Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mid-August column: How Hunting Bullets Expand

Interesting stuff - I tried the 115 gr Berger VLD's from my 25-06 in 2008, 2009, and took three mule deer with complete satisfaction. Very accurate. Very quick kills.

Mostly I hunt with the Nosler Ballistic Tip - which seems to me to be basically a tipped hollow point. They've sure done a fine job for me on whitetail, mule deer, antelope, black bear and even elk.

Regards, Guy

MD, thanks for the write-up. It is very informative and for a fellow, like me, that hasn't done much bullet research, it explained what actually happens when the bullet hits.

The article confirmed one of my suspicions. That being the way 'Match' bullets, with the very small HP, react upon contact. I use Sierra 135 gr Matchking HPBT for deer hunting. What I see is a very small entrance hole and then a massive explosion inside. The bullet actually comes apart. There may or may not be an exit hole, but I've only had 3 deer take more than a step or two, before falling over. Although there were not massive blood trails, there was plenty enough to find the deer.

I've never shot any of the Tipped Matchkings, so I don't know how they react when making contact.

I've also had the same experience of prairie dogs just sitting there and then falling over a few seconds later, when shot with the Matchkings. Just a pin hole through the PD.

I'm not recommending using Matchkings for anything tougher than deer. As you know, Sierra does not recommend the Matchkings for hunting, but I've had excellent results with them.

Thanks again for the article.

John,

Just a further observation from a test I did recently with some 6mm bullets which I shot into a pack of dry newspaper sandwiched in between wet newspaper. ie Alternating layers of approx 50% both wet and dry newspapers and magazines:

I fired 6 different bullets into the same pack, from 87g Vmaxes up through a 90g Prvi SP, a 90g Accubond, 105g Hornady BTHP and a 110g SMK (one of those new super pointy ones).

I'll have to dig my notes out but the take out was that the 110g SMK penetrated the second furthest (just shaded by the Hornady 105g), expanded the most and retained the most % of original weight. In fact there was such a nice mushroom up front with plenty of shank left behind, it looked like a Partition!

(It's just a shame that bullet wouldn't shoot as well in my rifles as just about every other bullet in the test!)

Found the photo of the recovered 110g SMK...

Very nice and interesting article.

I have been using Sierra Matchking bullets in several calibers long before Berger changed their marketing strategy to include renamed hunting bullets.

They do very well on game.

I really enjoyed the article, John.

A lot of people used MatchKings, and other target bullets, for big game hunting.

Berger didn't rename their bullets just due to a "marketing strategy" they suddenly dreamed up. Instead, they started getting voluntary feedback from hunters, who told them how well their bullets worked on big game. At first Berger was very skeptical, as they'd never used their bullets for hunting, even though Walt was a long-time avid hunter--and hadn't encouraged anybody else to use them for for hunting. But as the feedback increased (no doubt at least partly due to Internet forums) they decided to investigate what was going on.

This eventually resulted in a gun writer doing some field research for them, along with testing Bergers in various kinds of media. He was a relative beginner in gun writing, who now is pretty prominent in the business, Richard Mann--who'd long been interested in bullet performance, both as a hunter and due to a career in law enforcement, in the military and afterwards. Mann pinpointed the way they expanded, but eventually Berger decided to do a LOT more field-testing before making any decisions.

I got in on some of this, as gun writers often do. But even then the Berger folks continued to emphasize that they were still trying to evaluate the on-game performance of VLDs before making any decision. The "field research" (which Walt also participated in) eventually came down in favor of hunting VLDs.

In the meantime, some target shooters had voiced concerns about whether Match VLD's were holding up in the faster-twist barrels which were becoming more common. The very thin jackets and soft cores worked great in some target shooting, especially the short-range benchrest shooting where Walt got his started in bullet-making. So Berger solved two problems, first by rebranding the "soft" Match VLDs a Hunting VLDs, and making the target version a little tougher.

This seemed counter-intuitive to many hunters, because for several decades the emphasis had been on increasingly tougher and deeper-penetrating bullets. But by the early 2000's there was also an increasing emphasis on accuracy and longer-range expansion--which since the introduction of Berger Hunting VLD's has increased. Several other companies now offer somewhat "softer" bullets, designed to open at lower velocities--even Barnes, with the LRX. Berger, of course, has also brought out new hunting bullets designed for easier "tuning" in typical hunting rifles.

During this Sierra sat on the sidelines until recently, when they even started making high-BC plastic-tipped bullets designed specifically for hunting.

That is a good History lesson. Thanks John

bobknob,

Thanks for the results. Am not totally surprised, but it's always interesting to see....

Gibby,

You're welcome. The history of big game bullets keeps taking new turns....

Ha, I see what you did there.

John, excellent article and info throughout the thread. Thanks for doing all of the hard reality research!

Supporting John's description of big game bullets on small animals:
A few decades back, I was doing some load testing with the 115 grain Partition in my 25-06 (MV 3000-3100FPS). A sparrow landed on the top rail of my 100 yard target board. I took aim and (I suppose) center punched him. When I went out later to change targets, there were nothing but tiny bits to be found, and interestingly, the front side, closest to me, of the board was sprayed with blood in a fan pattern, and there could not have more than 3/16" to 1/4" of that bird overhanging that edge.

Also supporting Windfall's observations of the Nosler Accubond:
I tried them for the first time last year in my M70 FWT 6.5x55 at about 2800FPS. I shot a big Montana mule deer buck at 250 yards standing on a ridgeline (downward shot angle from a higher ridgeline). I hit slightly back with him quartering away and he sagged to his knees and just kind of stayed in that position. Not knowing the first bullet was going to be fatal, and fearing he might disappear over the ridge, I gave another right up behind the shoulder, which dumped him.

When we autopsied him during the skinning nobody would believe the entrance was not the exit, and vice versa. Fortunately my hunting partner was there with me to back me up. The entrance hole was silver dollar sized with huge damage in the first few inches, then the hole narrowed down finishing up pencil thin. Both bullets fully penetrated. I found it quite interesting and more dramatic than any other bullet paths I'd examined before. Interest if others have noted this with the Accubonds?

Thanks John for the great article,
Rex