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Berger Prep for Terminal Performance

Tiny Tim said:
I want to preface this by stating that this is not a thread about whether you like Berger Bullets or not, if you should have to do anything to a purchased bullet to make it function acceptably, or even if you should use them. Its about how to obtain the most reliable terminal performance with Berger bullets.
I have read many things about this and there are some basics like ensuring bullet tips are open, possibly meplat trimming and weight sorting for consistency. Most have recommended a .040 drill bit for the tips on the 215 Hybrid and I have found this also works with the 6mm bullet class. But I seem to remember Elkaholic (?) using a .056 on the 215. I also think Bigngreen talked about a friend having issues with a hunting VLD and having him switch to a target style due to a rough throat.
How do you determine what type you use for hunting and what steps you take to ensure optimum performance? Or is it simply trial and error? Sorry for such a lengthy post, but hoping to get some good info out there for those on the fence about trying them or that don't have the opportunity to take several animals each year to collect empirical data on what may at best be called a hotly debated bullet. Thanks in advance.
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Love berger bullets great one shot kills I use it a variety of calibers
 
I have a cheap set of small circuit board steel finger drills(Amazon) ) thar come in a range of sizes that match just about all the Berger/caliber bullet tips I use. I simply match the original hole size of the bullet and trim until the drill just touch's the lead core. The "perfect" tips are typically unaltered by this method, the distorted ones are cleaned up to match up the good bullets. BC appear un-effected by this approach, and terminal performance consistency looks good.
 
elkaholic said:
The only thing I can tell you is TEST!
i normally use a . 040" bit but I did use a . 055" on the 230 Hybrids. My shots with this bullet would normally be 1000-1200 yards so I wanted to make sure they expanded. I usually check the width of the meplat before I drill it so I leave close to normal Jacket thickness which is about. 014". If I was using the 230 at 100 to say 800 yards only, I probably wouldnt do anything! ive found that all the tips are open on them unlike the old VLD's. When I tested them on media last year, I found that they opened with 300-400 less velocity when drilled to . 055", and with that bullet, did not change the meplat width or b c.
I might add that the elk I ended up shooting last year was at 552 yards and nearly decapitated him! ATTACH=full]177518[/ATTACH]
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Rich so how do you think the bullet would have performed on the elk at the range with a behind the shoulder or height shoulder shot?
 
Before you worry about mods, it would be good to understand how the bullets actually "expand". I would propose that much of the time the nose is not expanding and opening. The jacket behind the nose is failing, this is enhanced by the instability of the projectile in wet tissue. As the bullet starts to tumble the nose breaks off. David Tubb had been cutting a groove on the ogive near the nose with great success. Essentially enabling the failure described above.
 
westcoasthunter said:
Rich so how do you think the bullet would have performed on the elk at the range with a behind the shoulder or height shoulder shot?
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At that range, I think it would have performed well. I opened them a little because 90% of my shots would be 1000+ at this seat. As I mentioned earlier, It wouldnt have been necessary to open them at all at that range because they would expand anyway.
Where I hit this bull, a solid would have messed him up since it entered the front of the neck and took out about 3 vertebrae.
 
Huge thread on this several years back. There was a reported problem of VLD's "penciling through" an animal and not opening up. Many speculated it was due to clogged/uneven tips found on many Bergers.

To their credit, Berger jumped in and started test their VLD's. If I remember correctly, they were not able to duplicate the results with clogged tips. However, they did start to do a better job of culling the worst one out before they were boxed up and sent out. In other words, Berger could not find the one was related to the other. Given that it was Berger making the statement, many felt it was probably a little biased. However, complaints of "penciling through" dropped dramatically.

Because I shoot more VLD's than other types of bullets, I bought Kevin Cram's meplat trimming/uniforming tools. It does a great job and buys me some piece of mind. Plus they look really cool when finished.
 
skipdavidson said:
Before you worry about mods, it would be good to understand how the bullets actually "expand". I would propose that much of the time the nose is not expanding and opening. The jacket behind the nose is failing, this is enhanced by the instability of the projectile in wet tissue. As the bullet starts to tumble the nose breaks off. David Tubb had been cutting a groove on the ogive near the nose with great success. Essentially enabling the failure described above.
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I agree some what, I've recovered a number of tips that show them opening from the top of the lead forward to the tip, I believe it's just due to the hydraulic pressure in the tip hence making sure the tips are open. I've never seen evidence of tumbling though, all recovered bullets showed straight line penetration with the front of the bullet pushed back over the tail. Usually in tumbling you'll see the wound channel change as well from a basic hole to a split.
Good to see you still check in here Aaron!!!
 
Every Berger Hybrid that I've recovered during testing blows the tip off right above the lead core, which is about 3/8" long, if velocity is high enough. The tip always looks bulged because of the hydraulic pressure entering the tip. This happens; and then what ever expansion of the remaining bullet happens. If velocity is sufficient, it often comes unglued! If its lower velocity, they may expand more typically, or tumble. If velocity is too low to blow the tip off, they tumble nearly every time (banana bullet).
I drill them with the .055" for long range because Ive found they blow the tip with about 300' less velocity. b c is the same as not drilled.
This is based mostly on testing in media.
 
elkaholic said:
Every Berger Hybrid that I've recovered during testing blows the tip off right above the lead core, which is about 3/8" long, if velocity is high enough. The tip always looks bulged because of the hydraulic pressure entering the tip. This happens; and then what ever expansion of the remaining bullet happens. If velocity is sufficient, it often comes unglued! If its lower velocity, they may expand more typically, or tumble. If velocity is too low to blow the tip off, they tumble nearly every time (banana bullet).
I drill them with the .055" for long range because Ive found they blow the tip with about 300' less velocity. b c is the same as not drilled.
This is based mostly on testing in media.
Click to expand...
What is the typical minimum velocity prior to tumbling that you found with standard (same as factory or factory) hollow point?
 

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