Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting What weight Berger VLD is best for LR deer using .308 win??????

Using a .308win for long range whitetail deer. Berger has hunting VLDs from 155gr to 185gr that seem to make sense in the 308. Based on terminal velocity and energy for distances between 400 & 800 yards, what weight bullet fits this application the best????? The 168? Thanks!

A 168g slug will be the best.

Since you are looking to shoot deer sized targets out to 800 yards, you might expand your bullet selection beyond Bergers.

Nothing wrong with them but not every rifle shoots them well and there are several brands of match and plastic tipped 168g slugs have just as good of BCs as Bergers.

168g Ballistic tips & Accurbonds, Hornady SSTs & Amaxes etc.. are all going to do just as good of a job as the Bergers will on Deer.

The main thing is ACCURACY of both you and the rifle. Don't limit yourself to just one model of slug to get the accuracy recipe you need for your gun.

You might look at the 155g Scenars as well. .500 BCs and even more speed out of a .308..The "rumor" is they kill deer pretty well..

I disagree, having shot them with the aforementioned bullets, I like the performance of the Berger best.

Whatever.

Drink that Berger koolaid.

They are not magic. Just bullets.

Jimster.....

Dennis stating he has shot them all with the aforementioned and likes the performance of Berger bullets best is not drinking the koolaid.

It's called the empirical method, or observational approach.

It's not magic, it's science!

Try it....

I have not shot Bergers out of a 308 on deer however, I have shot Federal LE tactical 168gr loads at various targets at various ranges out to and including 500yds. This was all "once upon a time ago" but the 168's did very well out to those distances and were well within minute of deer. I would expect Bergers to do just as well in a crafted handload. I can't speak for terminal performance on game but there are plenty of those that swear by them and at them. Best bet, load em and try em then report back. Good luck and good hunting.

I have a different opinion altogether. Every rifle I've tried Bergers in (11 now) have shot them better than any other bullet (although some marginally). I won't ever use them again. Shot my Montana muley with them last year - had to shoot him twice(1st shot at 150 yards and the second at 225). 140 grain VLD's out of my 6.5 Weatherby blew 5 gallon bucket sized holes in that deer. On a 200 lb. muley I ended up with 39 lbs of good boned out meat. Both entrance wounds on front shoulder. 1st took out both front shoulders, second was angling and took out chest and an entire rear ham.

Killer,

Good point, but I'll bet the 308 175 or 168 isn't going fast enough to blow up.

And I don't have a dog n this fight, because I have not and probably will not (just 'cause i don't have any) shoot a deer with the Bergers.

I'm just arm chair quarterbacking...

Those results sound very similar to results I have seen with early production Hornady SST's. Just curious and not second guessing you but your first shot seems like it should have done the trick, why the second. Was he still snow plowing away with both front shoulders out of the game. Just guessing so with the distance variation of the two shots. Figured a shot taking out both front shoulders would down a deer. Just wondering.

"Davester"...

No "Science" there at all.

Just his opinion based on no proof of anything.

I'm glad he likes them.

I am also damn glad that Nolser,Hornady, Seirra ,Barnes ,Lapua and others make slugs that shoot and work just as well- if not better.

"having shot them" is opinion with no proof? I took that to mean having shot deer with all of them. And, from Dennis's reputation, I'd think that is what he meant.

If I'm wrong, I withdraw my sarcastic, late-night banter....

I'm gonna toss this out because its worked for me so far. I don't like destructive bullets at all. But I've been testing 185 TARGET bergers in my 308 with 26 inch tube. I've now shot hogs, javelina, deer from about 70ish yards out past 500... It does what I want so far... caliber in, nickel or so out, damage in between.

I have talked with berger RE using target vs hunting, and seems like I've simply found that I'm not even going to try their version of hunting due to excess(to me) damage.

I've always been a less destruction heavier bullet type of guy generally speaking though... with some exceptions.

BTW you mention 800 yards.. don't forget about BC... the bullet has to perform and such, but typically speaking when you get to longer distances, lighter bullets are NOT your friend in the wind... I"d NEVER use a 168 at 600 or beyond, if I had a choice.

Thats a broad statement, but say a 155 has the same bc as a 168 which some do, then you retain BC and GAIN speed... thats an offsetting application then... but typically I"ve had the most luck with heavier slugs in the wind and at longer distances...

All those bullets are not interchangeable. Period. Some of them are quite suitable for hunting deer I will agree. I did not start using Bergers until I had plenty of good friends who tried them first, giving glowing accolades.

