Disappointed with the Berger 156 grain EOL

[Mike D Texas]

143ELDX or 140 Speer Gold DOT

I don't care for the ELDX bullets at close distance but the Gold Dots smash deer out of my 308. It's my preferred bullet for 400 yards and less.

 

[Raudy707]

People that hunt back east seem to really like blood trails. If it's think enough, runs a few yards and dies maybe they can't find it. Idk, I'd rather have a bang-flop than have to track some thing.

In NorCal we are the same as the folks back east. Lotsa dense brush and we are in hot dry arid environments. We want maximum tissue damage, a good wound channel and a drain hole. The entry hole is always small and plugs quickly with fat, dirt or hair. We always want an exit and blood trails. I've shot and killed plenty with Berger bullets they still run off. Almost every animal hit in the lungs or even heart shots death runs for a little ways. Especially bears and hogs. We get bang flops with central nervous system hits for sure but a single lunger runs for sure. Not a big deal out of state in sage or snow. Bergers work great. You can watch em fall or track easily the 20 to 50 yds they've gone. I love the 175 Elite Hunter out of my 280 AI. But here at home or back east where it's thick dense chaparral, give me blood trails.

 

[Montucky Roamer]

I shot a buck at 130 yards with my 6.5 PRC using Berger 156 grains EOL. I hit him right behind the shoulder. The buck ran about 50 yards with no blood. There was no exit wound. My Son and Grandsons have shot whitetail and axis with no exit wounds. Kind of disappointed with this bullet. My loads were going about 2860 fps and no exit wounds on that buck I shot. Looking for some advice as to what would be a good bullet to use that would have good exit wounds, thanks in advance

Worked perfectly. At closer ranges they get explosive and exits are more rare. Further ranges is where they shine more and more. All bullets have an operating range. If your mainly shooting 500 and closer , look at harder bullets to lessen the damage and narrow up the wound channels if you want exits everytime.
I use a 215 and it violent up close but I can count on it at 7-900 yards

 

[Allen Lone wolf]

I shot a buck at 130 yards with my 6.5 PRC using Berger 156 grains EOL. I hit him right behind the shoulder. The buck ran about 50 yards with no blood. There was no exit wound. My Son and Grandsons have shot whitetail and axis with no exit wounds. Kind of disappointed with this bullet. My loads were going about 2860 fps and no exit wounds on that buck I shot. Looking for some advice as to what would be a good bullet to use that would have good exit wounds, thanks in advance

I'm shooting the ELDX PRECISION HUNTER 143 gr. Took this huge mule deer doe 200yds and it was instant death. Entrance hole under the skin was quarter size exit was as big as my fist. This was my only kill with the PRC thus far was impressive.

 

[Wetwrk]

Here's a experiment I got cooking up for the next month or so. 156's out of a 6.5PRC. Zeroed at 100 maybe 200, then putting out actual targets at 400,500,600,700,800. Doing up proper dope sheet. Run ladder tests and I'm wanting to do OCW also in this process. Now the experiment...Run some 124HH and a few 127 Barnes off that 156 zero to use between 100 and 300 yards if it's not too far off. My old 270 would pretty much shoot 140's and 150's on the same pie plate. So deer I used 140s elk the 150's. Understand this was my great greats, my greats, and my fathers method he-he things have changed in the last 90 years.

My goofy idea is to have a mono in the pipe or first one in the mag for short range and everything else is for long range starting at 400. If the point of impact isn't too bad off with those mono's inside of 300 yards I may just carry two mags, one with monos one for long range. Probably wont work but I'm hoping. I know those lighter bullets will impact different than the 156's.-WW

 

[Bruce Treloar]

I shot a buck at 130 yards with my 6.5 PRC using Berger 156 grains EOL. I hit him right behind the shoulder. The buck ran about 50 yards with no blood. There was no exit wound. My Son and Grandsons have shot whitetail and axis with no exit wounds. Kind of disappointed with this bullet. My loads were going about 2860 fps and no exit wounds on that buck I shot. Looking for some advice as to what would be a good bullet to use that would have good exit wounds, thanks in advance

 

[Raudy707]

I do that now. Barnes140 tsx are a half inch higher vertically than my 170 EOL's. I just carry the tsx all day and if the long shot opportunity arises, then I have time, while setting up to switch to the 170 Bergers. Perfect setup for all situations.

