Berger supporters, Vocal Minority with Something to Gain, or Legit?

[DawntoDusk]

The ones that shoot less than a .5 is what I'm loyal to
Sorry if that sound flippant

Maybe not flippant but definitely not informative.

 

[Havard]

Last year my youngest son was hunting with a friend on his place and shot his 1st buck with a 6.5CM, 143ELD-X factory load. Shot was 40yds. Long story short, we never found a single drop of blood but did find the deer in a thicket outside of the field during squirrel season. I worked up a load for him with a 135 Classic Hunter with hopes it would perform as advertised; dump its energy on impact and hopefully avoid similar results with the ELD-X (no tracking). A few weeks ago, he shot a doe standing at the same 40yd spot, same 6.5CM but with the Berger. The results are shown here. No tracking required.

I'm NOT knocking the ELD-X at all; but will highlight the Berger did it's job. I'm a run what-cha brung kinda guy and don't see all the hate on another Hunter if they like something different to be honest.
So I guess you could say I'm a Berger supporter now!! Couple of things I can say about Berger that I experienced;
1) it will kill at close range
2) it will exit
3) it didn't totally damage the meat
4) it will put PepperJack / Pineapple smoked sausage on the Green Egg. I LOVE PepperJack / Pineapple sausage so...
5) them suckers will make a fine group on paper!
6) they made a Berger supporter out of my 12 yr old son

 

[Zen Archery]

Berger Fan Boy here
A). They reply to my phone calls
B). They send me data when asked
C). They helped me in bullet selection to achieve my goals.

Just trying to get an email reply never mind a phone call from Hornady was a nightmare. Sierra will at least reply to emails. Haven't had a call back yet.

 

[ColoGuy970]

180gn VLD our of my 7mm-300wm @270 yards through both lungs found it in his liver.

 

[HNDLDR]

This has been fun should do it again next year

I don't think it will take that long.

 

[Jluck]

I have used Berger seldomly but used them on long range (400 yards and beyond) (I love Barnes solid copper X-bullets). When I did use them, bergers, on Deer and Elk; I was never disappointed. if something does not work for me, I will be honest and tell you, if it works for me I am equally as honest. I can not see one singular reason for lying to anyone. if a product works, then it works. If it does not, then it does not. simple as that in my mind. just like my selection of calibers. I have many calibers, each works for what I have it for.

Be careful with experience, knowledge and common sense. It makes haters on Internet forums...

 

[Greta06]

After reading this post I understand your way of thinking much clearer and your train of thought makes total sense. When shooting an animal, the last thing that I am worried about is losing meat. I don't live in hunting country, and besides deer hunting, any trip that I make is a guided hunt. So knowing that I might not get another shot until my next trip, I want to be prepared to take whatever shot presents itself. In Africa, a lost animal is a lost trophy fee so on a second shot I want to be able to hit it any way I can.
I don't use the X Bullets anymore for the same reason you don't, because I have had them blow through deer with no expansion but they are PERFECT on a 2000lb Eland.
I am using Accubonds now as an all around bullet....a comprimise between an X and a non-bonded cup and core bullet.

That's just me brother and it's all good

Be careful with the 180 accubonds, they will explode when going at extreme velocities. I have heard others say the 200 gr is built differently and will hold together better than the 180. I wasnt willing to take the chance and switched to the ttsx and have had great success with them.

 

[vancewalker007]

I tried the Barnes x bullets on a deer 30 years ago what a disaster, had to shoot the thing 5 times to put it down.
Penciled right through it.

Yeah, those early copper bullets were way too hard. I always stayed away from them back then because of some friends results on Elk. The ones they make now have worked great on elk and African plains game, but I still wouldn't choose them for north american deer, too tough of a bullet.

