Found a factory load (6.5 CM) w/ this bullet that shoots lights-out, but I'm curious how well it works on game.

Any experiences would be helpful.

Thanks!

I've killed a mule deer, elk, moose, whitetail deer, and an antelope with the Berger bullets. Even though I've killed a lot of game with them, I was very disappointed in their performance on game.

I had to shoot my elk a number of times before he expired. On the whitetail deer, the bullet impacted just below the loin about 6" behind the front shoulder. There was no exit wound. And I thought that I missed that shot until I skinned him out. after the whitetail hunt I decided that I would go with a bonded bullet instead of the Berger bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by touchdown88:
I've killed a mule deer, elk, moose, whitetail deer, and an antelope with the Berger bullets. Even though I've killed a lot of game with them, I was very disappointed in their performance on game.

I had to shoot my elk a number of times before he expired. On the whitetail deer, the bullet impacted just below the loin about 6" behind the front shoulder. There was no exit wound. And I thought that I missed that shot until I skinned him out. after the whitetail hunt I decided that I would go with a bonded bullet instead of the Berger bullets.

Similar experience here. I totally quit shooting them.

I shoot them at coyotes and antelope. But nothing tougher.

I use them almost exclusively. Every animal I killed in Texas last year was with a Berger 140g vld out of a 6.5 creedmoor. It killed almost as good as a 6.5x55 with vlds

I have used 168vld in 7 rem mag for years.. Here from all to feral pigs. In Africa bull giraffe(head shot), croc on down to steenbuck.....

The bullets "fail" every time but the animals are deader than hell! And it's rare that I have to follow them anywhere.......

I would much have an animal dead close to where it was shot than some long blood trail to follow in the dark.

Thanks to all for the input

I used the VLD a lot at one time. I shot the 210gr in a 300 Win Mag.

With this combination around thirty large gemsbok and blue wildebeest bulls were successfully hunted over several years. In addition to those many springbok, several black wildebeest and red hartebeest and some other species were hunted.

The bullets behave as advertised; approximately six inches of penetration and then total disintegration. Generally I would recover no parts of the projectile, or jacket. The largest animals to give exits were black wildebeest. On the larger species the bullets would seldom make it to the opposite side of the ribcage, so there would be an entrance and no mark on the inside of the chest cavity on the offside, but the damage to heart and lungs was excessive and most often they would be totally torn apart.

I would only take broadside shots, shots on animals quartering on, or straight from the front, given the limited penetration.

Many times I watched animals walk off into the distance due to being presented with poor angles, as the VLD cannot be relied upon to take those shots given the poor penetrating characteristics. This means that you require discipline and maturity when using them. It also makes them a poor choice for hunting it thicker bush, where you need to take the shot you are presented with. This also means that they are an extremely poor choice for trophy hunting as you will give up many opportunities, or you will be taking marginal shots.

Over time I realised that I was fooling myself and moved away from them entirely, towards various more reliable bonded designs.

That said, I do have some VLD's that I may use on smaller game and in smaller calibres at some point again on meat hunts, where their limitations are less of an issue. I know the limitations of the VLD and where I can effectively apply this design. Used correctly they are fast killing.

The VLD behaves absolutely predictably in my experience. You know exactly what you get - and exactly what you don't. This makes them usable as a hunting bullet. In fact some so-called hunting focussed designs are a crap shoot; terrible in that respect ranging between holding together, to blowing up, penetrating, or disintegrating without penetrating and are totally inconsistent in performance. Bullets like that are worse as you never know what to expect and at some point you will expect a lot and be disappointed when you least expect it.

In my opinion predictable performance, whatever that may be, is the most important attribute of a useful hunting bullet. Correctly utilised within their limitation many designs will work superbly.

You must decide if you can live with the limitations of the VLD and the opportunities that you will need to / should forego.

They work good at 30-30 speeds. A number of years ago I shot a large doe using 168gr hunters. I never clocked the speed but I suspect it was pretty anemic. Bullet exited with a quarter sized hole. Beyond that I wouldn't trust them with anything more then varmint control.

I tried a VLD in a 6mm-284, not enough twist and they flew sideways. Oh well...anybody want most of a box of the things?

7mm Rem Mag, 168 VLDH, impact 125 yds. Note this was behind the shoulder, not through bone. I ditched the VLDH experiment after this debacle.

I've killed exactly 1 animal with a 168 gr VLD out of a 7mm Mag. Shot was at 496 yards on a bull elk in Nevada. The first shot, I saw the bullet impact behind the bull representing a pass through. The bull had taken a step, or two, while I was chambering the next round. The second shot hit about 2.5 inches from the first and the bull dropped at the shot. We didn't open him up, but the bullet did what it needed to do.

