Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting berger hunting VLD vs. Accubond

squeeze, I'm not having trouble actually chambering a VLD, just can't seem to risk using one on a bull. Like I said, I bet the VLD is great, but the "faster kill" doesn't concern me as I have seen elk go dead plenty fast with the Accubond. Lots of em. The extra couple seconds ain't gonna matter. The OP would do well with either it seems. mtmuley

I have no idea what he meant, I don't know what those little guys mean, except this one:

That's prety much where I come form on the issue as well. While the VLDs may KILL an elk quicker with a broadside hit, I just dont trust them to penetrate on bad angles, especially the lighter, faster variety. Will VLDs drop elk significantly faster than other bullets? You tell me:

7mm Rem Mag, 160g Grand Slam, 6x5 bull elk, straight down (2000)
7mm Rem Mag, 160g Grand Slam, 5x5 bull elk, straight down (2002)
7mm Rem Mag, 160g Grand Slam, cow elk, 40 yards (2002)
.45-70, 350g North Fork, 6x6 elk, straight down (2003)
.300 Win Mag, 180g North Fork, cow elk, 25 yards (2006)
.30-06, 165g North Fork, cow elk, straight down, back up and straight down again on 2nd shot (2007)
.30-06, 165g North Fork, cow elk, straight down, back up and straight down again on 2nd shot (also 2007)
.30-06, 150g AccuBond, cow elk, straight down (2010)

I've spent the last three years trying to help my son-in-law get his first elk. He did so last year, 2010, a cow at 363 yards with a .300WM and a 180g Winchester Power-Point. It was on the ground before he recovered from the recoil.

My opinion, and as I've said before, the only way a VLD could have dropped them significantly faster is if they started to drop before the shot...

After using most every bullet out there in different calibers and the one non premium I used the most was the Sierra and a killer it was when everything was just right..

If you hunt Elk long enough,you will find out, you don't always get the perfect shot and that's when you separate the men from the boys in the bullet world...

I totally agree with Coyote Hunter..A bullet that will work in all circumstances is a small price to pay on an expensive endeavor anyway.I have never used the VLD and see no reason to even try them when Noslers will do everything I want out of a bullet,every time,so far.

Jayco

.............My gut feeling is that a VLD would have done just fine.

My last elk was impacted on the right side shoulder. The 30 cal 190 VLD from my 300 WSM carbine @ 328 yards, penetrated not only the thickest part of the bone, but there were quite a number of bullet fragments found just below the hide on the opposite side, guessing a full 20" to 22" of total penetration from side to side.

When discussing shooting angled concerns on elk for example, and when one has a good 30-35 degrees going either way, meaning either quartering to or quartering away, that`s a good 60 to 70 degrees of total lee-way to play with, which the VLD is very capable of penetrating to elk vitals given those angles.

Even before I started using the VLDs, my shooting angles on all my previous elk kills (9), were always within those angled ranges. But regardless of bullet, I have never killed any game at extreme angles when quartering away and won`t.

Part of stalking, is also trying to achieve good angled positioning for the shot. In that regard, perhaps the VLDs are a little more challenging, which is certainly OK by me.

..................I do have something a little similiar. See below.

Don`t plan on using VLDs for elk all the time.

Had Jack O'Conner/Elmer Kieth and Jack Atcheson only had the berger VLD at hand,we would be a changed population of Elk Hunters and thoughts.Nerxt thing you know,every Elk Guide in the USA is going to require Bergers to hunt.....Easier on the guides and horses when it is a bang/flop and your dead on the spot....

Yeah right

How many years have some of you guys been hunting?

Jayco

..........Been hunting awhile; nearly 50 years.

Speaking of which. Someone posted on here (don`t remember whom), that there is one or possibly two elk outfitters, who in fact reco only using the VLDs to their clients on elk hunts.

Maybe the person who posted that info can let us know who the outfitter or outfitters are? Maybe a good idea to quiz them and find out why? Thinking outside the traditional box, isn`t always a bad thing.

I like you and Burns...Atleast we can talk without throwing names at each other...My take and yours differ but who really cares?I ain't changing and i bet you fellers ain't either.

Never understood why any experienced hunter would try and change anothers opinion on what works....

To each his own....

Jayco

No Bob, I was in total agreement with you, mate.

I just liked the fact that you lobbed Bitteroots into this thread! I reckon they would have to be one of the greatest bullets of all time.

And with regard to slotting an elk, I think I would use a 210 Scirocco out of my 338RUM......it goes 3230fps with RL-22 and it has a BC of .507. It clobbered three Oryx in a row, including one at 640 yards........and I'd say a Oryx is as tough as an elk, just not as big in the body.

Blair, I suspected that and was only joking...

A pal called from Amarillo,TX last night to ask me what I thought about Swift Scirrocco's for African plains game, and wants to talk about it today sometime......I really don't know as my use of them for animals is limited.....and I've not been to Africa......

Got any thoughts on them? I suspect he is talking 30 cal in a 300 WSM or 30/06.

Anyone else have any thoughts/ experience with the SS II's?

This could be a new thread, I'm interested in hearing about experience with the 6.5 mm. 130 grainers.

Published BC of .571.

��and won�t�? That�s what I used to say as well, until I took an angling away shot on a muley buck that turned and stepped forward just as the trigger broke. An easy angling shot suddenly became a near-90-degree shot with a hit to the right ham.



Full agreement there regarding the stalking and I�ve let lots of animals walk when I couldn�t get the shot I wanted. (As well as quite a few where I had the shot and just decided not to ruin a perfectly good hunt with a lot of hard work, but they don�t count for anything in this context.)

�Work hard for the best and plan for the worst� has saved my butt more than a few times. Failing to do so has caused me a lot of unnecessary grief. I much prefer the former.

"turned and stepped forward just as the trigger broke"

Doggone things move don't they? A moving target will mess up the best planned shot...

I'll second those Bitterroot Bullets and still have some left in a 200 grn for the ole .300 Win mag, I wish they were .338 caliber but so much is life.

Tonk: I had a good number of 200 and 225 338 BBC's but sold them when I stopped shooting 338

But I got plenty of 375's