This is good to know. My wife is planning to shoot a red hine this weekend. I recommended she take my 6.5 SAUM over her 6.5x47 Lapua but seems like that may not be necessary.
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Bullet selection is driving me nuts....
- Thread starter Colin78
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Jim’s Hunt
Well-Known Member
I'll stick to Nosler partitions and Accubonds for all of my elk,deer,bear,and pronghorn here in northwest Colorado. Neither bullet has failed me from a 243 up to a 300 Lapua mag and 338 win mag and a lot in between
I meant I couldn't find Berger bullets, switched to hammer because they had what I want when I want it and they kill cleanly. But nothing bad about the way bergers performed.
You never did mention what caliber and type rifle you were shooting, not that it matters as long as you have a rifle that will shoot MOA or less. I have to admit that I am a 30 caliber buff but also recently looking into the .277 caliber arena. I have a 270 which is way Sub MOA with both 130 and 140 gr ammo either factory or hand loads. I have been able to duplicate the accuracy of factory ammo but not really do much better. What it boils down to is finding a load that your barrel likes. Start with a bullet that will do what you want it to. I am particular to Nosler and Sierra, not something you find popular around in this neck of the woods. I gave up the popular game many years ago and adopted the "What works for my rifle," principle. Select a bullet, any bullet that you think will do whatever it is you want to do. Concentrate on that bullet and your rifle. Try different powder charges from different types of powder, I have always found that the lower velocities per each different powder is a good place to start. Do a ladder starting at the bottom of the reloading data and work up from there. I do my initial ladders at 0.5 grains from minimum and work my way up. When I find a load that my rifle seems to like I back off and start at 0.2 grain powder charges. If warranted I will even go to 0.1 grain charges to determine the one that groups the best. If still not satisfied will try a different powder with the same bullet and repeat the process. Being impatient does not work here. To fine tune your rifle it may take several tries. I have had cases where, keeping in mind that I am dealing with 30 caliber in 308 an 30-06 when I have had to try different bullets, powder types and charges before wandering onto the combination that shoots sub MOA all the time. It takes time and practice as well as a lot of shooting to find the ammo that your rifle, (Not you) likes and shoots consistently well. Patience my friends. It takes patience to find that one load. Once you find it you can vary a bit to try to improve on it, change bullets keeping in mind that any time you change a major component you are essentially starting over from scratch.
West Calamus
Well-Known Member
My opinion on Bergers are target bullets with high b.c. Hunting bullets likes bonded or partitions do not need high BCs at 500 yards. I am sure a person with a 6.5 creedmoor at 800 yds on a berger on a elk. Target and hunting bullets are not the them cat.
codyadams
Well-Known Member
RockyMtnUT
Well-Known Member
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snox801
Well-Known Member
I've taken several red deer with it now and none went more than 30-40 yard. That 97 is a fantastic killer.
DoneNOut
Well-Known Member
I'll ring steel with Bergers and DRT critters with Hammers, Amax, and Barnes. I've made it my hunting career goal to find a Hammer bullet failure. I'll try them all, some multiple times until I get that failure. Promise! 
huntinfool18
Well-Known Member
If you like the nosler btip. You'll like the eld line of bullets. Same type of construction with a much higher bc.
My preference is Bergers. You mentioned your wanna work on your LR game or atleast have a bullet that capable of making hits at extended ranges. If that's the case then the BC absolutely matters. If you're gonna be hunting <600 than BC isn't an issue. Grab a hammer or whatever, run it fast and do your deal.
Lotta folks hunting effectively with Bergers. They're great bullets. My buddy whacked his elk at 968 yards with a 168gn Berger Elite Hunter out of his 7RM. DRT. Not even a step.
I'd recommend finding some Berger Elite Hunters and getting after it. You won't be sorry. Lotta great hunting bullets out there if you're gonna be shooting game within 600. Past that, There's other factors that come into play in choosing a proper bullet. BC being one of them.
I've heard great things about the Badlands Bulldozer 2's as well. High BC, solids. They would be worth taking a look at, but the easy button is Bergers EH's IMO. Hybrids seem to work really well as well. I run 180gn Hybrids in my 7RM, 185gn Juggernauts I'm my 308 and buddies are runing 215gn Hybrids in their big 30's.
I have always liked @lancetkenyon preference in the bullet selection; use bullet X for <xxx range and bullet Y for >xxx range.
Aussie Hunter Steve
Well-Known Member
If you like Nosler the Accubond will serve you well, even out to long range. What's more, they're often the same BC as the same weight Ballistic Tip bullet and shoot to the same point of impact for all hunting purposes.