This past fall, a friend was using the VLD in a 300 RUM. Let's just say his first shot at 423 yards wasn't ideal and hit the buck in the rear hip, but he dropped at the shot completely destroying the pelvis area along with the meat surrounding.

That's the extent of my experience with the Berger offerings. Not my cup of tea, but the two animals I've witnessed died very close to where they were standing at the first shot.

Had some major failures in Africa with a 300 win mag. Never again. I was testing the ammo and would not of been a choice I would of made myself but the results did not surprise me. But the did all end up in the bag. Great target bullet

At Creedmoor velocities I think they're okay for deer and down in size.
I've shot exactly 1 elk with them and the performance was as advertised but far from my cup-o-tea.
I used the 140 6.5mm on Aoudad a few months ago and that was fine.
I will avoid them for most elk hunting but that's just me.

Zeke

Its apparent after reading the posts this bullet is simply designed for long range shooting wherein bullets are designed to expand properly at low velocity as one gets way out yonder..
Not a bullet that I would use, based on that alone..I prefer good bullet performance from point blank to about 400 yards, the Nosler Accubond is a prime example of that. and it depends on the size of game shot...again the Accubonds work, my one bullet for all game in the 30-06 is the 200 gr. Accubond, its worked on close tiny Texas Hill Country deer to large bull elk, and even one eland in my 06..

Having been the distributor of North Fork bullets in South Africa I am not suggesting that the Berger is my first choice and clearly I made certain decisions based on my experiences. That said, within the parameter I've identified above the VLD worked. They worked at fairly close range and out pretty far, but I did not take quartering away shots and avoided heavy bone.

What I failed to mention was an eland bull which I shot with a 210gr VLD...

I was hunting in the Eastern Cape and a visiting hunter had wounded a large eland bull in the mountains. I accompanied the PH to search for the bull. We found no blood trail and on the rocks in the fading light we didn't have much luck in trying to track them. After a few hours the little cross bred dog somehow brought the big bull back and he came running down the mountain. I shot him in the massive shoulder and through the heart at about 15 or 20 paces at most. He was stone dead within seconds.

We never did find any of that bullet, but the heart was destroyed. I'm not suggesting the Berger for those circumstances, but at that time I was using them quite extensively and that was what was loaded in my rifle (210gr VLD at 2780fps). My experiences generally seem quite different from what has been posted. I had experienced limited damage to meat on the onside shoulder in most cases with total destruction of the vitals and generally no exit. The sharp VLD certainly did seem to penetrate anout 5 or 6 inches before coming apart.

I think we have to say that the bullet was not initially designed for hunting - but just happened to work really well. The Match VLD versions with the thicker jackets (yes that is the correct way around) are not recommended for this application.

Following up wounded game I would find myself reaching for something with a stouter, or bonded, bullet due to the angles involved in shooting fleeing animals and that was when I made the decision to limit the VLD's to small antelope only. Initially I tried various bonded designs and eventually found my way to the North Forks. There are horses for courses, but there aren't many cases where a VLD provides a significant benefit for general hunting in my opinion and you need to pass up way too many opportunities.

I should add that of the "well hit" animals the smaller game like springbok often moved the furthest as the resistance was too little and the big 210gr would pencil through sometimes on a broadside shot placed just rear of the shoulder to minimise damage. With any quartering angles the exits were very messy on the smaller animals.

I want a bullet that will expand to some degree and penetrate to the vitals from any angle including full length. Violent expansion isn't necessary, modest penetration to start with and complete penetration with an exit hole is my goal...I get that with either the Nosler partition or the Nosler Accubonds, in fact most of the bonded core bullets work for me.

I felt at a glance the Berger bullets would not work for me, so never used them on game, do have a box or two left taking up room in my shop. They did shoot nice groups and expanded on rock chucks...

we have the best bullets in history in the Nosler, Woodleighs, North Forks, GS Customs, Barnes, Swift, and all the new soldered core bullets. The boned cores revolutionized bullet making, combine it with a partition and you just hit a homerun..

When a new wonder bullet comes out and some poster gets on a rant every time bullet performance is questioned or praised, whatever, it turns me off...They invariably declare their new wonder bullet is better than the Nosler or all the rest for that matter..Noslers are the bullet by which all others are judged, so its become the whipping boy, but it just hangs in there year after year after year..

Just like the quarter horse, its the horse by which all others are judged.