Berger 130 gr AR Tactical bullet for hunting?

[Lucky]

I have searched the site for anything relating to this question with no luck. Hope i didnt miss something. Anyway here goes. Has anybody used the Berger hybrid AR tactical bullet to hunt with. I am very interested to find out how it performs on game. Muleys, speed goats , maybe even an elk at a reasonable range. Does it expand but retain some weight, disintegrate, pass straight through without expanding at all? Berger assures me that the bullet will expand but that could mean a lot of different things. Any practical experience and or opinions relayed will be appreciated. Cartridge is 260 AI loaded to mag length. Hence my interest in this bullet.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I'm sure it would work with a well placed shot. Difference is that the VLD is designed to penetrate a good 3 to 4 inches before wreaking havoc with rapid expansion. The Tactical bullets might not penetrate as well so I wouldn't try to punch through heavy bone and muscle until you are sure how it performs. Just put it right behind the shoulder for now.

If you really want to test it out, shoot some smaller animals like small hogs or coyotes then carefully examine the performance of the wound channel. If it looks good, maybe move up to antelope, then deer. Thats exactly how i built my own confidence in Berger VLDs back when they first hit the market and everyone was skeptical (including me). Now they have "Hunting" VLDs, which are the original Berger VLD design, and I still use them to hunt everything.

Even though it's a Berger, I wouldn't just go out and try a new bullet design on elk, that could be a disaster. Work your way up in animal size and toughness then make your own educated assessment to decide if you think it will work on elk.

 

[284winner]

Berger's do put game down but usually at the expense of alot of flesh damage. Like ledd slinger said, the bullets get in about 2-3 inches and begin to fragment. I have seen elk taken with them at very long ranges and with both shoulder shots and lung hits. Both situations put them down rapidly. I've only heard of situations where the bullets didn't do so well. No experience of that tho. I've killed big whitetails with 140s and 168s. Both have anchored deer very fast but as I said with much loss of good venison. Mission accomplished tho. Quick clean kills. Plus A1 accuracy every time. Amax bullets performed equally as well with mostly the same results.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

The meat damage is where I totally disagree in regards to using the Berger 140gr Hunting VLD. In my experience with 18 big game kills using that exact bullet, I find the meat damage to be extremely minimal. Even with high shoulder shots where heavy bone is impacted (spine). In fact, a huge reason I love Berger VLDs so much for hunting is because I don't get hardly any bloodshot or damaged meat.

These pictures below are of a large mature 3x3 mule deer my son took with my rifle at 402 yards this last fall. One shot in the high shoulder had the buck dead before gravity even took effect and slammed him to the ground. These are the results I have seen time and time again using Berger 140gr VLDs in my 6.5 Remington Magnum at 3210 fps.

As you can see, very small entrance wound (same size as the bullet diameter) with a perfectly placed high shoulder shot. No exit on the animal. Full energy delivered. Under side of shoulder was in excellent shape, as we're the front of the backstraps where the bullet exploded on the spine. Did not lose a single ounce of meat off this buck.

My son's perfectly placed high shoulder shot at 402 yards.


My finger next to the entrance hole for size reference. Note that there is no bloodshot meat.


Entrance underneath the hide.

 

[Lucky]

The meat damage is where I totally disagree in regards to using the Berger 140gr Hunting VLD. In my experience with 18 big game kills using that exact bullet, I find the meat damage to be extremely minimal. Even with high shoulder shots where heavy bone is impacted (spine). In fact, a huge reason I love Berger VLDs so much for hunting is because I don't get hardly any bloodshot or damaged meat.

These pictures below are of a large mature 3x3 mule deer my son took with my rifle at 402 yards this last fall. One shot in the high shoulder had the buck dead before gravity even took effect and slammed him to the ground. These are the results I have seen time and time again using Berger 140gr VLDs in my 6.5 Remington Magnum at 3210 fps.

As you can see, very small entrance wound (same size as the bullet diameter) with a perfectly placed high shoulder shot. No exit on the animal. Full energy delivered. Under side of shoulder was in excellent shape, as we're the front of the backstraps where the bullet exploded on the spine. Did not lose a single ounce of meat off this buck.

My son's perfectly placed high shoulder shot at 402 yards.
View attachment 984408

My finger next to the entrance hole for size reference. Note that there is no bloodshot meat.
View attachment 984407

Entrance underneath the hide.
View attachment 984406

 

[Lucky]

Thanks for the input guys. Ill definitely do some experimenting on coyotes first before trying the bullet on reasonably deer. I would love to shoot the longer VLD bullets but in order to stay within mag length specs i would loose a lot of case capacity to deep seated bullet. I have tried that avenue with faster powder without very good results. Maybe just haven't hit the right combo yet. The 130 gr AR tac bullet allows me to shoot 4831, keep my FPS up and groups well at mag length. we'll see how it performs on a few coyotes first. Although not representative it may give me some idea of what the bullets gonna do. Have either one of you guys tried the ELD-X 143's?

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Never tried the ELD-X, but have read mixed reviews about them and the Accubond Long range bullets for hunting. Last bullet I read mixed reviews on for hunting and tried myself was the Lapua Scenar. I used it one time on a deer and will never use it again. Bullet hit a rib in the kill zone and split completely in two sending both pieces off at odd angles. Luckily one piece clipped the heart even though the entrance was in the center lung area. Other piece missed all vitals completely. I no longer try bullets with mixed reviews. The Berger VLD has been perfectly reliable for me and that's all I try to use anymore if I can get it for the caliber rifle I am using. Otherwise I resort to the tried and true Nosler Partition

 

[Lucky]

Ya, hornady sure talked it up and it sounds real good if the BC & other hype are realistic in my admittedly limited attempts, i couldnt get it to shoot as well as i want it to.