Berger bullet tissue damage
- Thread starter Sheephuntr
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Buddro
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if you haven't looked through it yet, try Ballisticstudies.com they have a knowledge base with a pretty good collection of pictures and write ups.
Shot one deer with a Berger. Never again. Eldx, Accubonds or a good ol traditional soft point for me. Never lost one animal with those three.
doubledoc
Well-Known Member
I've read Berger's product performance description, as I'm sure most everyone else has. It just isn't gonna happen that way consistently. ALL bullets perform differently, depending on the hide they must penetrate, the tissue they encounter (bone vs lung), the velocity at impact, etc..... A single bullet 'failure' tells so much more, IMHO, than a thousand well, "dead is dead" 'success' stories. I still like Partitions for that very reason....
cockednlocked
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I shot a mule deer last season in Montana with the 215 out of my 300 win at 220 yds he was laying down so the only shot I had was in the neck on impact the bullet shoved a vertebra out of his neck the exit was about the size of a golf ball maby a little larger due to the bone exiting his body. He was drt the one thing I do with all my hunting rounds is push a pin in the tip to make sure they are not plugged to avoid a pencil through. I have shot many animals with bergers from almost point blank to 650 yds and never had an animal not drop in its tracks with minimal meat damage might just be lucky but the old rem core locks used to take out a lot more meat than I have personally experienced with bergers . I'm working on a new load with hammers to try out a copper bullet hopefully they are easier to get to shoot than the Barnes they didn't play nice when I tried them a couple years ago my rifle
Back in 2010 I can buy a box of ( orange hunting) Berger for about 5 to 8 dollars more than any other premium bullet. Now in 2020 I can probably buy a LB of powder and a box of the well proven ELDX. A almost 60 dollar a box not thank you.
It appeared to have worked.
Greenheadjed
Well-Known Member
This picture is a whitetail doe shot at 250 yards with a 6.5 140 grain VLD Berger out of a 264x270 Weatherby with a muzzle velocity of 3,270. Obviously the shoulders were in bad shape when I cut them off, but I didn't expect this. The bullet didn't pass through, and I don't want them to on a deer. As far as big game, I only hunt whitetail deer but the Berger's are my favorite deer bullets of all time. They are accurate and I don't have to look far if at all when I shoot one.
Shot a wild dog 350 yards quartering away fast 243 Ackley improved 95 grain Berger classic hunters at 3170 FPS went nowhere dragged lungs out exit hole
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ELDX hasn't been out half as long as the Berger, and seems to have just as many stories of failures, how is it well proven?
What's up with all the blood shot meat? Is that because the bullet fragments? And that one whitetail had both shoulders wasted? If a bullet does that, go back to Nosler Partitions and shoot them through the lungs. Worked for decades. I think we all agree that wild game is sacred and wasted meat when the animal has given its life is failure.
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Excavator
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Those pics are why I am not a fan of Bergers at close range. Both of those pics are the entry side. Notice the large entry hole on both when you zoom in. Both times the bullets blow up on impact. Had the same issue what a stw shooting 195 Bergers on a bull elk. Have had the same issues with eldm out of a creed.
Plinker147
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If you are worried about meat damage don't shoot Bergers, they do damage a lot of tissue and organ damage. If meat damage is your concern shoot high rention bullets like mono's or the new Federals Ascents (they are dang nice bullet). They have one wound channel about as big as they expand with out much extra meat damage.
Now if you want stuff dead shoot Bergers. BULLETS THAT DO MORE DAMAGE KILL BETTER. That's about as common sense as it gets. I've killed a good number of animals with all kinds of bullets and Berger's destroy/kill the best.
Its all in what you want. Dead is my first concern, meat damage is secondary for me.
Now if you want stuff dead shoot Bergers. BULLETS THAT DO MORE DAMAGE KILL BETTER. That's about as common sense as it gets. I've killed a good number of animals with all kinds of bullets and Berger's destroy/kill the best.
Its all in what you want. Dead is my first concern, meat damage is secondary for me.
