I am thinking about trying out this load but I would like to get some feedback from any of you who have experience with this load.

I have seen the video's of 1,000 yard kills on broadside Elk and Deer but I am wondering what this bullet will do at 80 yards when velocity is still high, or how it will perform on a 100 yard quarter-on Elk, or a quartering-away Zebra.

I am concerned because the bullet is primarily designed for long distance accuracy, and also that it is NOT bonded.

Any of you out there use it??

I think you can draw your own conclusions here: designed for DISTANCE and NOT BONDED.

At high velocities and the 80 yards you pegged you'd have a bomb on your hands with light game and and explosive, low momentum projectile for big game.

At those distances, you'd be better served with a premium bullet of substantial weight going slower.

Non-bonded bullets were used for years at 7mag velocity. So if I was out hunting had the 168 in the rifle and a nice bull walked out at 80 yards quartering away would I pull the trigger? Darn right. Yes the wound might be larger than I wanted but it shouldn't fail to make the kill. Might not make it to the off shoulder but the lungs would be gone.

If I was only going to hunt short range then I'd think of a different bullet.

The people you see using the Bergers to hunt are typically long range shooters who have developed this super accurate load and want to be able to stop an elk at over 500 yards with exceptional bullet placement. A guy I have hunted with who does lots of long range shooting and instructs others killed a nice bull at 600 yards using them last season. He hit it 3 times with a group in the chest that looked to be about 6", not bad for a field shooting with a bipod. But he has a few more stories of escaped game that was hit soliddly and made it a long way wounded for my taste.

If you are starting from scratch on a load why not use a Barnes ttsx, Nosler Accubond or other proven hunting bullet to see how well you can get it to shoot in your rifle. That removes those limitations on awkward angled shots that need to break bones or pentrate a long way at potentially close ranges. My 7 shoots the Nosler Ballistic tips best but for elk and boar I use the TTSX and don't have to worry about a bullet not being able to penetrate and break bones if necessary.

There is nothing like having a bullet splatter into an elk ribcage with a baseball sized entry wound and a 600 yard tracking job to make a convert to good premium bullets meant for larger game. I got lucky and found the bull but I won't take that chance again for an extra couple of dollars a box of 20 costs me to reload vs. the cheaper more frangible bullets.

If you hit the Elk or Zebra an inch from your point of aim or 2 inches from your point of aim will that matter? So why take the risk of using the Bergers to gain that kind of improvement in accuracy.

I think that I will steer clear of them for anything bigger than a Whitetail

The new long range tipped Accubonds should be a great option for those of us shooting 270s, 7mms etc.

http://www.nosler.com/Bullets/AccuBond_LongRange.aspx

I've used Bergers (all 210gr VLD 30 cal) to kill lots of big game animals (big blue wildebeest, big gemsbok etc.) You need lots of patience and a clear shot. Good angles are also required and the maturity to watch an animal turn away from you and walk away.

I've moved on. I now use bullets that can deal with poorer angles and shots less than ideal. I found myself reaching for other peoples rifles if I followed up a wounded animal as I didn't trust the Berger on the quartering angles. Do they work well on broadside shots. YES! Are they the answer for general hunting... hmmm... I think not.

I'll not use them on animals larger than probably springbok again.

It's bee nsaid that you need the equipment to do the job when it all goes wrong, not only when it all goes right. That sort of describes it for me now.

quote:

Originally posted by Leopardtrack:
I think that I will steer clear of them for anything bigger than a Whitetail

You will be missing out on a good thing. I have used 168Bergers on everything from Gemsbok to feral hogs. Outstanding results from 60 yards on hogs to 465 yards on a Kudu.

I have never had much of a blood trail to follow the animals have died fast.

168g Berger 64 grains of RE19 at 2990 fps.

This is my pet load in my pet rifle.


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I have seen a buddy shoot a moose in Alaska at about 45 yards with my 300 win that I worked up the load for sheep it dropped in about 3 steps but the bullet did not exit. the moose was dead and we packed it out so the bullet worked but it depends it if you want it to exit or expend all its energy that is up to the hunter .