Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles No use for Berger VLD's

Had another one explode on the shoulder blade of a WT not making the chest cavity at 200 yards.Not recovered .I'll stick with Partitions,Barnes TSX and Scirocco's from here on .Was told they are not for under 300 yards shooting? Have a buddy that wacks elk with them out of .300 Ultra Mag at 1/4 mile that loves them ,not me.

So you recovered them from dead deer?

I was wondering the same thing. If so then they did work.....

Even so, if it takes more than one well-placed bullet to make the deer dead, that's too many for me.

Why do you shoot them through the shoulders?

John

The mulie as stated died on the spot ,hence the recovered bullet fragments. The WT is unfortunately coyote food due to bullet failure as it never penetrated the chest cavity.Game shot through the shoulders if the bullet does it's job drop where they stand taking out both lungs and or lower spine. That's why. A 700 lb moose shot at 75 yards this year with a 140gr Partition 6.5x55 was dead before it hit the ground , the bullet shattered the shoulder blade and exited the off side .Like a bullet should.Meat loss negligible.Bergers are hyped up grenades IMO.Started out as a target bullet and they still are.The recovered 10gr fragment reminds me of the Hornady SX varmint bullet.

Gotta ask just to be sure on this but you didn't recover the whitey right? If so, the question begs to be asked how do you know exactly where it hit and what it did once it hit where it hit?



Thx
Dober

Congrats on the moose!

Amazing how often bullet performance is the culprit when critters are lost......

Everything I've ever seen shot with a Berger got dirt napped poste haste.

Have not lost one yet using Berger's, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!

i am closing in on 40 head of big game shot with the 168 7mm berger and over 60 coyotes,,bull elk at 77 yards thru on side shoulder didnt exit bul just froze up and tipped over, bull elk at 866 yards thru high shoulder never made a move except straight down,,,deer and antelope couple lung shots 40-70 yard runs and dead , pass thrus are common on deer and antelope,,,

im thinking there pretty good ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Then about this time next year you will post about how you have no use for a bullet that just pencils through

I shot 2 deer last year with 140 gr./.284's

1) whitetail doe @ 586 - DRT
2) axis doe @ 125 - DRT

both of them shot in the lungs. At the time I commented that the inside of both deer looked like pate or jello. Unlike anything I had ever seen. I was not particularly enamored with their performance but they worked.

Randy

Yap, I had that happen to me. Right thru the neck like an arrow w/no broadhead. Luckily got off another shot in the shoulder.

Looks to me that the berger acted just like it was designed to. Just curious was this the orange box hunting VLD?

Its always funny to me when guys post things like this. So you loaded a bullet thats described to rapidly fragment and then complain when it does exactly that??

If you wanted a bullet that passes though both shoulder and exits then yes a TTSX or PT would be my choice.

I'm hardly a hunting virgin been at this for 45 years and I stopped counting big game kills a decade ago at 140 assorted big game.Guided as well.I have jars of bullets some perfect in expansion others shed cores.Yes it was the correct orange box.If you've never lost an animal you either don't have much experience,your a liar or so lucky you should rush and and get a lottery ticket on the $550 million cause you can't lose.Nobody likes when it happens but it does .I autopsy each animal to keep a record of my handload's performance.I owe it to the animal to use the most accurate and lethal load I can make as well as hundreds of rounds of practice at the range year round.My 20 year old son lost the deer but he can shoot .I put a 168 gr TSX through a moose this fall as well from an FN Browning Safari in .308 Norma Mag both shoulders high hump shot.Dead before he bounced off the frozen ground and you could eat right up to the bullet hole!In Africa they encourage shoulder shots over back into the lungs as most do because it's more effective........enough said

So you didn't recover the WT doe, yet you "know" the VLD blew up on the shoulder?

It ain't the bullet that fails you, it is a fixed power scope, try a variable...

Sorry but based on my personal experience there is no way in the world a VLD will blow up on a whitetails shoulder. It ain't gonna happen.

Pounded way too many elk in the shoulder with VLDs, from near too far, to even sorta believe a deer's little shoulder will turn a VLD.

Have your son work on his shooting, we all have a bad day and blaming the bullet won't help. Good gosh there is no 130gr bullet available today that will fail to penetrate a deer's punny shoulder at .270 win velocities.

Pretty much sums it up.