drilling rifle bullets to improve terminal ballistics

[Todd Morley]

The Berger 156 EOL is extremely aerodynamic; it carries energy well enough to make shots well past 500 yards on elk, if you're up to it. One of the Ultimate Reloader guys used it to great effect on a safari he documented here:

. He praises the bullet's terminal ballistics in the video, so maybe Berger has already modified the bullet's design so it doesn't need drilling/trimming (I bought mine right when the bullets first came out).

I tested the drill/trim procedure on a Berger 190 target bullet in a 10% gel block. If you've seen how differently FMJ bullets and more explosive target bullets act on a gallon jug of water, you can tell just by shooting a gallon jug. The FMJs will burst the jug, but just enough to spill the water. A rapidly expanding hunting bullet will make the water fly in all directions. Here's a YouTube video of a former federal officer demonstrating the difference with a pistol:

.

Happy hunting!

 

[WSnyder]

Consensus on 156 Berger’s?

From people’s killing experience with the 156 Berger’s, what’s your thoughts on the performance? Also, if you have some lower impact velocity kills/wound pics that would be helpful also. Considering trying them for the season, or at least a few hunts anyways. Starting with TX aoudad in 2 weeks.

rokslide.com

 

[M-61]

Dr. Martin Fackler (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Fackler), founder of the US Army's Wound Ballistics

Very interesting book. Similar book (can’t remember the author) was done after WW1
I was raised by a wonderful gentleman who was a field surgeon in WW1. (Somme & Passchendaele) . After the war he was the surgeon in a very rural area where I grew up. He never spoke much of his experiences but I remember none of those farmers could do anything to themselves he hadn’t seen before or fix. I recall him talking about secondary wounds ( wood, shrapnel, rocks) being the most difficult to deal with.
I have so many questions now that I wished I asked. Stupid kid! What a man.

 

[Todd Morley]

Barbour Creek publishes a lot of gel-block tests on YouTube. Here's their test of the 156 EOL:

. They love Berger bullets, so they treat this test with kid gloves a bit. But the video reports that the bullet penetrated the gel block 13" "before function." The video also shows you a cutaway comparison of the 156 with 140 and 135-grain Bergers, showing that it has a smaller front cavity, and suggesting that this may cause the deeper penetration. The video was made four years ago. Perhaps Berger has changed the bullet's design, and that accounts for the great terminal-ballistics accounts we're hearing more recently. I hope so. The exterior ballistics are incredible.