stop. At this point I could see my exit in the scope, watched her, she did the typical stumble, catch herself, and stumble again and she was down. Shot took out the back of the lungs and part of the liver, but did not rupture the stomach, it all came out very clean, much much better than the 92 yard doe, and what I would consider optimal performance. Impact velocity was 2393.
Entrance -
Exit -
Internal damage -
Entrance hide off -
Exit, hide off -
I did that last one to show that there was actually no real meat loss even on exit, there appeared to be bloodshot under the rib meat, but once the rib meat was trimmed off, the bloodshot between the outer layer and the ribs was a little jelly that just washed/scraped off, and accounted for no noteable meat loss, not even a hint of bloodshot in the backstrap that was up against the exit, so at this range on this animal, performance was stellar, absolutely perfect. Also note, the entrance was actually between ribs, so the bullet expanded properly with very little initial resistance.
I have one more buck pronghorn, one mule deer and two elk left for this season, so testing is not complete for me yet, however it is off to a good start. If most of your shots are in under 300 yards, I might look to a heavier constructed bullet, as meat loss was on the heavy side in close. My average pronghorn is 500ish yards or farther, so for me, they are about optimal this close goat was an abnormality. Mule deer and elk are usually even farther for me. More to come!
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Nice write-ups. Thank you for sharing.
codyadams
Well-Known Member
Another pronghorn down, this time my buck tag.
I'm hunting an area I have never hunted, or been to for that matter, and only had about 2-3 hours after class, on a public walk in area, so I shot the first buck I came across. My family goes through a lot of meat and I don't buy red meat from the store, so need to fill freezers!
Snuck up to 260 yards. Impact velocity was about 2700 fps, knowing what this did on my last high velocity impact, I held tight to the shoulder and low. Impacted where I aimed, exited about 2" back as he was slightly quartered too, with about a 1.5" exit. Buck started to go down, but was able to soak it up and slow run about 25 yards, then stopped and stepped back, then tipped over......perfect! However, the bullet still did the whole rupture and suck some stomach contents out the exit wound.....but was not near as bad. I only lost about 2" around the exit wound hole, and surprisingly the bloodshot was pretty minimal, and it cleaned up nicely. Internals were soupy and completely destroyed. Sorry, no pics of insides, I was in a hurry and by myself, it looked the same as the others though. This bullet is violent in close on small critters, pronghorn or whitetail, etc. Give it an impact velocity of around 2500-2600 or less though, and it really shines, even on small critters. However.....it is a 208 @ 2970 fps, it's a little overkill for pronghorn ha ha! Elk.....now that will be the next test!! I have two elk tags....hoping to get at least one filled with this bullet. May have time to look for a deer, but it doesn't look very likely.....
Entrance -
Exit -
I'm hunting an area I have never hunted, or been to for that matter, and only had about 2-3 hours after class, on a public walk in area, so I shot the first buck I came across. My family goes through a lot of meat and I don't buy red meat from the store, so need to fill freezers!
Snuck up to 260 yards. Impact velocity was about 2700 fps, knowing what this did on my last high velocity impact, I held tight to the shoulder and low. Impacted where I aimed, exited about 2" back as he was slightly quartered too, with about a 1.5" exit. Buck started to go down, but was able to soak it up and slow run about 25 yards, then stopped and stepped back, then tipped over......perfect! However, the bullet still did the whole rupture and suck some stomach contents out the exit wound.....but was not near as bad. I only lost about 2" around the exit wound hole, and surprisingly the bloodshot was pretty minimal, and it cleaned up nicely. Internals were soupy and completely destroyed. Sorry, no pics of insides, I was in a hurry and by myself, it looked the same as the others though. This bullet is violent in close on small critters, pronghorn or whitetail, etc. Give it an impact velocity of around 2500-2600 or less though, and it really shines, even on small critters. However.....it is a 208 @ 2970 fps, it's a little overkill for pronghorn ha ha! Elk.....now that will be the next test!! I have two elk tags....hoping to get at least one filled with this bullet. May have time to look for a deer, but it doesn't look very likely.....
Entrance -
Exit -
Outdrmn
Well-Known Member
Awesome! Thanks for sharing the details as I will also be trying out the 208's this season.
I will be trying the 208's this season on whitetail, 2820fps 26" 300 WSM.
codyadams
Well-Known Member
Cow elk down with the 208!
Taken at 590 yards, impact velocity 2375 fps. Cow dropped instantly at the shot, I recovered from recoil pretty quick but not quite fast enough to see it, my buddy that was spotting told me she dumped in her tracks.
Entrance was in the crease of the shoulder, between ribs, center body, exit was the front of the shoulder. Good bit of jacket and core frag in the exit that was about 1" in the hide, about 2.5" in the meat. Pics below!