 

[Bruce Treloar]

I'm shooting the ELDX PRECISION HUNTER 143 gr. Took this huge mule deer doe 200yds and it was instant death. Entrance hole under the skin was quarter size exit was as big as my fist. This was my only kill with the PRC thus far was impressive.

The problem here is the shooter and not the bullet. At 170 yards it should be possible to aim for an instant kill. I have a farmer friend with a few ferrule full grown Hereford steers and sometimes phones asking me to come down and knock off one for meat. They usually run for about 200 to 300 yards, look back and I hit them center forehead with a Berger 52 grain 22PPC. They just seem to die in mid air and I have to race over to them to bleed them out. I'm also a retired Jersey cow farmer and if a bull's heifers didn't perform well their sire was put down using a 22 rimfire to the center of the forehead. Only one didn't go straight down but ran down to the river and drowned. No, the bullets are not blessed by the Pope just placed properly or I don't take the shot.

 

[Allen Lone wolf]

The problem here is the shooter and not the bullet. At 170 yards it should be possible to aim for an instant kill. I have a farmer friend with a few ferrule full grown Hereford steers and sometimes phones asking me to come down and knock off one for meat. They usually run for about 200 to 300 yards, look back and I hit them center forehead with a Berger 52 grain 22PPC. They just seem to die in mid air and I have to race over to them to bleed them out. I'm also a retired Jersey cow farmer and if a bull's heifers didn't perform well their sire was put down using a 22 rimfire to the center of the forehead. Only one didn't go straight down but ran down to the river and drowned. No, the bullets are not blessed by the Pope just placed properly or I don't take the shot.

I totally agree with you as bullet placement is the most important thing in taking game. Just wanted to let him know the bullet did exit with devastating results.

 

[chav0_12]

In NorCal we are the same as the folks back east. Lotsa dense brush and we are in hot dry arid environments. We want maximum tissue damage, a good wound channel and a drain hole. The entry hole is always small and plugs quickly with fat, dirt or hair. We always want an exit and blood trails. I've shot and killed plenty with Berger bullets they still run off. Almost every animal hit in the lungs or even heart shots death runs for a little ways. Especially bears and hogs. We get bang flops with central nervous system hits for sure but a single lunger runs for sure. Not a big deal out of state in sage or snow. Bergers work great. You can watch em fall or track easily the 20 to 50 yds they've gone. I love the 175 Elite Hunter out of my 280 AI. But here at home or back east where it's thick dense chaparral, give me blood trails.

I get it. We have some really thick stuff here in NW Montana too. The difference is that I don't take my 28 Nosler shooting 195gr EOLs with me when I go hunt around home. When I go to more eastern Montana or even SW Montana that's the gun I take. I have guns that shoot lighter bullets or bullets that are going to pass through, those are the guns I take around here because I'm not shooting at the 'Extreme Outer Limits' of my caliber choice. Right tools for the job, I'm not taking a chainsaw to screw some boards together, it's a little over kill and doesn't quite get the job done.

