7mm Berger 180 Hybrids

[Ronald W Schaefer]

First off I'm not posting this to bash a bullet or the company. This post is for information and to apply it as you see fit
After a questionable performance this last fall on a bull elk I just had the chance to discover the problem.
I found that this lot of bullets I have had almost non existent cavities in the hollow point.
I went through all of this lot with a pin vise and a 27 thousandth drill bit to open all the tips up to the lead core.
I ran into this with the 195's also but didn't think twice it would happen on the 180's with past experiences.
I'll be checking all my bergers now.
Thought I'd share my findings so others could learn.

Or you could switch bullets brands or send the nonconforming bullets back to Berger for replacement. I personally wouldn't do after factory modifications on a manufacture's product...I'd rather it be/work as intended when it shows up at the door...but that's just me.

 

[BlazerBeam]

I've seen a lot of .338 and larger caliber bullets punch right through like you're describing. Unfortunately, none of your pictures loaded for me, so I'm not sure if I'm missing any vital info from them.

I will say that the reason I think this happens is actually too much mass in the bullet. A 300gr .338" bullet has a sectional density of .375 and to give you a perspective, a 250gr .308" bullet is about the same, and you'd have to go up to a 185gr 6.5mm bullet to get similar mass.

All that mass in that projectile is going to need a lot of opposing force in order for it to expand quickly and produce hydraulic force into the animal and inflict sufficient wounding for a quick and clean kill. That means a lot of resistance upon impact. So shoulder shots would be ideal, and you might have seen better results if you did fire into the shoulder. Shoulder shots also devastate the CNS and typically allow the animal to drop and bleed out or succumb to asphyxiation before it can recover.

I have seen these bullets expand better at longer distances (when impact velocity actually lowers) and I believe that's due to the delay in expansion overall, and impacting at a higher velocity causes them to exit before they expanding enough to produce hydraulic force, whereas if you slow that down they can expand before exiting. More resistance would help as well. Ultimately, it boils down to too much momentum at high impact velocities for that particular bullet and not enough opposing forces to combat they properly.

You could also step down to a 250gr or lighter bullet of similar construction and see better results too due to the decrease in mass, which decreases momentum, etc.

I personally have found using 30cals with heavy for caliber bullets (208gr-245gr) of softer construction balance out very well regarding penetration vs expansion, and work extremely well both close and far. I've gotten away from using larger calibers because the results just tend to not be worth messing with it. Of course the same principle work with smaller calibers as well, but there are other factors and considerations that need to be taken into account going that route too.

Your examples that you say have worked well are actually good examples of bullet size and construction that do indeed balance well.

I've had 300 grain accubonds expand perfectly on little whitetails. Polymer tip: only reliable way to get expansion in my opinion

 

[7milpill]

Wow, definitely not how the Bergers are supposed to perform. I haven't seen that with the 168gr VLD's. I am in the process of moving over to the 175gr elite hunter. I am going to go through the 500 I have and check them. Thanks for the report.