Has anyone used a Berger Hunting bullet?
How did it perform?
What animal was it?
What caliber was the bullet?
Any other thoughts?
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Have not and will not. There are simply too many reports of what, to me, is unacceptable performance – including those from T_Inman and szihn in this thread.
While other bullets may not have B.C. values equal to the Berger bullets, I haven’t found the difference to be a problem inside 600 yards. What I have found is other bullets that perform well at a wide variety of impact velocities. By “well” I mean providing reliable but controlled and limited expansion and high weight retention. We’ve been using Barnes MRX, TTSX and LRX bullets since they were introduced and no one in my hunt group has recovered one. Straight-down DRT results are common, running right around 50% with no animals going more than a few yards. Nosler AB have provided similar performance with no recoveries from antelope to elk. I’ve recovered a couple of North Fork SS bullets from elk but both smashed a lot of bone before coming to a stop. They are no longer available but the Federal Trophy Bonded Tip, Edge TLR and Terminal Ascent have similar construction (mono rear with bonded front core) with the addition of a polymer tip. I plan to use the Terminal Ascent for elk this fall.
The only cup-and-core bullets I use in my bolt rifles are the 90g BT and 95g SST in my .243 Win – and only for antelope. Can’t complain so far but antelope don’t provide much of a challenge to a bullet’s integrity.
In my 38 years of elk hunting I’ve had shot opportunities as close as 25 feet with my longest shot at 487 yards. My first elk was taken with a bullet (7mm RM/162g BTSP) chosen for its relatively high B.C. value. That turned out to be a rather poor choice. Weight retention was under 50% and the only bone hit was a near-side rib. The following year I switched to a lower B.C. Speer 160g Grand Slam and it took me twenty years to recover one. That one destroyed both shoulder joints of a 6x6 bull and still retained over 70% of its original weight. Over the years I’ve taken more elk with that combo than all other bullets combined – including my last elk, a 6x5 bull at 411 yards, 4 steps and down.
It is a truism that most bullets will work most of the time. It is also true that it sucks when they don’t. Pay attention to T_Inman and szihn and others with similar results when making your choice of bullet.
