140gr Berger Elite Hunter issue. Anyone experience this?

[rjletraveler]

140gr Berger elite hunter out of a 6.5prc. Hunting Cow elk but also had an either sex mule deer tag. Shot a doe at 110 yards. Perfectly through the ribs. Dropped like a stone. When I opened her up the entire internal cavity had been scrambled. Bullet came apart and the concussion combined with bullet fragments tore through the diaphragm. Gut material, plant bits and the like had sucked out the exit hole. I found gut material forced into the meat along the spine. Exit wound was the size of a quarter. Has anyone experienced this? Bullet was right behind the shoulders right through the middle. Scared to use these again if they do anything similar. Appreciate any thoughts. thanks

 

[rjletraveler]

just fyi, reloads, not factory.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

What did it do that was unexpected?
What performance do you prefer?

 

[haisardao]

That is my experience with Bergers, rapid death and violent expansion. That's my desired performance out of a bullet, only followed by hammers or petal shedding monos. I hate non petal shedding monolithic bullets, like Barnes.

 

[rjletraveler]

Guess I wasn't prepared for a chest cavity shot to to evicerate clear into the guts and make such a nasty mess of my meat. Took a lot of cleaning.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

Mono's and Bonded bullets save meat.
They also do well on heavier bones.

For pure lung shots you have the most deadly medicine, a thin-jacketed rapidly expanding bullet. Nosler ballistic tip or ABLR may be the
compromise you desire..???
If high BC is a must, maybe the 140-144 Berger Hybrid. The jacket is supposed to be slightly heavier.

 

[Huntnful]

Sounds about right. We don't view it as an issue though. Violent organ disruption and fast deaths is about what they're known for lol

 

[rjletraveler]

Nosler partitions and Sierra game kings out of my 30-06 with similar placement have dropped nearly all my animals near to where they stood but have never punctured the gut cavity.

 

[Fullbore92]

That's what Bergers do. It's actually really impressive a bullet can create that amount of damage. My avatar shows what a Berger can do on a 200 yard shot to a whitetail.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

That's the kind of story that makes me wonder, what if I accidentally hit the shoulder on a 240lb buck…..?

I used 153.5gr LRHT in a 6.5 Max last year, it didn't seem quite a wild as you describe.

 

[rjletraveler]

hmmm. May need to turn the bergers into coyote ammo. Not a lot of concern for thoroughly destroyed internals there. Guess when I imagined massive internal damage I didn't consider it moving beyond the chest cavity. All my previous experience has left the diaphragm intact.

 

[Huntnful]

hmmm. May need to turn the bergers into coyote ammo. Not a lot of concern for thoroughly destroyed internals there. Guess when I imagined massive internal damage I didn't consider it moving beyond the chest cavity. All my previous experience has left the diaphragm intact.

I think that might have been a rare occurrence honestly. I would give them another shot and see if it repeats. Mine haven't ruptured the guts before. But have blown the heart and lungs to literal pieces several times.

 

[rjletraveler]

I was truly shocked. There were no lungs to speak of. They had been entirely liquefied. No doubt about the internal shok created by the bullet. Just far more than I think I am looking for. Don't ever want to have that field dressing experience again.

 

[Huntnful]

I was truly shocked. There were no lungs to speak of. They had been entirely liquefied. No doubt about the internal shok created by the bullet. Just far more than I think I am looking for. Don't ever want to have that field dressing experience again.

Hahahah oh im sure it was a mess. Stay away from the ELDM line also then. They perform much like a berger. You may be happier with a bonded bullet for sure. Or a mono. They are kill good enough. I just like the violence of the berger/ELDM and process with gutless method on all my animals in the field.