As far as BCs go, the Berger is best of that group. I have most experience with the SST of that group. I shoot a 6.5-284. I use a 130 Berger and 130 Norma Diamond Line. If you compare those listed bullets, the SST has a BC of .485, the Accubond, .488 and the Berger, .552.

My buddy just built a long range gun and was waiting on his scope, he had a 7 RUM built (Red Rock Precision) and his March scope hadn't come in. He decided to use his back up rifle for a bear hunt last week. His back up is a Tikka in 270 WSM. He loaded up some 150 Bergers. We went out and sighted in. 1/4 MOA @ 300 yds. We were both impressed.

He killed a bear last week that squares a little over 7'2" and had an estimated live weight of 500-550#. I don't remember what the girth taped right now.

He told me that he will never use anything but Berger bullets again. He, and those he was with, were that impressed.

I have shot antelope with the 129 SSTs as well as 150 SSTs. Contact damage was horrific if the range was too short. I ruined one cape on a shoulder shot. The Bergers have never blown up on contact before.

I have reasons for liking them. There is nothing short of a custom bullet more accurate and they killed medium game as well as anything made.

Would I take them on a coastal Brown bear hunt?? Not likely, I would expect my shots to be close and high BC the least of my concerns.

Here is Todd's bear

Dennis.

Nice Berger Advertisement there.

READ THE OPS QUESTION- he is talking about .30 Caliber bullets for the .308.! NOT 130g 6.5 slugs. He is also talking about taking DEER at 400 to 800 yards.

In a 168g .30 cal slugs, the Nosler Ballistic tips, AccuaBonds , Hornady SSTs A-Maxes have .475 BCs- SAME as Berger hunting VLDs. Sierra Match kings are .463, Lapua 155g Scenars are .500. Every damn one of those bullets will kill a DEER just as dead as any 168g .30 Berger will at 400 to 800 yards.

So much for BCs.

As to preference on game- Nosler Ballistic tips and Seirra match kings were killing deer stone dead at long ranges long before Berger Hunting VLDs were even introduced.

Berger bullets are great bullets, but there are about a half dozen other firms make equally good long range bullets.

Jim how much game have you killed with a Berger?

Most of my experience with Bergers, I admit, is with 264 caliber bullets. My only experience with match bullets in 30 caliber is the 168s, Sierra and Berger. Didn't realize the BCs weren't in line with the smaller Bergers.

I took a 300 mag to Mexico and used 168 SMKs as did all others in camp but one. David Miller now uses TSXs or TTSXs. The SMKs worked OK but the first shot did not anchor the buck and I shot him a second time as he ran off about 3" forward the first shot. Neither bullet did too much damage to the cape. From what I have experienced with Bergers since, I would have expected much more internal damage with them and possibly no need for the second shot.

I don't see the point in using light for caliber match bullets myself. I use the high BC bullets as I am minimizing my windage issues in a long shot situation. I have learned a lot since those days and laser range finders have removed the need for ultimate velocity and shown advantage of high BC bullets for long range shooting.

I have killed many, many deer with 165 grain ballistic tips when they were the only game in town. I quit using them when a neck shot blew the head completely off a trophy coues whitetail buck. I also guided a guy who shot a 5x5 bull elk with a 165 grain BT that blew up on the shoulder, knocked the bull down which promptly jumped up and rejoined the herd. He was last seen several hundred yards away- still with the herd.

I shot an antelope with the SST from a 300 magnum. The results were aweful- ruined cape and no edible meat on the front end. I shot another antelope with the same load but at much longer distance and results were very acceptable (borrowed rifle- long story)

I have had excellent results from Berger bullets with never a blow-up, even at 200 yds ranges. I will stick with what has worked for me.

All of those bullets will probably work fine for his deer hunting but I think the Berger has the best accuracy potential of the listed bullets and has proven to be a much better than engineered killer of medium sized game.

I only have one 308, which is my son's and we mostly use factory ammo in it. He killed a cow elk at 550 yds with it using Federal tactical loads (165 TBBC) and his bear last year using Norma 180 Oryx loads. Both proved to be excellent choices.

We can debate this forever but my experience with the Bergers has been better than with the others.

Dennis,

You have first season next week?

I have shot several pigs and deer with the 168 bergers from my .308. They work about the same as anything else, put them in the right spot and stuff dies.

Yes, unit 23. Heading out Monday for the duration. Wish I had more time to bear hunt but it took 6 points to get this tag! I have yet to find a buck over 100 in there this fall.