Berger close up on game performance

[Canhunter35]

My wife says I need big holes with lots of blood so I won't have to come get her to track it LOL. She swears I cannot see blood at night unless there is a lot of it. She is right.

Tracking is hard enough in daylight let alone at night!

 

[LeddSlinger]

Yeah I've had a bull running like he was fine with a good lung shot from a 180gr Nosler Accubond from a 300 Win Mag. Had to put another one in the back of his neck as he was running straight away from me or he was gonna dive off into a "hell-hole" ravine he was heading for on his escape route. The neck shot dropped him in his tracks.

With a well placed high shoulder shot, any animal in North America is gonna go right down. Downside is you might lose a little bit of meat due to blood shot around the damage.

 

[Wolf76]

Sounds like you need a real elk gun-- JK

Strange things happen from time to time. Good news is you got the animal.
Maybe try the 195 bullet- extra mass and a little less velocity.
I always wondered what would happen if the front third of the bullet was annealed.
Love the accubond for 400 and less.
There are trade offs no matter how you slice it.
Good luck and thank you for the report- huge fan of real world experiences.

 

[Ingwe]

Sounds like you need a real elk gun-- JK

Strange things happen from time to time. Good news is you got the animal.
Maybe try the 195 bullet- extra mass and a little less velocity.
I always wondered what would happen if the front third of the bullet was annealed.
Love the accubond for 400 and less.
There are trade offs no matter how you slice it.
Good luck and thank you for the report- huge fan of real world experiences.

Just curious...why do you like the Accubond 400 yards and under??

What do you like at over 400 yds?

 

[Wolf76]

Just curious...why do you like the Accubond 400 yards and under??

What do you like at over 400 yds?

Accubond: speed is high enough to still get great expansion-not minimal.

After 400- Bergers flat out get it done

Both are very accurate- they are optimal in different spaces.

 

[cjuve]

I have had several close range kills with Berger bullets the results have been fairly close to the same, the only exits I have had were an antelope at 50 yds and deer at 450 yds. The 450 yd deer was probably the worst performance that I have experienced with a Berger bullet. My wife made a great shot, I was behind the glass and saw the typical jump kick associated with a lung shot. I watched the deer run away the exit was clearly visible I thought this was going to be an easy recovery. I tracked that deer a long ways, there were definitely times that I thought that I may not recover it. The deer crashed in the middle of the trail, the track had given no indication that it slowed before crashing at nearly 500 yds from where it was hit. Upon examining the bullet channel it was fairly obvious what had happened, the hit was a little high entering between 2 ribs, little to no expansion occurred until the bullet passed midway through the second lung, a softball sized exit hole was present on the exit side. I probably would have never found that deer without the exit hole but perhaps the deer would have not went as far to f the bullet would have come apart sooner. This is definitely not a knock on Berger, for the most part I have had a far easier time recovering animals after being shot with a Berger than with some other bullets. I used to think that shooting them through the shoulders and wasting a little meat was the best way to a fast recovery now not so much.

 

[mike33]

I have had several close range kills with Berger bullets the results have been fairly close to the same, the only exits I have had were an antelope at 50 yds and deer at 450 yds. The 450 yd deer was probably the worst performance that I have experienced with a Berger bullet. My wife made a great shot, I was behind the glass and saw the typical jump kick associated with a lung shot. I watched the deer run away the exit was clearly visible I thought this was going to be an easy recovery. I tracked that deer a long ways, there were definitely times that I thought that I may not recover it. The deer crashed in the middle of the trail, the track had given no indication that it slowed before crashing at nearly 500 yds from where it was hit. Upon examining the bullet channel it was fairly obvious what had happened, the hit was a little high entering between 2 ribs, little to no expansion occurred until the bullet passed midway through the second lung, a softball sized exit hole was present on the exit side. I probably would have never found that deer without the exit hole but perhaps the deer would have not went as far to f the bullet would have come apart sooner. This is definitely not a knock on Berger, for the most part I have had a far easier time recovering animals after being shot with a Berger than with some other bullets. I used to think that shooting them through the shoulders and wasting a little meat was the best way to a fast recovery now not so much.

So im starting with Berger 140 vld hunting in my new 260 ai. Most of my deer hunting at home is 25-125 yards until I hit the fields for long range. Are you saying im not going to have good results say at 30 yards?

 

[Sykes]

My 6.5 PRC killed two elk 1st rifle season with a 140 berger at 3020 fps. My wife shot her bull at 320 yards and took at the top of his heart, he went 10-15 steps and fell over. My cow was maybe 120 and I hit double lung, truly thought I missed cause she didn't act hit but then staggered some and fell over. The rib cages on both were identical. Insides were mush.

Entrance side on the bull

Exit side.
Didnt take pictures of the cow but the damage was identical

 

[cjuve]

So im starting with Berger 140 vld hunting in my new 260 ai. Most of my deer hunting at home is 25-125 yards until I hit the fields for long range. Are you saying im not going to have good results say at 30 yards?

Nope.... I saying that exit holes may be overrated and only come in handy when you have to track. My only experience with with 140 has been on 2 animals, a cow elk and a buck antelope.... neither took a step

 

[Hoss50]

The bullet isn't near as explosive at longer range in my experience, but is this pretty normal for shots 300 yards and in?

In my experience yes. I have seen in person or been the person to see 4 cow elk and 2 mulies go down to Berger hunters. All were 300 or under. Only 1 exited quartering toward on a small mulie at 40 yards. It left a 2" exit hole.

None of the game went over 40 yards. The internal organs were messed up badly in all the animals.

 

[Hoss50]

Both our cow elk this year bled out internally. When we gutted them the lungs were punched and we had to poor what seemed like 5 gallons of blood out of the chest cavity to get to the tenderloins.

 

[LeddSlinger]

..... the hit was a little high entering between 2 ribs, little to no expansion occurred until the bullet passed midway through the second lung, a softball sized exit hole was present on the exit side......
I used to think that shooting them through the shoulders and wasting a little meat was the best way to a fast recovery now not so much.

So the shot was a little off...it passed between ribs, both lungs, and didnt expand much until a softball size exit...but then in the last sentence it sounds like you are saying it was shot through the shoulders?

I'm a little confused on how that story works out...

If a shot is placed "properly" and "accurately" high on the shoulder, you can rest assured that it is still by far the "best way to a fast recovery"

 

[codyadams]

So im starting with Berger 140 vld hunting in my new 260 ai. Most of my deer hunting at home is 25-125 yards until I hit the fields for long range. Are you saying im not going to have good results say at 30 yards?

I think most of these people are talking about the Bergers on elk. I have used my .260 AI to take somewhere around 35-40 antelope (close body size to white tail) and they have worked well, at closer ranges like 200 and in, we have taken probably only 4 or 5, but they all exited, but also all were in the pocket behind shoulder, heart to high lung behind crease. I took one 5x6 bull at 713 yards that had a small exit with the bullet hanging in the exit hole, and I have recovered a couple out of big bodied mule deer at extended ranges, but they seemed to work well. Heart shot on a cow elk at 610 exited. I have no experience with bigger critters at closer ranges, the average for my .260 ai over 50ish big game animals is in the 600 yard range.

 

[Bud LaRoche]

I've seen elk and mule deer make it 100yds with mushed lungs, seems if they get that surge of adrenaline before impact they can make it that far

%100 agree. I've seen it multiple times. Critters with hearts evaporated running 100ish or more yards . Adrenaline is crazy strong