Berger VLD pencil through Elk in Cold?

[Calvin45]

Had a 210gr VLD 308 Burger fired from a 300 Win Mag at 12 yards fail to exit a wounded, small black bear. The wound cavity was wider than depth. As already mentioned, had that same bullet pencil thru a dall ram at ~310 yds, in and out ribs. Ram jumped and looked around for several minutes trying to figure out what gives? You didn't ask, but that's one I'd avoid.

Won't pretend to tell you what to use.

I can tell you what I've used the past 6 years with complete satisfaction. Lathe-turned copper monolithics for the large game I hunt and shoot at longer ranges. Blacktail deer, Kodiak brown bear, grizzly bear, caribou, Mt. goat, dall ram, and my son... moose.

When my Burgers performed as intended, they were meat shredders if the bullet hit, or came close to, muscle. Even at 750yds after bullet impact velocity had diminished. Fidn't care for that so I commited me to moving on. Some are tickled pink with that performance. Burgers great for that.

Closer range bullets I now carry in the magazine for bear and camp defense are Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and Swift A-Frames. Will also sometimes use these "bear defense" bullets for closer range shots on game animals, when a higher BC bullet isn't beneficial.

Okay that all makes good sense. The older I get the more I'm seeing that bc doesn't matter half as much as a chart would suggest.

Perhaps I was needlessly grumpy sounding in my previous replies . For that I apologize. Carry on

 

[WeiserBucks]

Thanks for responding with your bullets of choice.

 

[Eagleye242]

My hunting repertoire of bullets Nosler Partitions, Nosler Accubonds, Swift A-Frames, Swift Scirocco IIs; Hornady Interbonds; Norma ORYX.

 

[dogz]

My hunting repertoire of bullets Nosler Partitions, Nosler Accubonds, Swift A-Frames, Swift Scirocco IIs; Hornady Interbonds; Norma ORYX.

Darn tough to beat that group!

 

[mmacfive]

Aaron Davis talks about why Bergers pencil through in this podcast:

 

[Pdvdh]

Can you summarize the Aaron Davis causes? I'm patient, but the video is two hours long...

 

[Moose47]

That would be good! Ditto

 

[adam32+P]

Can you summarize the Aaron Davis causes? I'm patient, but the video is two hours long...

Hornady pays him more than Berger, I'm sure that sums it up nicely.

 

[Moose47]

I listened to some of it, too long. Didn't hear anything about Hornady, can you summarize.

 

[mmacfive]

I heard Aaron say that it's hard to initiate expansion with the small untipped hollow point. The affect is exasperated at the reduced velocities. He said he always tries to hit bone with them.

He also mentioned the opposite with tipped match bullets

 

[FEENIX]

Hornady pays him more than Berger, I'm sure that sums it up nicely.

LL!

 

[mmacfive]

I found him to be very objective. He had equally good and bad to say about both Hornady and Berger.

 

[L.Sherm]

I heard Aaron say that it's hard to initiate expansion with the small untipped hollow point. The affect is exasperated at the reduced velocities. He said he always tries to hit bone with them.

He also mentioned the opposite with tipped match bullets

Then how do you explain people bitching about Bergers blowing up.

 

[Moose47]

If you are truly a meat hunter the last thing you want is a blowup bullet. Loosing a quarter on any animal can be a substantial loss of eatable meat.