mitchellmountain,
Out of curiosity, where did you shoot the doe?
I've actually gotten less meat destruction with Bergers than conventional bullets--especially if I shoot game behind the shoulder. Unlike most expanding bullets, they don't started to expand until they penetrate 2-3". Then they really expand, the reason they kill quickly.
Most expanding bullets start to expand as soon as they hit skin, the reason most meat damage occurs around the entrance hole. But with Bergers you often have to part the hair to find the tiny entrance hole. Or at least that has been my experience with dozens of them on game up to elk-size.
I even once tried to get one to "explode" on the shoulder of a 200-pound feral goat I'd just dropped with a lung shot, by standing 8-10 feet away and shooting the big joint. That bullet also didn't started to expand until it went through the joint, but it was a 185-grain .30 started at about 2750 from a .30-06. A lighter bullet at 3000+ might have come apart on the shoulder, but I dunno.
But guess I am also puzzled why anybody would choose a Berger for "woods" shots.
I shot it just back of the shoulder joint, it was going fast and I was close. I chose to use it because that is what the gun shot the best, which was very good. I read some reports that it did well with game, so I tried it. Maybe it was the perfect( and by that I mean perfectly bad) way to show where it’s limitations. Like I said where I hunt deer in the east, extreme accuracy just isn’t necessary and I’ve used other bullets under similar conditions that performed much better as far as loss of meat.
Side note my favorite bullets to use in anything besides my 358 win and 45-70 are Accubonds. Shoot well in my guns and hold together well.
