berger vs. nosler ballistic tips

trigger7mm · #1 07-12-2011, 02:00 PM

Has anyone tried nosler ballistic tip bullets and berger bullets? Which one seems to be the best? Thank you.

Juicy · #2 07-12-2011, 02:03 PM

Shot a couple animals with the berger bullets and wow did it make a mess. Shot a bull elk in the shoulder and it just destroyed all the meat in the sholder and fragmented all over the place. Not the best for shoulder shots but for just behind the front shoulder it does some amazing work of the insides.

NBFK · #3 07-12-2011, 02:07 PM

I have shot ballistics in a 300win, 7mm-08, 30-06, 284 winchester, and 7mm mag. I have shot quite a few deer,two elk and have seen moose shot with them. I like them because they always fully penetrate or penetrate to the off side of the hide and put animals down. They expand rapidly and you want to make sure your hitting ribs and not shoulder or hind quarters because they will turn into meat shredders. I have been interested in the bergers but have not talk to many people who have used them first hand. Theres alot of people who dislike ballistic tips for the reason you can usually put your fist through the bullet hole on the faster catriges. I have switched to accubonds in my 284 win and love them, but I stick with the ballistic tips in my 7mm-08 because of the slower velocity.

HunterDave · #4 07-12-2011, 03:03 PM

I haven't used bergers but I hunted with handloaded 165gr nosler bt's last year for deer for the first time. I found them to be absolutely amazing and I actually started a thread asking if my bullets were "exploding'.....lol! All of my shots were broadside into the boiler room at about 100yds and 200yds. There was no exit wound and the vitals were mush. I didn't recover a bullet although I didn't look too hard in the mess that they made....lol! I heard an audible "smack" upon impact of the bullet and my deer either dropped on the spot of went a few yards and dropped.

As a meat hunter I wouldn't want to be doing any shoulder shooting but they are great for the boiler room shots that I try to make. I have no reason to try a different bullet now.

HunterDave · #5 07-12-2011, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by natural.born.fawn.killer

I have shot quite a few deer,two elk and have seen moose shot with them. I like them because they always fully penetrate or penetrate to the off side of the hide and put animals down.

After seeing what my 165gr BT's out of my 30.06 will do to a deer I was wondering what a 180gr BT out of a 300WM would do to a moose. Is what you stated pretty much what I can expect?

7mm-08 · #6 07-12-2011, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HunterDave

After seeing what my 165gr BT's out of my 30.06 will do to a deer I was wondering what a 180gr BT out of a 300WM would do to a moose. Is what you stated pretty much what I can expect?

Here's what the 300win mag 180gr ballistic tip looked like recovered from my brothers moose shot at 50 yards. We found the bullet under the hide on the far side, it held together very well and did some massive internal damage.

HunterDave · #7 07-12-2011, 03:22 PM

Thanks 7mm. To me it looks like the moose was hit in the shoulder and the bullet must have hit some bone in the process. If so, it REALLY held together well. I reloaded a bunch of 180gr bullets for my 300 win mag specifically for moose and I'm feeling allot more confident about using them now.

NBFK · #8 07-12-2011, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Thanks 7mm. To me it looks like the moose was hit in the shoulder and the bullet must have hit some bone in the process. If so, it REALLY held together well. I reloaded a bunch of 180gr bullets for my 300 win mag specifically for moose and I'm feeling allot more confident about using them now.

We pulled 180 gr out of my dads bull elk that looked similar. I blasted a black bear at 25yrds broad side with my 300 mag with 180 gr ballistic silver tip. I recovered the bullet and did not split the core. Often they do spilt the core and that ballistic tip will do a nice job but if you shoot the shoulders or back end you will regret it right away. Not that you wont recover the animal you will just be trimming alot of meat.

Dick284 · #9 07-12-2011, 03:34 PM

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "which one is best."

In different applications I've developed good shooting loads with either bullet, or sometimes only one, or the other.

Depending on what caliber, and weight of bullet the different bullets will and do perform quite differently on game.

So?

HunterDave · #10 07-12-2011, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by natural.born.fawn.killer

Often they do spilt the core and that ballistic will do a nice job but if you shoot the shoulders or back end you will regret it right away. Not that you wont recover the animal you will just be trimming alot of meat.

Yeah, I figured that.....lol! I regret doing something like that no matter what bullet I use. I'm not into picking out bone fragments and tagging 60 lbs of meat is always better than tagging 40 lbs of meat.

Talking about rapid expansion.........last year one BT left the green plastic tip right on the edge of the entry hole at the ribs on a deer.

JohnB · #11 07-12-2011, 04:34 PM

I've been using bergers for awhile now out of my 270AI and my 300WM all with great results. I took a elk last year with the 270AI 140gr at 60 yards; he fell on the spot. Two years ago I took a WT @ 450yards with the 300WM 175gr bergers; he only went 20 yards. Everything else I killed with the bergers have tipped over with one shot. They do some damage if you don't put your bullet in the right spot. I have used BT in the past but I like how the bergers group out of my rifles and the results they do on game.

rembo · #12 07-13-2011, 09:43 PM

I shot 150gr Ballistic Tips out of my 7 Mag last year, something I thought I would never do,...but a friend loaded them in a Sendero that I had sold him and then I bought the gun back later with a bunch of loads of 63grs of H4350 and the 150 Ballistic Tip. They shot very well out of the 7 Mag Sendero with some 300 meter groups right around an inch, and a few under an inch. Turns out that load was also very accurate in my 24" sporter weight 7 Mag and they run right at 3100fps. Average of 5 100 meter 3 shot groups is .688, average of 5 200 meter three shot groups was 1.566 and the average of 7 300 meter three shot groups is 2.185 with a small group of 1.08" and the largest of 2.56".
I shot a 140ish whitetail at 160 yards and it penetrated 3 feet of deer and took out a 3" section of spine just ahead of the tail upon exiting.....I was impressed with the penetration. Never thought a Ballistic Tip was that tough.

Justin.C · #13 07-13-2011, 10:41 PM

Both great bullets. Berger bullet IMO are way better and more accurate.I shoot them in every gun I own. All guns shoot 1/2 moa with bergers.Heck they probably shoot better than that just if I only could.

justinO · #14 07-14-2011, 12:43 AM

Berger Hunting VLD's 190gr 300win mag =

mack · #15 07-16-2011, 01:00 AM

I havent tried the Bergers yet. I am a meat hunter and shoot Accubonds. I love them.

gitrdun · #16 07-16-2011, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7mm-08

Here's what the 300win mag 180gr ballistic tip looked like recovered from my brothers moose shot at 50 yards. We found the bullet under the hide on the far side, it held together very well and did some massive internal damage.

[

Why did "Deliverance" pop up in my mind?

7mm-08 · #17 07-16-2011, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gitrdun

Why did "Deliverance" pop up in my mind?

Ah I see we still have some simple minded people in this world.

elkhunter11 · #18 07-16-2011, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Berger bullet IMO are way better and more accurate.

That hasn't been the case in some rifles that I have loaded for. I have found that in my rifles, Bergers need to be loaded into the lands for best accuracy, and due to their length, they often won't fit the magazine if loaded into the lands. When loaded to fit the magazine, Ballistic Tips have been more accurate in some of my rifles.