Disappointed with the Berger 156 grain EOL

[DJ Fergus]

I shot a buck at 130 yards with my 6.5 PRC using Berger 156 grains EOL. I hit him right behind the shoulder. The buck ran about 50 yards with no blood. There was no exit wound. My Son and Grandsons have shot whitetail and axis with no exit wounds. Kind of disappointed with this bullet. My loads were going about 2860 fps and no exit wounds on that buck I shot. Looking for some advice as to what would be a good bullet to use that would have good exit wounds, thanks in advance

I think the chances of you not being able to find a deer after a good shot with the 156 are small but not impossible. I do fully understand your concern. Try a 147 eld. You may like it. I've been satisfied with them. You probably won't have as many instantaneous kills with the 147 as a Berger @ 2860mv. I do think the 147 eldm will give you just a small amount more penetration. They certainly won't penetrate like a mono or bonded.

 

[OldElkHunter1961]

Realizing those slippery ultra high BC bullets just look oh so seductive, one has to ponder when do mass, frontal area and other old school bullet parameters trump "sexy?" Where does your load drop to transonic speeds and will you ever fire on an unwounded animal at those distances?

Check out the link as food for thought:

Modeling Drag — Projectile Velocity Versus Range

Introduction As mentioned in a previous post, I am reading the book “Modern Practical Ballistics” by Pejsa. I have been working through some of the derivations in the book and they are …

www.mathscinotes.com

 

[ibtexex]

Not a lot of experience with Berger. My go to has always been Partition

260 Rem 140 gr

178 yards enter/exit on Aoudad

 

[SpeedymanWCC]

I highly recommend Federal Trophy Copper. They are the same as the Nosler E-Tip. Fully expand and complete pass through in a 30-06. 6.5mm is supposed to have great sectional density, which should equate to deep penetration and pass through. Good luck finding them though. Nosler will have them for sale on their website sporadically. Federal hasn't had them available for a very long time. I'm not very happy with federal here lately.

 

[Rrpro]

I have 2 boxes of 100 rds 6.5 156eol bergers I'd sell for what I paid $75 each plus shipping

 

[Ashlo84]

I shot a buck at 130 yards with my 6.5 PRC using Berger 156 grains EOL. I hit him right behind the shoulder. The buck ran about 50 yards with no blood. There was no exit wound. My Son and Grandsons have shot whitetail and axis with no exit wounds. Kind of disappointed with this bullet. My loads were going about 2860 fps and no exit wounds on that buck I shot. Looking for some advice as to what would be a good bullet to use that would have good exit wounds, thanks in advanceas

I shot a buck at 130 yards with my 6.5 PRC using Berger 156 grains EOL. I hit him right behind the shoulder. The buck ran about 50 yards with no blood. There was no exit wound. My Son and Grandsons have shot whitetail and axis with no exit wounds. Kind of disappointed with this bullet. My loads were going about 2860 fps and no exit wounds on that buck I shot. Looking for some advice as to what would be a good bullet to use that would have good exit wounds, thanks in advance

As others have stated, bergers are designed to enter and then destruct. I habe killed elk and deer from 50 yards to 500 using three different calibers (.270/7mm/300prc) every one of them dropped immediately. The bergers were hunter classics and hunter vlds.

 

[ridgeline300]

FMJ should produce an exit hole.

 

[TXTrained]

This last Sunday evening 153.5 hybrid out of 6.5 prc. Boom flop. 160 yards. First pic is entrance left shoulder hide. Second is entrance into shoulder. Third is devastation behind shoulder. The yellow spots are corn kernels from intestines. Instant kill. Whitetail doe 1.

Now that's what I expected to see from a big bad 6.5 PRC..
Congratulations. Thanks for posting photos too

 

[VLD Pilot]

I like to be informed with facts not continue to be ignorant with my ideas and beliefs. Thank you for removing some of my ignorance.

No problem.

 

[Trooper1]

The devastation created by the Bergers is evident. However, I enjoy the meat, primarily my reason for hunting. Bloodshot meat is wasted to me. I used Nosler PTs for years, then Accubonds. Since meat is my primary goal, the more of it I can save for the table, the better. I recently switched over to Hammers, but did not draw last year. I'm anxious to see how well they perform. Personal max distance for me is 500 yards, self imposed. I can see the benefit of the Bergers with long distance shots, I just choose not to take them.

 

[CoSniper66]

I hit him right behind the shoulders and it blew both lungs up and he was full of blood inside of him. The thing that bothers me though is that I hit no bones and that bullet was moving at 2860 fps so I fully expected a good exit wound with plenty of blood to be able to track him

If you don't want them to run, shoot through the shoulders

 

[khmplus]

This is what you should be getting out of a hunting round. This is a 130 grain Federal Trophy copper, 270WSM.

 

[Duke260]

156 with MV of 3100 from a PRC. Shot was 280 yards. Deer still went 40 yards.

 

[Joe Bishop]

Maybe a Barnes bullet would have done better? I've shot plenty of elk, hogs and deer with the Berger and always done the job. I just never shoot any game animal in the shoulder, don't want to waste meat. I always shoot for the largest vital organ, lungs or heart.