Entrance
Entrance with meat off
Rib removed to see better
Entrance side lung moved to see exit side lung - jelly
Exit hole, front of shoulder. Minimal meat loss, but 2"+ exit.
This was a large cow too, so I got nothing to complain about. Really liking these bullets, especially on bigger animals.
Taken at 590 yards, impact velocity 2375 fps. Cow dropped instantly at the shot, I recovered from recoil pretty quick but not quite fast enough to see it, my buddy that was spotting told me she dumped in her tracks.
Entrance was in the crease of the shoulder, between ribs, center body, exit was the front of the shoulder. Good bit of jacket and core frag in the exit that was about 1" in the hide, about 2.5" in the meat. Pics below!
Entrance
Entrance with meat off
Rib removed to see better
Entrance side lung moved to see exit side lung - jelly
Exit hole, front of shoulder. Minimal meat loss, but 2"+ exit.
This was a large cow too, so I got nothing to complain about. Really liking these bullets, especially on bigger animals.
No pics, but I did get one buck using the 208 Hybrids in my 300 WSM. I wish I could tell you it was a good long shot, but 35 yards was the shot that presented itself. I was in a blind about 20' off the ground. The buck was 35 yards out. Bullet hit in the heart lung area, .308 entry hole, exit hole about the size of a baseball with some shredded pieces of lung on the ground. I did have some off shoulder damage, which is typical. One lung was eviscerated, heart looked like someone cut two deep trails across it. There was massive blood loss on the ground and there was a lot of blood pooled up in the heart lung cavity. When I hit him, guessing velocity was about 2790 according to AB (2820 is my MV using a Magneto Speed). The shot violently spun him around 180 degrees and he went bang flop down. Slight twitch for a few seconds then DRT. This is very comparable to my 215 hybrids from 30-335 yards when I placed my shot in the same location. I did a tip check on all my rounds before heading off hunting. This was my first hunt with a suppressor and it was amazing. Wont do it any other way from here on out!
Second animal I killed was a 250 pound boar hog. I hit him in the heart lung area as he was moving across an opening at about 100 yards. Velocity upon impact according to AB was about 2728. The pig acted like someone hit him with a baseball bat and dropped right there. No travel, no second step, no running, just DRT. Little twitching for 30 seconds, then nothing. The bullet exit wound was bigger than a golf ball, maybe the size of a hen egg. I purposefully aimed in the heart lung area to see how the cartilage plates that protect the hogs vitals would affect the Berger, but without cutting him open I can only surmise everything was obliterated. Blood pool was not very big, but I don't mess with the feral too much after I shoot them. Too many parasites.
All in all very successful performance very similar to almost every Berger bullet I've used to take deer and hogs. Hope this helps.
Second animal I killed was a 250 pound boar hog. I hit him in the heart lung area as he was moving across an opening at about 100 yards. Velocity upon impact according to AB was about 2728. The pig acted like someone hit him with a baseball bat and dropped right there. No travel, no second step, no running, just DRT. Little twitching for 30 seconds, then nothing. The bullet exit wound was bigger than a golf ball, maybe the size of a hen egg. I purposefully aimed in the heart lung area to see how the cartilage plates that protect the hogs vitals would affect the Berger, but without cutting him open I can only surmise everything was obliterated. Blood pool was not very big, but I don't mess with the feral too much after I shoot them. Too many parasites.
All in all very successful performance very similar to almost every Berger bullet I've used to take deer and hogs. Hope this helps.
sierracharlie338
Well-Known Member
Lots of great info in this thread, thanks guys now excuse me while I go buy a case of them.....
brant89
Well-Known Member
Old thread, but here's my experience with them. I struggled to get my new 24" carbon 6 barrel to shoot anything well, but finally got the 208 LRHT shooting consistently 1/2-3/4 MOA in my 300WM (2960fps). Took it up to fill some whitetail crop damage permits. Results below (exit holes) range from 180-500 yards. Due to the temperature everything was gutless quarter, but I think the exit holes speak pretty well to the internal damage. Only runner was the one hit lower third and the blood trail was very easy to follow. I also neck shot a doe at 150, but didn't include the picture because neck shots aren't really indicative of performance on normal vital shots, but I will say it nearly decapitated her. Hopefully I will be able to report back about their performance on elk later next month.
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Just shot a doe antelope with my 30 nosler and berger 220 lrht. 420 yards and bullet performance was flawless. Shot 3 to 4 inches back from front shoulder and a touch high from dead center. Bullet entered bullet size and came out fist plus. Great results going to see on mule deer and elk later on. Great bullet performance and have no concerns. I was a little iffy on them but she hit the flat in a blink of an eye no meat loss. I forgot to take pics took my daughter first time she is 7 and was to busy talking and explaining ect
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