168 VLD for the .308

[chemist]

How does this bullet perform on deer at closer ranges.

 

[ejboy]

What do you call close range?

 

[AlbertaAl]

I used my factory Tikka Master Class in 308 with Berger 168VLD's @ 2800 fps

Shot a Whitetail buck @ 240 yards broadside...bullet exited, deer ran 100 yds and dropped dead

Shot a Whitetail doe @ 80 yards..deer ran 200 yards into dense bush before dying and wasnt found till 2 days later. Unsure whether the bullet exited.

Shot a Muley buck at 175 yards...bullet exited and deer was dead.

I like the bullet and not sure if it's doing what a bulelt is suppsoed to do.
My opinion, is that this is a lethal bullet !

 

[ejboy]

Al,
I use the 168 Berger VLD in a 30-06 and shot a deer at 136 Yards this year. The deer ran about 50 Yards. My load is in the 2850 range according to the load guide. The bullet did exit which I felt like it would. the entrance was hardly noticeable the exit was a hole about the size of a silver dollar. The internal damage was tremendous. I shot the deer in a hurry and hit it a little further back than I had planed on and the shot was angleing to which I did not know until it was all over.
I also have a .308 that I plan own trying these same bullets in. However it will be next hunting season before that happens. I do not have a load worked up for it yet.
I personaly like the Berger bullets as they are the most accurate tha i have ever shot.
EJBoy

 

[AlbertaAl]

Over the last 2 years I've virtually gone 100% BERGER.
I shoot 3 different twenty calibres using 30gr., 35,40, 50 & 55 grain bullets
I shoot 17 Rem 25 grain
I reload 115 Bergers for 2 friends with 257 Weatherby's
I used Berger 210's in my 300 Win Mag
My 22-250 shoots Berger 52's
I've got a 6PPC thats likes the BERGER 60 gr.

Too many rifles...but not complaining.
For my reloading procedures I like to reduce as many variables as possible.
Can't go wrong with a BERGER

 

[ejboy]

AL,
I really like the accuracy that I get with the Berger VLD's and from the one deer I shot with them I was pleased with the performance. For over 34 years I used Sierras HPBT in my 25-06. I am now thinking of useing Bergers.
I have a 6.5X55 Swede that loves the Berger bullets.
My 22-250 is useing 62 gr. bergers and shoots them very well.
Still trying to get it to shoot 53 gr. Barnes.
The 22-250 is my coyote and cat rifle and I have yet made contact with either.
Sure want to so I will know how they perform and see what kind of pelt damage.
EJBoy

 

[chemist]

Ok this worries me. I have never had a deer run over 50 yards and pile up with a blood trail as if I poured a 5 gallon paint bucket. I have been watching the hunting shows and watching the animals drop at long range. But the way it is designed itshiws that it would blow up at high velocity hits

 

[RT2506]

The reason that you see game drop in their tracks on those hunting shows is because most are shooting for the front shoulder. If you hit them in the shoulder especially a little above center you get part of the spine as well as imparting a lot of shock by hitting bone. I have only shot one deer with a Berger VLD. It was with the 30 cal 155 VLD from my 30X47 HBR at 2650 fps. The deer was 111 yards away and was hit in the center of the front shoulder broad side and the exit was the center of the offside shoulder. You could drop a baseball into the exit hole. The whole chest cavity was soup. What surprised me was the deer took off like it had not been hit and went right at 50 yards before dropping. There was no blood trail because where was nothing left to pump blood out with. I have gone back to the 125 Nosler ballistic tip for 300 yard and under deer shooting in my 30X47 HBR and my 308 Win. BANG FLOP. When hunting longer ranges I go to my 25-06 or 264 Win mag.

 

[ejboy]

RT2506 hit the nail on the head. The high shoulder shot is the place to drop them in there tracks. I have hit that mark a few times. A lot of the deer that I have killed did not preasent that angle for such a shot.
My first deer was killed with a .243 shot in the neck which dropped him in his tracks. Much to my supprise as I had been aiming behind the shoulder as I was instructed. Between the shacks and the pounding of my heart is nothing short of a miracle that I even hit that deer. That was 36 years ago.
The next year in January of 1975 my wife gave birth to my oldest child a girl. I went the same day to good friend who had a sporting good store and ordered
a Rem. 700 BDL in 25-06. I hunted with it that fall but due to a scope problem I did not harvest a deer.
I used factory ammo until 1979 when after a lengthty study I started reloading. I had chosen the Sierra Gameking in 120 gr HPBT. This made a deadly deer round.Some of them ran to as much as a 100 yards and some fell in there tracks. I always tried to deflate them and smash the boiler.
I next went to a Browning BAR in 7MM Mag. I started out with a 150 gr Sierra
Gameking PSP.They worked really well. Then I switch to the Nosler Ballistic Tips.
They worked even better. Only had one to run more than Ten steps, it ran 100 yards. I shot him at 250 yards standing looking at me. The Bullet entered in the center of his chest ( to which I was aiming ) and exited just in front of his right hind leg.
With that 7 Mag I shot deer from every angle I could to get into the engine room and they all fell in ther tracks.
I also have a .338 and have shot three deer with it. It puts a whole new meaning to drop dead.
Why deer some time run when hit in the boiler room, I don't know. Maybe it is a strong will to live.
EJBoy