Roll Call Who is a Berger shooter

These conversations always bring the anti berger crowd out it seems.

There are endless choices/flavors of hunting bullets out there at the end if you are happy with what you shoot then that's all that matters.

But it is entertaining to see how much shooting berger bullets bothers some people.

168 gr. In my 7 mm mag.

mtmuley said:

If a bullet passes through, does it transfer energy? mtmuley

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Not as much as if it stays in. However, why does energy transfer matter? People have been chasing ghosts trying to use simple physics to define killing ability for years, and personally I believe it to have very little meaning. Energy is not directly responsible for killing. Momentum and impulse are far more important in collisions than energy. They also are not directly responsible for killing, but do give us slightly more valuable information than energy. Nonetheless, I don’t put too much focus in either. If you need more penetration or tissue damage a heavier bullet is usually better, a faster bullet is sometimes better. Beyond that I think you’re getting off in the weeds.

A) Two leaking holes are better than one. Harder to clot. Easier to track.
B) more tissue damage will kill faster and more reliably than less tissue damage

Going for A usually means a sacrifice in B, or going for more B risks sacrificing A. You can chase your tail with bigger bullets or solid bases, or bonded cores or partitions trying to achieve lots of B without sacrificing A. Bergers yield more of B than any bullet I’ve ever shot, and they also do a much better job of delaying their expansion than other highly explosive bullets. “Controlled expansion” almost always means less explosion. In a partition or A-Frame, only half the bullet blows up. In most other “controlled expansion” bullets, they’re just tougher bullets that don’t blow up well except at extreme velocities where they no longer penetrate as well. In my experience Bergers really do get into the important area before going off, and then they go off completely and totally.

Don’t eat meat anywhere near a Berger wound. It’s likely full of lead.

Bill, I knew that already. I just spent 12 days hunting and hanging out with a couple guys that own a bullet company. Naturally, our wall tent conversations were bullets, ballistics and killing. Just wanted to see if CS knew it. mtmuley

Ive ran 180s in 7mm Remington, 168s in 280 Ackley, 130s in 260, 140s in the wifes 6.5-06(Now that's a killing machine) and am putting together a 30 nosler (cant believe I'm building a 30 cal) and ill be running either 210 berger or 215 in it.

Guess ive also killed a schit pot full of coyotes with a 204 and 35 grain berger and 17 hornet, 17 Remington, 17 tactical, and 17-204 with 25 and 30 grain bergers.

I guess in my case I do shoot Bergers. Just won't hunt with them. mtmuley

I shoot only Nosler Accubonds and Berger VLD Hunting. I like both.
I've shot my most accurate groups with Bergers and I get lower ES & SD with Bergers
Never shot a big game animal with Bergers yet

Fantastic bullet. Have killed a pile of critters since 2006 with Bergers. Never a bad experience. Some funny stuff in this thread for sure.

.270 said:

I am going to try out some 140 berger classics in my .270 once I get my bolt back. I have seen the 140s in .264 do some work on coues deer out to 750 yards. I couldnt get the 180 berger to group under an 1" in my 7 mag.

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.270> Just a thought; you might want to see how they shoot at 300yds. Maybe you will have a sub MOA group at a further distance than at 100yrds. With the berger I have had 1 inch groups at 100yrds but .5 to .7 MOA at like 300 and 500yrds.

mtmuley said:

If a bullet passes through, does it transfer energy? mtmuley

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I once set a 16 inch tall by 12 inch diameter piece of oak fire wood on another piece to elevate it and it weighed about 30lbs maybe a bit more. Anyway I shot it with a 12 gauge 3 inch slug at 20 feet. The slug did not pass thru the log and did NOT knock the log off the other log. I do NOT believe in Knock down power. My beliefs are the animal goes down because bone or nervous system is damaged by the bullet. Even though I say this I once had a doe whitetail drop dead from a perfect rib/lung shot at 250yrds with a 270wsm 140 grn accubond passthru.

Was just thinking a little deeper into the energy transfer thing. I think the exact formula for energy transfer would be:

energy transfer = (1/2m_1v_1^2) - (1/2m_2v_2^2),

where m_1 and m_2 are the bullet's initial and final weights respectively and v_1 and v_2 are the bullet's entry and exit velocities respectively. No one probably even cares, but I think this is a good way to think of energy transfer. Not that energy transfer is everything like others have stated.

I have happily used the 115 gr Berger VLD for three mule deer at 175, 230 and 400 yards, from my 25-06. Excellent accuracy and three instant drops.

Also use the little 25 gr Berger varmint bullet from a 204 Ruger. It's not as explosive on varmints as the popular tipped 32 grain bullets, but is gee-whiz on coyotes. Excellent accuracy too.

Guy