Just wondering what your experiences have been like using Berger on game. Not talking about the match bullets, but the actual hunting ones (VLD and Classic Hunter). Did you experience alot of meat damage with shot to the vitals? Would you use them again?

I am thinking of trying the classic hunter 140gr for deer season. I was impressed with the performance of the Nosler BT on a WT deer I shot using a 25/06 and want to see how well the Berger perform. I will be using a T3 in 270Win this year.

I used the 140's in a 264 Win Mag. If you hit the animal in the heart-lungs, it won't take 10 steps. I hit one in the shoulder, it failed. Lot of people use them.

I am going to try the 168-grain Hunting VLD in my .30-06 on elk and deer this year, if the opportunities arise. Since I am not a shoulder shooter, I don't anticipate any problems.

Hunting VLDs are the most effective hunting bullet I've used. Pigs, notoriously tough with anything but CNS shots, have made fewer steps for me after taking a VLD than any other bullet I've tried.

John

My friend has been using them for a few seasons and they don't mess up a lot with his 25-06.

The 168 VLD out of a 308 Winchester has been a sure fire killer on deer and pigs.

I put a 140 grain Berger Hunterthrough the shoulder of a cow elk at 250 yards. She stood up, fell over, and died.

When I get a new rifle my first load is topped with Berger bullets. If it won't shoot a Berger well chances are it's the rifle.

Thanks guys, will be trying them out this fall on deer.

140 Berger loaded over some H4831sc will be a hammer on deer. Good luck and let us know how they shoot.

Too picky as to the spot you have to hit (shoulder vs lung). AccuBonds mostly for me

Nothing I've shot has killed quicker and resulted in less tracking than bergers.

Berger doesn't recommned their hunting VLD to be shot faster than 3,100 fps.

140 gr. VLD at 3K fps out of my 6.5-284 is deadly on chest shot Louisiana WT's.

I gave up on VLD's for my 26 Nosler after talking with a Berger tech. He suggested that I use their target VLD with its heavier jacket.

I subsequently chose mono's for that round and am happy with the results.

DF

I have shot several antelope w/ 7mm 168's.. Really I am not impressed.. Will probably shoot the remainder at water jugs, and reload w/ Nosler BTBT..

Out of what? Impact velocity?

7mm R.E.M. at 3000fps..

Seems like they should have worked quite well. What happened?

My one and only "test'' on actual game. 168 VLD H, 7mm rem Mag, 100 yd impact, off the shoulder....



You guys can have them. They sucked on the 10 or so pigs I shot as well. Had I not seen where the hogs ran off to, into some plum thickets, I would have never recovered them.

Yuck.

DF

Maybe there's something off about that 7mm 168 at 7 mag speed.

As I mentioned earlier the .308" 168 VLD has been great out of a 308 Winchester on pigs/deer on my lease, and an acquaintance I see at the range loves the 168 Classic Hunter version for his 308.

Tried the Berger 168 grain Hunter Classic out of my 7mag with a velocity of about 2875 and had similar results to JGRaider above. Shot a mature S. Texas whitetail and the deer ran roughly 250 yds through thick brush. Nightmare to track. Wish I still had pics of the exit to show. Shot was what I would consider perfect high shoulder. Pencil hole on the entrance and grenade hole on the exit with hardly any blood to follow. It appeared that the bullet didn't expand until just before exiting. Shot was about 85yds away.
Needless to say I haven't used them since.

Mixed results. I had a splash wound with 190 grain VLDs out of a .300 Win Mag (440 yards) that didn't make it through the ribs and that turned me off them for years.

In the meantime, friends were absolutely slaying things with 180 VLDs in their STWs so I eventually had to admit that what I was seeing wasn't what I had gotten before. With a great deal of unease, I eventually started trying that particular bullet on close range deer and bear to see is I could make them fail. Results are spectacular, and exit more often than not. The animal that takes a single step is the exception.

I don't know if that means that the bullets have to be taken on a case by case basis, or I got some bad ones earlier or what to make of it exactly. Maybe the lesson is to not use target bullets unless there is some crying need.

Were you using the target or hunting version?

I hit a 200 lb sow at 60 yds in the shoulders with a 140 from a 264 Win mag. She was in a feeder pen with a trap gate, so she couldn't get out. Bullet hit her, knocked her down, a couple minutes later she got up, went back to eating corn. Made a big flesh wound. Shot her in chest, didn't get back up.

Maybe it was a bad bullet, 3000 fps. That turned me off to Bergers. They were very accurate. Seems like other guys have had similar experiences. I don't know if bullet is bonded to jacket. Heavier bullets in bigger calibers are probably better than 6.5's.

Boomer, I used a pack of 130g VLDs on pigs a few years ago. Shot several dozen pigs of all sizes. Shoulder shots were as effective as any bullet I've used on pigs in that weight in the 270 Win. They were also very accurate.

MV was around 3030fps.

Yes I would use them again but I moved onto other bullets as the Bergers were fairly exxy compared to the other bullets I usually used.

I doubt you'll be disappointed with them.

(I wasn't butchering the pigs so can't make any hard and fast comment about meat damage, though there were not a high percentage of exits.)

Interesting experience, Hanco... wait, what?!?!

My exp. is very similar to 96.. Noslers always work..😤

Killed 5 deer with 140 VLD's out of a .270 WCF and have to say they are impressive killers.

At the time of the 190 grain 30 cal incident the target and hunting versions were identical except the color of the box. That was awhile ago.

With the 180 7mms, the current hunting VLDs are the same as the old target VLDs. The current target VLDs are beefed up to withstand the higher rates of twist that are the current fashion. The hunting VLDs are soft to retain the low velocity expansion/fragmentation characteristics at extreme range that are the only real reason to use them in the first place. FWIW, I'm using the Hunting 180 grain, while my friends are shooting up what seems to be an endless stash of old target VLDs

I guess I don't get berger tech comment did he say 3100fps at the muzzle or were the bullet impacted the animal bid difference. I have shot 3 bull elk and
3 deer from 150-786 yards with 140 hunting VLD's going 3200fps at the muzzle and no problem all just dropped dead.

My impression was MV.

If it's working, it's working...

I've had good results with the 6.5-284, as mentioned, MV 3,000 fpr over 48 gr. RL-17.

Some posters suggest heavier bullets, bigger calibers, but then you see posts with excessive devistation with the larger, heavier bullets. So, I don't know.

DF

I shot a small mule deer buck with a 185 VLD a few years ago and gave the rest away to a friend. He was quartering towards me and it absolutely flattened the deer but during processing we found alot of bullet fragments. Enough so that I didn't want to eat some of it and ended up trashng about 20%. It's a sample of one but I have heard other say they have had similar experiences with the VLDs.
I've made the switch to the TTSX.

Elk Country

Just picked up some 130gr classic hunter and loaded up some test rounds with H4831. Being a T3, I am limited to mag length so went with 3.335"