Berger VLD hunting 140 gr. 6.5x55.

[Dac9976]

Morning.

 

Anyone tried the above? Got a box here that I bought ages ago and never got round to using.

Would like to give them a go.

 

They'll be used for long range plinking.

 

Cheers

 

Danny.

[Swarovski1]

I tried the 130gr vld hunting bullets, got supreme accuracy but lost several beasts from pass throughs, had foxes do 100 to 150yds before they dropped,use for longrange target mate, I would use the 130s for hunting again if they were free.atb swaro

[Dac9976]

I tried the 130gr vld hunting bullets, got supreme accuracy but lost several beasts from pass throughs, had foxes do 100 to 150yds before they dropped,use for longrange target mate, I would use the 130s for hunting again if they were free.atb swaro

Advice taken mate.

 

Will use them for longrange plinking.

 

Cheers

 

Danny.

[MTLEADFARMER]

For 300yd + deer, antelope, elk they are great. Small game up close they act like a fmj.

[gbal]

Nathan Foster has some experience of 9long range) hunting bullets.Here's his take on the split in experienceswitrh Breger VLD hunting bullets (as seen on this thread-though 300y isn't LR in NZ terms:

 

Prior to 2011mBerger's sleek VLd design maximised velocity retention above 1800 fps for a longer time. As a LR hunting bullet it was "violent and emphatic',with deep penetration and gradual fragmentation (his view).

In 2010.Berger started to get complaints of bullet instability and mid air blow up fro hunters with very high twist and long freebore rifles. Similarly target shooterswith heavily fouled barrels. Berger toughened their bullets,including thicker jackets. The post 2011 orange box Berger bullets are in his experience unpredicable,sometiesfragenting,sometimes pinhole wounding. They are not his firat choice,but with two iportant caveats,and remember the context of long range huntng-the bullet must fragment under light resistance-a relatively poorly placed 'gut shot' and the VLD struggles to fragment in this context. But othe

hunters find adequate wound performance with good shot placement,and don't blame bullets if poorly placed.

Secondly,terrain-open country where tracking is easy can accept some delayed terminal effects,but in much of NZ, an animal that runs is lost eg down ravines.

 

Relate to that as your experience suggests. Though there are relatively few long range non- recoverable locations in UK,no doubt there are variations in shot placement.

This VLD does not seem a 'forgiving' design,and there are other much less contentious choices....

 

just quoting....

 

gbal

 

...."The Practical Guide to Long Range Hunting Cartridges" Foster,N 2013.....

but essentially as per BlueBoy's 'tutorial' by Foster source...very similar,rewritten same material.

[Dac9976]

Was never going to use these on deer as I stalk deer, 150 yards maximum distance. My RWS twin core do that job very nicely indeed.

 

These were intended for long range bunnies, corvids etc.

 

Great feed back chaps:)

 

Cheers

 

Danny.

[BlueBoy69]

Nathan Foster has some experience of 9long range) hunting bullets.Here's his take on the split in experienceswitrh Breger VLD hunting bullets (as seen on this thread-though 300y isn't LR in NZ terms:

 

Prior to 2011mBerger's sleek VLd design maximised velocity retention above 1800 fps for a longer time. As a LR hunting bullet it was "violent and emphatic',with deep penetration and gradual fragmentation (his view).

In 2010.Berger started to get complaints of bullet instability and mid air blow up fro hunters with very high twist and long freebore rifles. Similarly target shooterswith heavily fouled barrels. Berger toughened their bullets,including thicker jackets. The post 2011 orange box Berger bullets are in his experience unpredicable,sometiesfragenting,sometimes pinhole wounding. They are not his firat choice,but with two iportant caveats,and remember the context of long range huntng-the bullet must fragment under light resistance-a relatively poorly placed 'gut shot' and the VLD struggles to fragment in this context. But othe

hunters find adequate wound performance with good shot placement,and don't blame bullets if poorly placed.

Secondly,terrain-open country where tracking is easy can accept some delayed terminal effects,but in much of NZ, an animal that runs is lost eg down ravines.

 

Relate to that as your experience suggests. Though there are relatively few long range non- recoverable locations in UK,no doubt there are variations in shot placement.

This VLD does not seem a 'forgiving' design,and there are other much less contentious choices....

 

just quoting....

 

gbal

Gbal's data comes from here.

 

http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Berger+VLD+annealing+tutorial.html

 

There's plenty of other data of Berger VLD bullets and 6.5 mm bullet performance on the website too. For example...

 

http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Wound+Database/6.5mm+-+Berger+VLD.html

http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/6.5x55.html

 

I often use the website as it's a real goldmine of info on the field performance of a multitude of different cartridges.

[Dac9976]

Thanks Blue boy, have book marked it:)

[Swarovski1]

I think I can remember reading terminal ballistics part where nathan foster anneals the vlds to soften them so they fragmnt or expand better, nathan fosters go to bullet for hunting was the 6.5 cal 140gr amax, I totally agree, they are the badgers nadgers.

[BlueBoy69]

I think I can remember reading terminal ballistics part where nathan foster anneals the vlds to soften them so they fragmnt or expand better, nathan fosters go to bullet for hunting was the 6.5 cal 140gr amax, I totally agree, they are the badgers nadgers.

Yeah, that was the first link.

 

http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Berger+VLD+annealing+tutorial.html

 

Goes into detail about the annealing process and why it was undertaken..

[MTLEADFARMER]

I said 300yd+(plus) Montana is 1.4 times the size of New Zealand, we know what long range is. The Bergers are the LR/ELR hunting bullet of choice in this area.