I really don't want to argue about bullets, I have nothing to gain other than I hope maybe one of my fellow hunters can avoid the pain and misery I have went through. I spend way to much time to have bullet failure. I'm just going to tell you my opinions, some facts and why I think Berger VLD HUNTING bullets are not worth it as a hunting round. I honestly had blinders put on just because they were so accurate and I wouldn't admit they were not a suitable hunting round. Most guys wont read all of it, if you do and still disagree or call BS, (like I would have when I was still riding the Berger love train) that's fine, but when they do fail you, it took me awhile, maybe you will find a hunting bullet before the buck/bull of your dreams gets away..
I have been running them for years...and was totally drinking the coolaid like most guys that shoot them, bragging about how deadly they were to all my buddies, I did kill a pile of western big game animals from distances of 50 yards to 1100 with not an issue, every chance I could I was saying how awesome they were cause I really thought they were. Defended them when others talked of problems. Well I'm eating crow big time, and I will never hunt with them again....and I'm going to tell you why, sorry it's long but I want to lay it out, not that I had a problem here and there.
For years I ran accubonds, out of just about everything...and they were a great bullet, killed ****..dead...any hit center mass was a dead animal... And shot pretty good I thought. But one day, like ten years ago, my buddy is telling me about these new "burger" bullets (never heard of then before that), and how awesome the coefficientcy was...and they are a hunting bullet, he bought some and loaded them up in a 7mm and I truly about died at the accuracy... He was grouping better than he had ever shot, It peaked my interest...so I bought some.
I started shooting a 180 grain 30 cal, out of my Weatherby 30/378...groups immediately tightened...I then bought some 168's for my wife's 30/06...groups were best I had ever had that gun do without even hardly playing with the load...
Before I knew it, I had loads dialed up for every gun I owned, .243's, 300 RUM, .223 you name it I was shooting bergers! Loved them, accuracy was so important to me.
In the first year we shot antelope, elk, deer, and **** we had good results, even sub par shots....**** died....i was officially drinking the coolaid...
First failure-
A buddy called me a year later and asked if I could help him come try to find a buck the next morning he had just shot, he was shooting a 300 RUM 190 grain VLD I believe....like 200 yards..we went back in to where he had shot and nothing, no blood, not ****...he was convinced he had hit it so we kept at it, 250 yards from where he shot we found him piled up...make no mistake...this thing was shot perfect, mid body, just behind shoulder, .30 cal entrance, .30 cal exit...no expansion, right between ribs....now in all my life, I have never saw such a perfect shot placement with no blood....I wrote it off, as anamoly.
Wyoming Back-to-Back Failures-
I drew a tag in one of my favorite areas about 5 years ago...to this point I had killed probably 10/15 mature mule deer with bergers...a few antelope and elk and been running 180 grain VLD's out of my 300 RUM. I had never had anything take more than probably thirty steps, dead on impact... I ranted and raved continually, so accurate, so deadly.. I had found a buck with a 8" drop club that was sitting on a 185" frame, I spent a pile of money and time on this buck...opening morning I was going to get him....It worked perfect...he came into the same avalanche chute opening morning at 500 yards...it was a slam dunk, I loaded and put one just behind his shoulder and the buck was down immediately...I was in disbelief, could not believe how easy, my buddy and I headed for the horses, why we were crossing canyon we noticed another buck (we thought) headed out bottom of chute... We got over there, buck was gone...blood in small pile, some hair, and about a five foot blood trail that ended up to nothing... I spent days, and days looking for him....never found him.. I had never saw anything like it...
During the search for my deer I saw something that should have been like a slap in the face to me but I couldn't stop my man crush with Berger at the time..I was glassing for birds on a hillside and saw a nice buck get up, I was watching him and two smaller bucks feed in my spotting scope when the big buck got slammed, big kick and away they all ran, I watched the buck tip over after he went through a few small chutes and around a hill... Twenty minutes later I see the guy who shot come up and wonder around for what seemed like forever...It was getting dark and I thought I would go help him and show him where it was...needless to say, no blood... Nothing... Again...I couldn't believe it... But I assumed we had just missed the blood, he was chocking it up for a miss and was heading off mountain, he couldn't believe when I told him he was dead.. The guy was shooting a 7mm, Bergers, imagine that... There was a perfect 7mm entrance and exit hole when we caped him, missed shoulder by inches...truly a great shot and he thought he had missed.... I went back to where he shot it the next day on my way up... No blood... I thought maybe he was shooting target bullets or something and still didn't stop my Berger crush...
Last year-
My buddy and I finally found a buck we had been after, a B&C typical Muley.... We got into position and my buddy drills him. 800 yards, 190 grain 300 RUM. It was low and back... Saw impact in the spotting scope a classic gut shot, next shot looked middle of the body.... Deer went into trees..the canyon we we're glassing across was strait cliffs below us, we decided to give the deer six/seven hours and go recover...when we got to the big dead pine the deer was standing next too I turned sick when we found no blood... I had saw this... We spent forever wandering around...around 1/2 mile away we finally jump him at 100 yards and get lucky as hell to get a shot and kill him. He had hit the buck in the guts, twice... Now I have shot deer in the guts with a bow and saw them die... In the hide there was no expansion, again, no bone, meat... Bergers shot through like a full metal jacket. Buck didn't even act phased.
My wife ends up having to shoot a bull elk 7 times...and he wouldn't go down, 350 yards with 168 grain VLD's, the bull was broadside, in a wide open basin..her first shot was perfect, second was high, third actually knocked him down and from that point I could just tell if he was getting hit or not...the bull soaked them up...running though a small drainage...*** exactly happened I do not know but she finally dumped him on her 7th shot and the bull laid in the brush and bled out after another 15 minutes of kicking and moaning, gargling etc...not an easy way to make sure she continues her excitement about hunting...I had never in my life saw something like that...the craziest part is, and honest to god I don't know how this happens, but after taking seven shots...the bull was not bleeding except the last shot that she put in his neck... These bullets were not working...and I was really getting upset.
This year-
I decided to upsize my bullets, go to a heavier load, little more ft pounds of energy... I went to the 210 grain VLD, running 3100 FPS out of a new 300 RUM i had built over the summer...gun is the best shooting gun I have ever been around, I'm touching rounds at 300 yards. My wife shoots a bull twice, 550 yards, first round the bull fell right over, rolled, we high fived, told her congrats and I look up and the bull is trying to stand...she loads another round and puts him down..this was all minutes before dark... I headed to get sat messenger, to get some help coming and meat packs...she stayed put and waited for me to get back, we get to bull and he is sitting with his head up, still not dead, I was sick...she had to shoot him again, in the dark, at point blank...I was not happy...this **** was starting to get old...bull was hit in shoulder twice with a 210 grain VLD going 3100 FPS...these were perfect shots, the bull was hit with just barely under 3000 foot pounds of energy each shot...I recovered one bullet in the shoulder, the other one had disintegrated.
I end up finding a hell of a buck, and just before dark we find him in an avalanche chute at 600 yards...I shot the new ultra, 210's and get him just behind shoulder...buck ran into pines and I knew he was dead... But I elected to wait til morning, he was huge and I didn't want to have problems finding him or find him wounded in the dark.. I spent three weeks, this is all on film... I know exactly where he was standing and where I hit and I have still not found him. I'm honestly sick... Thousands and thousands of dollars a guy can spend to use ****** bullets..
In conclusion... I am done...I'll be shooting them at competitions, but no more animals.
Did you contact Berger about your problem? If not I'm sure they would have done everything possible to see what the problem is and tried to make things right.
