I used a 6.5 PRC with Berger 140 Elite Hunter on mine this year.
Alaska Grizzly Bullet Choice
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Bob Wright
Well-Known Member
FireFlyFishing
Well-Known Member
Another fan of monos here. Two holes are always better than one in my book.
Second choice would be any of the bonded recommendations mentioned previously.
Second choice would be any of the bonded recommendations mentioned previously.
dennisinaz
Well-Known Member
There are a number of people who feel this way. The 2 holes are certainly better for blood trail but a good expanding bullet almost always kills faster than a copper bullet that blasts right through. I killed an interior grizzly with a 215 Berger and it worked just fine. I would choose a different bullet for the bigger and closer brown bear
Dooner
Well-Known Member
What do you think about the 190 grain CX?
FireFlyFishing
Well-Known Member
I've had game get away with Bergers…and what I thought was good shot placement…within 100 yards or so. While I've killed many animals with Bergers, I've had inconsistent results. That has been my experience, hence my previous post.
Shot placement is always king over bullet construction when it comes to these types of conversations. I'll be the first to admit nobody is perfect and eventually you will have an errant shot…me included!. I like my chances on a bad shot/bone with a mono or bonded any day of the week over a match type bullet. Experience has led to this conclusion for me.
Lastly, you mentioned blood trails…for me it's not so much the trail (although this is a side benefit) as the actual loss of blood profusion that will kill the animal if I manage to miss a vital organ. The faster the loss of blood, the faster the animal will expire. So, in this case 2, 4, or 6 holes is better than 1, 2, or 3 holes if you were to get off 1, 2, or 3 shots on target, respectively.
To each his own, and YMMV.
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Close....but no cigar! .460 Weatherby is the right answer! Sorry...what was the question?The correct answer is 45-70
The date with an Alaskan grizzly is on my bucket list, i had custom 375 ruger made for this and Cape buffalo, wildebeast hunts. Be interested on how you do, please let us know your outfitter, etc. Thanks and good hunting.
memtb
Well-Known Member
Sorry, we've not used them. Have used Barnes since early '90's……so far very satisfied! memtb
dennisinaz
Well-Known Member
There doesn't have to be a hole to the outside for blood to leak. Internal bleeding kills just as well.
memtb
Well-Known Member
Can't argue with that…..however, a bullet leaving two holes, generally means a longer wound channel…..thereby increasing the odds of breaking something that keeps the animal mobile. Whether it is death by important organ destruction, or major structural damage which may severely hinder it's mobility!
Either one can be beneficial in allowing you to tell the story. How much the shooter decides to embellish the encounter is totally their choice!
memtb
Gday quandary
My thinking is ( correct me if im wrong ) as You mentioned the Aframe in your initial post so I'd assume you done the bc on the Aframe to conclude that was your baseline of bc & as that is nothing startling so in all reality you have opened up a lot of pills
So your choice will be fairly wide
A special note on your recovered pills put up note the flat meplat on that mushroom as it's a good indicator of good preformance but that pill does not do that across the full velocity window ( & no brand does in the mushroom world )
What ridewalker has put up below is one that imo needs repeating & these guys are the ones who you want beside you when things go pear shape as eventuality they do in any form not just DG
I'd suggest a velocity impact chart all the way out to what your effective max range
My thinking is ( correct me if im wrong ) as You mentioned the Aframe in your initial post so I'd assume you done the bc on the Aframe to conclude that was your baseline of bc & as that is nothing startling so in all reality you have opened up a lot of pills
So your choice will be fairly wide
A special note on your recovered pills put up note the flat meplat on that mushroom as it's a good indicator of good preformance but that pill does not do that across the full velocity window ( & no brand does in the mushroom world )
What ridewalker has put up below is one that imo needs repeating & these guys are the ones who you want beside you when things go pear shape as eventuality they do in any form not just DG
Cheers
Gday Dennisinaz
Yes it's great when that one hole takes out both lungs ( energy dump system I was a junkie of once ) as the bleeding & depending on the velocity impact created spectacular results but then we enter what I believe memtb is on about
You can't guarantee where the Berger ( I've picked that as it was mentioned but frangibles overall do this as others do also ) will actually do it's thing to take both those lungs out or a greater portion of them
