Had a damage control cow tag that needed to be filled, so I headed home (Eastern Oregon) and went out with my Dad to see if we could get it done. First day we didn't see any elk other than a winter kill 6x6 bull. Talked to the rancher on the way out and he had seen a couple of elk on the other side of the ranch from where we had hunted that day. So we headed out there at first light the next morning. Sure enough we spotted one from the ranch road. I hopped out of the truck and scurried up a small bank. The elk that I had seen was trotting off but didn't seem too spooked. I moved left and right looking for more elk and found one standing broadside between 2 trees. It was uphill probably 20 degrees or so and about 240 yards. I had ranged the first elk from the truck at 267 so I had dialed my scope to 250 on the way up the bank. I sat down and pulled up on the elk between the 2 trees.....was about to touch it off when another cow walked behind her, so I waited for her to clear and BOOM...... Dad couldn't see the elk I was shooting at from where he was and with the recoil I couldn't recover fast enough to see if I had hit or missed. All I saw were elk running everywhere. I trudged up the hill and found where she was standing and soon found blood with some lung tissue in it. Then after about 10 yards there was a blood trail a blind man could follow.....and about 50 yards later there she was.
Hanging weight dressed and skinned at the butchers was 266.
This was the first animal I've taken with the Berger VLD bullet. Hit right where I wanted to. About 4 inches behind the shoulder just below the mid-line of the chest. As far as bullet performance I have mixed reviews.....First, the entrance hole was as advertised. It hit a rib on the way in and pretty much was just a bullet diameter sized hole through the rib with no bloodshot on the entrance side. The near side lung had a about a quarter sized hole in it and the far side lung was for the most part the consistency of jello! It did a number on the off lung.... However it also did a lot more than that. According to Berger it should expend most of it's energy in the vitals and likely not exit. On the off side ribs it again hit a rib and there was about 2 1/2 inches of that rib that were just gone....and she apparently had her offside front leg back when I shot her because it also hit the back part of that front shoulder and exited through the far side leaving about a thumb sized hole in the skin. The bloodshot on the exit side was tremendous. We had to cut out a large portion of meat on that side which I wasn't too impressed with.
So, it would seem that the bullet performed as it was supposed to other than the penetration was greater than expected. Had the bullet expanded and done the type of damage that it did in the off side earlier in the vitals it would have probably been a bang flop. Now this was the 185 grain Berger out of my 300 H&H Mag at a MV of 2850.......so I'm thinking that the 168 grain shouldn't penetrate as far and may be a better choice in the future? I really like the accuracy I'm getting out of these and I like the concept of delayed expansion until it reaches the vitals, but I'm hoping to solve the huge amount of damage and subsequent blood shot meat on the exit side.
All in all it was a fun hunt. And although I've killed 17 elk this one was my first with one of my own handloads so it was still a special one to me.
Sorry for the bloody picture.....didn't think to get a picture of it until I had finished with the gutting chores.....
Regards,
Tim
Hanging weight dressed and skinned at the butchers was 266.
This was the first animal I've taken with the Berger VLD bullet. Hit right where I wanted to. About 4 inches behind the shoulder just below the mid-line of the chest. As far as bullet performance I have mixed reviews.....First, the entrance hole was as advertised. It hit a rib on the way in and pretty much was just a bullet diameter sized hole through the rib with no bloodshot on the entrance side. The near side lung had a about a quarter sized hole in it and the far side lung was for the most part the consistency of jello! It did a number on the off lung.... However it also did a lot more than that. According to Berger it should expend most of it's energy in the vitals and likely not exit. On the off side ribs it again hit a rib and there was about 2 1/2 inches of that rib that were just gone....and she apparently had her offside front leg back when I shot her because it also hit the back part of that front shoulder and exited through the far side leaving about a thumb sized hole in the skin. The bloodshot on the exit side was tremendous. We had to cut out a large portion of meat on that side which I wasn't too impressed with.
So, it would seem that the bullet performed as it was supposed to other than the penetration was greater than expected. Had the bullet expanded and done the type of damage that it did in the off side earlier in the vitals it would have probably been a bang flop. Now this was the 185 grain Berger out of my 300 H&H Mag at a MV of 2850.......so I'm thinking that the 168 grain shouldn't penetrate as far and may be a better choice in the future? I really like the accuracy I'm getting out of these and I like the concept of delayed expansion until it reaches the vitals, but I'm hoping to solve the huge amount of damage and subsequent blood shot meat on the exit side.
All in all it was a fun hunt. And although I've killed 17 elk this one was my first with one of my own handloads so it was still a special one to me.
Sorry for the bloody picture.....didn't think to get a picture of it until I had finished with the gutting chores.....
Regards,
Tim