 

[richhymas]

I shot a buck at 130 yards with my 6.5 PRC using Berger 156 grains EOL. I hit him right behind the shoulder. The buck ran about 50 yards with no blood. There was no exit wound. My Son and Grandsons have shot whitetail and axis with no exit wounds. Kind of disappointed with this bullet. My loads were going about 2860 fps and no exit wounds on that buck I shot. Looking for some advice as to what would be a good bullet to use that would have good exit wounds, thanks in advance

If you are looking for an exit and are hunting inside 600 yards I have been thrilled with Scirocco II bullets. Great mushroom and excellent weight retention. Bullets almost always exit. I have recovered one from a bear shot at 50 yards went lengthwise and found under the far hide. Retained 70%. Shot an Aoudad at 470 yards. Missed the wind call and Broke the hip, still found the bullet under the far hide with 90% weight retention and perfect mushroom. Remaining hits on that aoudad exited. My 16 year old son Also shot a deer at 600 yards. Again missed the wind call and the first shot was back and broke the hip. Second shot in the crease. Both bullets exited there and quick kill on the deer. They flat out perform the way you would expect a bullet to perform. Good mushroom, good weight retention, and good straight penetration. They usually exit both close and at distance. Nosler partitions and swift A-frames should perform similarly. None of these will have the BC for 1000 yard shots but out of a 6.5 PRC you will probably get a solid 800 yards before the bullet drops below 1800 FPS.

 

[Swiftkill]

Nobody will want to hear this but the old Remington core lokt and Speer Hot cor and Hornady cor lock are some of the best bullets made.
I put a Hornady through 1" of cold rolled steel from a 300 Win mag and shot a doe through the heart at 110 yds and it performed perfectly.
I recently built 300 win mag bench gun and I like trying factory ammo. The 180 gr Remington core lokt shot the best group (sub half inch at 100) over scirrocos, ELDs and other premium ammo. 9 different ammo. And PPU hunting ammo was second with a sub 3/4 inch group. I used to shoot 243 win with 80 and 85 gr core lokts religiously and they never let me down.
I think flat base bullets have the most accuracy potential. If you dont have a tight group at 500 yds. It won't matter if you bullet drops 30 or 36". You need to laser the distance and have confidence in your equipment and yourself. Of course we want speed and accuracy, if both are attainable.

 

[HuntnPack]

Here's a experiment I got cooking up for the next month or so. 156's out of a 6.5PRC. Zeroed at 100 maybe 200, then putting out actual targets at 400,500,600,700,800. Doing up proper dope sheet. Run ladder tests and I'm wanting to do OCW also in this process. Now the experiment...Run some 124HH and a few 127 Barnes off that 156 zero to use between 100 and 300 yards if it's not too far off. My old 270 would pretty much shoot 140's and 150's on the same pie plate. So deer I used 140s elk the 150's. Understand this was my great greats, my greats, and my fathers method he-he things have changed in the last 90 years.

My goofy idea is to have a mono in the pipe or first one in the mag for short range and everything else is for long range starting at 400. If the point of impact isn't too bad off with those mono's inside of 300 yards I may just carry two mags, one with monos one for long range. Probably wont work but I'm hoping. I know those lighter bullets will impact different than the 156's.-WW

I like to develop a dual load in my rifles.
Works good.
Current rifle I may work the numbers & tweak the loads with the Berger 140 Elite Hunters & 110 Hammers out of my
6.5 MAX.

 

[JMack]

Nobody will want to hear this but the old Remington core lokt and Speer Hot cor and Hornady cor lock are some of the best bullets made.
I put a Hornady through 1" of cold rolled steel from a 300 Win mag and shot a doe through the heart at 110 yds and it performed perfectly.
I recently built 300 win mag bench gun and I like trying factory ammo. The 180 gr Remington core lokt shot the best group (sub half inch at 100) over scirrocos, ELDs and other premium ammo. 9 different ammo. And PPU hunting ammo was second with a sub 3/4 inch group. I used to shoot 243 win with 80 and 85 gr core lokts religiously and they never let me down.
I think flat base bullets have the most accuracy potential. If you dont have a tight group at 500 yds. It won't matter if you bullet drops 30 or 36". You need to laser the distance and have confidence in your equipment and yourself. Of course we want speed and accuracy, if both are attainable.

Deadliest mushroom in the woods