The transition zone on bergers is one of the biggest on the market & this is why you'll see the slide up ribs on frontal shots with this pill more than a good bonded or mono or even a pill like a amax will preform better than Berger on this shot
Then enter a hard racking which I hear the fun crowd saying I won't take that shot
Which is well & good to say but reality animal movement will eventually occur & it may not to that person which hasn't shot enough critters or lucky but it will happen to some poor sole
Plus human error in reading the actual critters standing angle not as we assume
Now the energy dump system is shown it's major weakness which we can somewhat be overcome by adding more weight to the pill we choose but twist rate might dictate we can't go that route but even if we can the slower a pill impacts on a broad statement the slower the killing
Really need specifics to nut out with more precision but it's generally why it's shown over penertration is better than under as long as we don't have penciling like features in a pill
I'm not saying frangibles don't work as they do & good real good when the stars align but when it's bad it's real bad
Ok @memtb yours was probably better English but I got it sorted in my head easier than before I started typing
Cheers
With respect this is not a 100% correct & where I believe @FireFlyFishing was coming from
Yes it's great when that one hole takes out both lungs ( energy dump system I was a junkie of once ) as the bleeding & depending on the velocity impact created spectacular results but then we enter what I believe memtb is on about
& id like to simplify his words somewhat ( ha this will be good from a blokes English that is terrible )Can't argue with that…..however, a bullet leaving two holes, generally means a longer wound channel…..thereby increasing the odds of breaking something that keeps the animal mobile. Whether it is death by important organ destruction, or major structural damage which may severely hinder its mobility!
Either one can be beneficial in allowing you to tell the story. How much the shooter decides to embellish the encounter is totally their choice!
You can't guarantee where the Berger ( I've picked that as it was mentioned but frangibles overall do this as others do also ) will actually do it's thing to take both those lungs out or a greater portion of them
The transition zone on bergers is one of the biggest on the market & this is why you'll see the slide up ribs on frontal shots with this pill more than a good bonded or mono or even a pill like a amax will preform better than Berger on this shot
Then enter a hard racking which I hear the fun crowd saying I won't take that shot
Which is well & good to say but reality animal movement will eventually occur & it may not to that person which hasn't shot enough critters or lucky but it will happen to some poor sole
Plus human error in reading the actual critters standing angle not as we assume
Now the energy dump system is shown it's major weakness which we can somewhat be overcome by adding more weight to the pill we choose but twist rate might dictate we can't go that route but even if we can the slower a pill impacts on a broad statement the slower the killing
Really need specifics to nut out with more precision but it's generally why it's shown over penertration is better than under as long as we don't have penciling like features in a pill
I'm not saying frangibles don't work as they do & good real good when the stars align but when it's bad it's real bad
Ok @memtb yours was probably better English but I got it sorted in my head easier than before I started typing
Cheers
FireFlyFishing
Well-Known Member
Exactly. This has been my experience.
Agreed. Knowing your effective range with monos is very important for optimal terminal performance.
True enough. However, as you mentioned previously, over penetration produces better blood
trails. The three separate experiences where I lost animals with Bergers, the animals took off without a blood trail. In all three cases there was no snow making matters worse. I'm not the worst tracker by any means, but I scoured the county side only to be left empty handed. Awful feeling. The last loss was a really nice bull elk. That did it for me. Three strikes and Berger was out. Interestingly enough, I shot a deer with a Berger one time, and it didn't expand and blew out the back side of the deer's torso.
Wow! Didn't go far and talk about blood!
Again, inconsistent results. I'd prefer scenario two from what I listed above every time. To accomplish this I have fully switched my line up to monos and bonded bullets for big game. I couldn't be happier.
I won't deny Berger makes accurate bullets with high BCs. I'm fine with them for range work, but that's where I'll leave them. Lots of folks on here seem to have great luck with them. Cool. They're not for me and I would not recommend them for big game hunting and certainly not for dangerous game hunting based from my experiences.