 

[Bull_Mtn]

Also forgot to mention the Federal Edge TLR bullet. Buddy of mine took a bull at 598 yards with my rifle and load. Bullet performed EXCELLENT. I would most likely use those bullets exclusively but they can't get their consistency on bullet making down. The base to ogive measurements were all over the spectrum. I tried real hard to get them to shoot at 1000 yards but they were spraying all over. If you want a bullet for 600 yards
and under, I would very strongly recommend this bullet to you.

if they ever get their consistency down right, I would use this bullet forever (maybe haha)

I was wondering if anyone would mention the Federal Edge TLR. I shot a cow elk at 570 yds in 2018 with a .300 WSM factory load. Double lung shot, pencil size entry hole, destroyed both lungs, half dollar exit hole. Dropped in her tracks. Bull shot at 500 yds in 2019 with handload. Frontal shot, destroyed part of one lung and most of other, exited rib cage just behind diaphragm, again a half dollar exit hole. Bull took 10 steps and collapsed. I want a bullet that exits and leaves a blood trail if I have a less than perfect shot. So far this bullet performs as advertised. I am getting excellent accuracy, and outstanding terminal performance. Biggest problem with this bullet is availability.

 

[MontanaJack]

Another Berger fan here. I posted a question on their website and within 2 hours a Berger ballistician was ringing my phone to learn what I was trying to accomplish. I had bought a Howa 1500 in 6.5 Creedmoor youth rifle for the grandkids and needed bullet & load recommendations. He spent at least a half an hour relating personal experiences, discussing OAL, seat off the lands, etc. Long story short: he advised me to try the Berger Classic Hunter 135gr and a Berger 6.5mm 130 grain AR Hybrid OTM Tactical bullet, noting that the rifle magazine didn't lend itself to seating the VLD bullet line long enough to approach the lands. He noted a personal experience where the 135 grain Berger Classic Hunter shot exceptionally well in a 6.5 Creedmoor over H-4350 powder. Viola! 43 gr of H-4350 pushing the 135 gr Classic Hunter consistently produces single hole groups at 100 yards and this out of a $600 rifle!!! I've got thousands of dollars invested in rifles that can't match that accuracy. My sons are avid hunters and young enough with the means to do it. They've bagged caribou, elk, deer, antelope, moose and bear consistently between 500 and 850 yards scoring one shot kills and never lost an animal shot at those distances. So much for the naysayers that preach that shots over 350 yards are not ethical. Berger, baby!!! They perform.

 

[Lapuatom]

I really want to shoot the 215 Hybrid, despite witnessing poor performance with the VLD with my own eyes. So I started really using the Google and reading real world reports here there and everywhere. The one thing that I realized, there is a very vocal group of people who are members of every single forum on the internets. There are like 3-4 people who are members of every shooting forum that ever was and post on all of them day in and day out. Don't you people have something better to do? Anyway, when you really weed through the "amazing" reports from the vocal minority, you find a lot of more joe average type guys who don't have the best things to say but seem to get drowned out or shouted down by a couple people who allegedly have killed ten thousand game animals without a failure.

Without tipping my hand on bullets/or manufacturers, in my elk hunting experience the weather,terrain is typically very dry. An exit hole to drain that critter is very helpful in the recovery of said critter. Imho

 

[Ingwe]

Be careful with the 180 accubonds, they will explode when going at extreme velocities. I have heard others say the 200 gr is built differently and will hold together better than the 180. I wasnt willing to take the chance and switched to the ttsx and have had great success with them.

I haven't had an Accubond explode yet and I killed allot of animals with them. I have been using the ABLR's lately and even though they are supposedly softer than regular AB's, I haven't had them explode either.

Here's a 175gr ABLR that hit a Zebra at @ 2,800fps in shoulder bone and was recovered on off side under skin.

Pretty good test for a bullet

 

[sturner]

Shot accubonds for years in a 7mag and 300 wm never had one explode and the 300 shoots 180s

 

[Hawkeye Pierce]

There's been some good comments about each person's experience. In my opinion bullets are the tools to get the job done, and some are better at doing something specific than others. On the other hand I have used tools that weren't a hammer, as a hammer. It wasn't the best tool but it got the job done.
Each bullet will have pros and cons, i like Bergers for target and closer shots on smaller animals for the devastation that comes from the fragments. What i don't like is the lead fragments in my meat, I use Barnes LRX solid copper that retains 99% weight and gets a pass through.
In reality use the bullets you want, but be ready to accept the results and responsiblity of your shooting. The bullet isn't going to magically fix a bad placed shot, shot farther than what it should've been.
This is my Pronghorn with .308 175 gr VLD at 326 yards, made it 30 yards and piled up.
This is the 175 VLD and 200 LRX fired into soft sand pile for recovery.