140 VLD Hunting on deer.

jmad_81

Handloader
Feb 14, 2007
2,937
2
I'm going to come right out of the gate and say that I have never been a big Berger guy for hunting ( I had also never tried them). BUT, I have a heavy and a light 6.5 SAUM that shoot them very well, and I wanted to try them on deer this year as my 142 ABLR load isn't developed fully yet.

There was a very particular management buck on the farm that I wanted to get out of the gene pool this year. I passed on some nice bucks to get that guy down. I ended up being able to take my 5 year old daughter with me out one morning and found him. He was 575 yards away, and I had a solid rest off of the bipod. I thought there was a very slight wind from left to right so I put it right on the front edge of his shoulder wanting to hit center shoulder. At the shot his butt hit the dirt, and it almost looked like whiplash as the rest of him followed. I ended up hitting right where I was aiming, clipping the front of the shoulder. I was pretty impressed. When I opened him up there was not much meat loss at all. Some, but not what I was expecting.

My second buck with this bullet was out of a light weight 6.5 SAUM in Idaho. This was a much bigger buck quartering away from me, 11 degrees down, and 453 yards away. It was the same big buck that I missed last year, 400 yards away from where I missed him last year. There was s slight breeze blowing up the draw towards me. I put it on the front shoulder wanting to drift back into the back of the rib cage. I recovered from the recoil in time to see belly fur and legs rolling down the hill. The shot hit right behind the last rib, and drove right into the vitals. I found a small piece of bullet lodged in the offside shoulder. The bullet didn't hit a single bone other than the small piece I found in the offside shoulder. I have never witnessed a non spine shot drop a critter like that.

I can say that I'm pretty impressed with this bullet on deer. I don't think I could bring myself to try to shoulder shoot an elk with one though. Especially after my brother had a 168gr VLD fail on a cow elk shoulder @ 280 yards out of his .284 Winchester this august. That hunt ended in a mile long tracking job and three more rounds into her. It was a mess. If he would have stuck with his 160 AB load it would have been a perfect heart shot (he is back to it now). The VLD failed to penetrate the shoulder.
 
That's about where I am with the VLD's too...

Although I have friends who have taken elk with them, I really like the Berger VLD for deer sized game.

All my experience on game with them is with the little 115 gr .257" bullet at about a 3190 fps mv.

Good experiences on three mule deer at 175, 230 and 400 yards. Lightning fast drops and excellent accuracy.

Guy
 
I can't say that I'm overly excited about Bergers, but I know fellows whom I respect that use them exclusively. One friend has dropped grizzly and mountain goats right smartly with VLDs from a 7mm-08. I'm old-fashioned and feel a tad uneasy about tackling a grizz or an elk or a moose with the VLD. Still, the evidence suggests that the design works quite well.
 
Great report Jake. That 6.5 SAUM sounds like your really digging it!
 
Tried the VLD on deer with a 243 and ranges out to 450 good bullet placement but not great performance, many penciled on thru and had 2 long tracking jobs. Love the 95 bal tip for deer out of the 243 does an excellent job.

Different calibers no doubt different results due to FPS. I also know a guy that tried them in a 260 on antelope, again a longer than expected tracking job, he switched as well.
 
130 VLD kills out of a 260. Antelope dropped like a sack of rocks. Muley buck hunched up, walked 10 yards and I put another one into his shoulder. He then dropped right there.

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Those were out of a 260 Rem at about 2,800 fps muzzle velocity. Antelope at 235 and mule deer at 300 yds.

Here's last years buck at about 75-80 yards with a 130 VLD out of a 6.5 SAUM.

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Man- those are some nice animals. If Bergers attract stuff like that I might have to try 'em (y) :) CL
 
Your killing some very nice game with those VLDs!
Good job well done. You have a fine eye for trophy animals,
The .260 @ 2800fps sounds like one deadly outfit on game
Up to 400lbs to me.
 
I had an unusual experence with my 6.5x55 shooting the 140VLDs @2850 fps at 300yds.
I had taken about a 150lb doe deer, (guts in it) out to my coyote bait pile.
So decided to try it with the VLDs just to see what they do to a 3/4 frozen deer.
To my surprise to went right thru leaving a tiny exit hole!!!!!
Not what I was expecting it to do at all?????
 
I've had good luck with them on deer in my 264 win mag at a modest 2914fps. I've taken several deer at different angles and all dropped close to where they were hit with good terminal performance. I'm among those who wouldn't use them on bigger game, they don't always exit on whitetail even in a long sleek 6.5mm 140gr. They aren't designed to, I can't fault them for that. I do check every bullet I'll use on game before it goes in the gun to make sure the nose cavity is open. I've heard about them getting pinched shut and having them pencil through.

I like an AccuBond or E tip better as an all around bullet, but for a long range deer or antelope bullet they are hard to beat. When I started using them instead of Accubonds through my 264 my long range groups improved substantially.
 
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