Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Field Experience with Bergers

I under stand how Bergers are supposed to work, but what happens if a heavy rib is hit on the way in, like on a moose. Does anyone have field experience with these. They shoot real good in my '06 but I've only used them on targets. Also, they have target , hunter, and tactical bullets , what are the differences in these other than stated application?

I'm curious if there is an upper velocity limit recommendation on them, myself.

Th tactical and target bullets actually have slightly heavier jackets. I've never shot a moose with a Berger hunting bullet, but have shot through bone much heavier than a moose rib with no problems. I believe Berger's recommended upper velocity limit for the Hunting VLD's is 3200 fps.

The 140 VLD works well when shot above Berger's recommended velocity

In 2012 a buddy shot a cow moose that didn't immediately go down. I followed up with 2 quick shots using 168 gr. hunting Bergers fired from a 300 WSM. Range 300 yards. The shots entered behind the shoulder and nicely tore up the interior. (I follow the theory that if they are still on their feet you fire again!)

Information that is worth what you are paying for it.

Jim

On Oct. 15 I used a 230 grain Berger OTM Tactical Hybrid to take a 6x5 bull. .300 Win Mag, range 350 yards, muzzle velocity 2775, impact velocity 2400 fps +or-. Bullet hit directly on the near side shoulder bone just above the "knee" and under the wide "blade", made a mess of the lungs near the heart, and I found this in the hide on the far side with no further bone hit. Retained weight 81 grains. The bull went down when hit, no tracking needed, the near shoulder was completely unhinged. You can see that in the pic.
The Berger seemed to do it's job to the vitals well even after the initial contact with the heavy part of the shoulder bone.
Note that this was a quite heavy for caliber bullet.