berger in brush country

[elkaholic]

Has any study been done with the effects of weeds, leaves, twigs on Berger hunting VLDs?

I'm shooting 180g Bergers in a 7mm Rem Mag.

Obviously these bullets excell in long range open country and there are other bullets/cartridges better suited to brush country. But, I was wondering whether broom weed, dove weed, or even a small weesatche twig would trigger expansion and terminal ballistics at the actual target (deer).

...and, how the distance from initial contact with such things 1 yd, 10 yds, or farther ahead of the target would make any difference.

I guess the bottom line is... How much resistance and at what velocity does it take to trigger expansion with these bullets?

(Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I couldn't find anything.)

Thanks!
Richard

I don't know about studies as far as a particular bullet, but in my opinion, ANY bullet traveling at high speed will be affected adversely! I wouldn't expect the Berger to be any better or worse than others. Having said that, I shot a deer one time with a Nosler partition that hit brush fairly close in front of the deer (probably less than 10'). There were two holes in the deers ribs about 3" apart. The deer DROPPED! Not sure the berger would have faired as well. Probably would have looked more like a shotgun blast...Rich

 

[Boss Hoss]

Sometimes we get the funniest questions!!! This has been discussed at length in several reloading manuals over the years.

 

[rscott5028]

Sometimes we get the funniest questions!!! This has been discussed at length in several reloading manuals over the years.

Boss Hoss - sorry about posting such a silly question

For something that's been written about for so many years, there's still a lot of rumor, conjecture, and speculation. ...and, flat out wrong thinking

Since I first posted this, I've seen 6-10 articles/books/studies referenced in many various other threads. There's one common theme in that no bullet is immune to deflection. But, most of these studies are not scientifically nor statistically valid studies in terms of comparing bullets and they often draw different even conflicting conclusions about which cartridge/bullet is best.

While deflection has been the focus of much of the discussion here, expansion/fragmentation is something I was/am curious about as pointed out by elkaholic.

Incidentally, Barnes was quick to respond to my questions about expansion and what it takes to trigger it in their bullets. But, Berger has been dead silent since I asked them. I guess they're out shooting rather than watching email.

It is a silly question like asking how many grains of RL22 does it take to ruin your action. The short answer being "don't go there."

Nonetheless, it's still something I'm interested in knowing more about.

Thanks!