168 hunting vld on elk?

[Cakes]

Anybody have any recent experience with the 7mm Berger Hunting 168 vld's on large deer or elk. I have a nice load for my .284 and 7 saum with 160 Accubonds but boy those 168's shoot considerably tighter groups especially at the longer distances, 5-600 yards. Info/comments appreciated. I've read mixed reports on the 168's and elk especially at ranges under 100 yards. Thanks, Eric in DL

 

[dkhunt14]

You will probably get more answers if you go to longrangehunting.com. They have a lot more hunters and elk hunters on there. Matt

 

[jim_k]

Best of the West was using them on elk for the first couple of years of their show, and they worked fine.
Jim

 

[bigngreen]

Put it behind the shoulder on elk and they'll do as good a job as anything else, deer shoot them through the shoulders if need be but on elk any bullet in that weight won't get through every time no mater the construction.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

They work very well. There's about a million threads on the internet about this same exact subject if you want details.

 

[effendude]

Eric,
I have an friend who is an outfitter in Alaska, Montana and Wyoming. He has used the 7mm 168 VLD since they came out with one of the original Best of the West/Gunwerks rifles. He and his clients have killed everything that walks in Alaska with the rifle/bullet combo, almost always one shot kills. His only experience that gave him concern was on a bull elk where a hunter hit the shoulder blade and the bullet didn't penetrate. He attributes that experience to a bad bullet but we will never know. He has shot countless elk with the bullet and never had any other issues.
Scott

 

[Rustystud]

My advice on 7mm and Elk. Use a controlled expansion bullet, ie: Barnes Tipped Triple Shock, Swift Scirocco, Nosler Accubond, Nosler Partition, or Swift A-frame.
Nat Lambeth

 

[dkhunt14]

The Barnes and some of the others don't have enough BC and density to shoot out far. We shot Accubonds in a 375-408 Cheytec and they came unglued at 1250 to 1350 yards and we were pushing them at 3600. Matt

 

[d.id]

Wife took a large cow elk last year with a 168 vld fired from a 7 rem mag, impact took place at 610 yards and was catastrophic to the cow's lungs, "High efficiency detonation". She whirled, jumped and folded inside about 15 feet.
.
Recommend not using a flying brick "hunting bullet" for long range work.
Can absolutely recommend the 168vld, assuming (as always) that shot placement is key.

 

[LKEYES]

I to have used the 168 in several 7 mags, mine and a couple others in the family.
We have had great success on everything from lopes, mt goats, deer, and elk.
That combo is all that I have been using for the last 5 years.
Retumbo powder behind magnum primers do an amazing job.

If they shoot better for you then by all means with proper bullet placement they are dinomite!!!

 

[370bc]

My bud just came back from Idaho where he shot a bull at 200 yards with a 168 grain VLD that I loaded for him.
One and done. No forensic info yet. I used Reloader 22.

 

[wapiti25]

They work just fine.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I talked to a guy yesterday that used one and shot a Bull at just over 600 yards. Shot placement was in the shoulder and did not penetrate.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I talked to a guy yesterday that used one and shot a Bull at just over 600 yards. Shot placement was in the shoulder and did not penetrate.

Did they recover the animal to prove the shot placement? Or did it get away and he is assuming that his shot hit the shoulder?

 

[jim_k]

One thing that happens fairly regular with the VLD's for hunting is that they go in, but they don't come out. The entry wound leaves no blood trail. You either see them go down, or you have to do a grid search for them, based on last known location. This happened to me on a pig, and the sniffing dog couldn't find it; it also happened on an axis buck, which did not even bleed from him mouth on a lung shot. Fortunately, he only went 5 yards. The one that ran the farthest for me was a blackbuck doe, hit in the chest, that went 80-100 yards. That was a 325 yard shot, with an exit wound the size of a softball. I also gut-shot (sorry, but I did) a whitetail buck, without an exit wound, and the guide found him by smell a week later. If I had used a standard soft-point bullet on that one, there would have been a blood trail, and we would have found him while the meat was still good. I had an opportunity to put a second shot in that buck, but the guide said he'd lay down, and we'd find him dead after lunch. Since then, if there is a chance to put in a second bullet, I do it.
Jim

 

[L.Sherm]

I have shot 3 bull elk with 140 VLD's in my 6.5 WSM one at 250 and the other 2 right at 600yds. All preformed flawlessly, and never took a step

 

[bigngreen]

I talked to a guy yesterday that used one and shot a Bull at just over 600 yards. Shot placement was in the shoulder and did not penetrate.

A 168 gr bullet either 7mm or 308 regardless of design will not penetrate and elk shoulder 100+ of the time, about 30% will fail to make it to the chest cavity, not brand or construction specific, there is just not enough bullet to punch through. It's the most common wound I've seen on elk after cutting over 2000 of them. If your a guy who HAS to break down an elk, 200+gr 30 cal is minimum for constantly making it through elk shoulders into the chest cavity, 300gr 338 work every time!!

 

[wapiti25]

We have shot 3 bull elk and 2 bull moose with the 168 VLD from 200 yds out to 512 yds, all were bang flop within 20 yds. bullet placement is key with any bullet. Anywhere in the shoulder is good with the VLD. I have never had or saw a rifle that would consistently shoot Barnes bullets good to 300 yds ( less than Moa for three shots). One bull moose was at 512 yds in Wyoming, he just went to the ground. Same guy in Sept shot his antelope at 727 yds facing him with one shot with his rifle from GunWerks in 7mm Rem Mag. using 168 VLD's.

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

I have never had or saw a rifle that would consistently shoot Barnes bullets good to 300 yds ( less than Moa for three shots).

I have a couple of rifles that shoot Barnes bullets very well. One of them is a plain-vanilla Remington 700 Sendero in .300WM. I put the 180gr TSX 0.050 off the lands, with 76.4gr of H4831sc. The targets below show a fouler and two sighters (target 5), then the next 3 shots after the scope adjustment (targets 4, 3, 2). This is at 200 yards off a bipod.

It works on game, too.

 

[fourpower]

19 dead elk can't be wrong. dit= dead in tracks. very little meat lost. we love all bergers in all cal. we hunt in a lot of brush county and the only problem can be trying to find them because they go down so fast! will be trying the 180 bergers next year as they shoot light out past 700 yds and shoot great at 1400 yds for fun. enjoy