Berger 210 grain VLD

[.300winmag]

My brother shot a cow at 157 yards using a 210 grain Berger VLD fired from a .300 Win. Mag. at 2,940 ft/s The bullet impacted the cow about 1/3 of the way down from her back right on the shoulder. The bullet entered below the spine but the spine was still severed and the lungs were compete soup, it broke two ribs going in. The bullet did not exit and we did not find the bullet. The cow was dead before it hit the ground. Impact velocity was approximately 2,753 ft/s with 3,536 ft-lbs of energy. I am very happy with this performance. Every animal we have shot with the Berger's has dropped right in it's tracks. I do find the bullet exits elk at 500+ yards more than up close, but on deer and antelope exits have always occurred.

 

[SJB358]

That looks like dead meat right there 300 Win! Awesome shooting buddy!

Any bullet fragments?

 

[DrMike]

Massive damage; about what I have witnessed with Bergers. Thanks for posting.

 

[.300winmag]

My buddy said he found some parts of the jacket on the off side lung along with a few pieces of the core but nothing worth keeping. You could see bruising on the off side muscles on the rib cage as well. I wish I would have taken a few pictures of the lungs, spine, fragments etc, but hind sight is 20/20 I suppose.

 

[SJB358]

Good deal, thank you for the report. 210 grains in a 30 cal is a serious bullet in any case. That is great reading though. I love elk success stories!

 

[JD338]

That is one dead elk.

JD338

 

[.300winmag]

Good deal, thank you for the report. 210 grains in a 30 cal is a serious bullet in any case. That is great reading though. I love elk success stories!

I love elk success stories too, they make my mouth water. 210 grains is a serious bullet, I can't wait to give the 210 ALR a try in my next barrel. I'll either be using it or the 215 Berger Hybrid out of it. But, my current barrel is still shooting sub-moa at 1,000 with the 210's with about 1,000 rounds on it so I'll keep using it with those until it starts to go. I don't want to do any load work up for this barrel and have it go out during or shortly after the process. Plus, the 210 Berger has performed well for me in all aspects, so for now I'm taking the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' approach.

 

[DrMike]

Yes, 210 grains is a serious mass of lead to slam into an animal. I seem to have worked up quite a few loads for both the 300WSM and the 300WM recently, using either the 190 or the 210 grain Bergers. They do make sense for a cup-and-core bullet.

 

[.300winmag]

Dr. Mike,

What powder's have you found to be successful in the .300 WM and the 210 Berger? I'd like to 'compare notes' so to speak.

 

[DrMike]

Dr. Mike,

What powder's have you found to be successful in the .300 WM and the 210 Berger? I'd like to 'compare notes' so to speak.

Three powders in particular have performed very well. The first rifle I worked up was a Cooper rifle. The one I just picked up today is a Browning, and I haven't pulled the trigger on it. It will be wrung out later this week (I hope). However, my notes who three powders stand out, giving me very good performance: N570, Retumbo and RL25. I leaned more toward N570, but we finally went with Retumbo. It performed admirably at our 710 yard range.

 

[.300winmag]

Thank you for the info. I've not tried any of those powders, I had great luck with H1000, H4831SC and RL-22. I have been eye balling Retumbo pretty hard though lately. I bought a pound of it to try with my next barrel, the numbers look great for it.