Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Berger bullets for elk?

Well I'd like to see a bit more frontal area myself...

But no doubt that Barnes "works",and penetrates.Besides I would bet $10 that the expanded frontal area(what really does the "work" IMHO) of a Berger is not much larger as it travels through animal flesh and bone.

Difference is the Berger is probably losing that expanded front as the jacket/core is torn apart(we know this because the excessive fragmentation is what some folks like,and even John Burns will say so because as he told me, the bullet just "collapses",and at the end of the wound channel there is more of the Barnes left to see it than with the Berger.

But a common misconception is that we either have bullets that totally collapse and fragment(supposedly great for anchoring game by making jelly of innards; or we have "hard" premiums that make long but narrow wound channels.

Fact is, that there are bullets that expand very well to a broad mushroom,do not fragment at all, retain practically all their weight,penetrate well,and will make an elk's innards look like a bomb went off inside them,particularly at very high velocity.And yes they will give a very high percentage of DRT's. I know this because I have used them on game from pronghorn antelope to Alaskabn Brown bear.

As a long range bullet (beyond 600 yards) they likely are not in the class of a Berger for flight characteristics but I know two Idaho elk hunters who have used them to 700 and 800 yards;one a 250 gr 375 from a 375AI,and another a 165 from a 300 RUM at over 3500 fps.

So,lung soup is not the sole purview of fragmenting bullets.

...and not all elk are killed in the open terrain of the American Southwest with broadside shots (where I have hunted many times);in other places,some have to be killed at rock throwing distances or across broad canyons maybe on the same day with the same rifle and load.Some people may appreciate that Barnes under those circumstances, as much as the Berger guy uses those to hedge bets at 600 yards plus.


For anyone interested Nosler Partitions are completely ethical bullets and perfectly capable of knocking the snot out of bull elk at 500 to 600 yards,not only from the 30/06 but from a number of other cartridges as well. Reading charts and studying tables may not tell you this but seeing it done and doing it yourself, will.