Hunting & Fishing Berger 6.5mm 135 gr

[RFutch]

Just shot my first deer with the 135 classic hunters and was pretty disappointed in the performance. Rifle was a 6.5x47 with muzzle velocity right at 2665.

Shot a doe at 75 yards broadside right behind her shoulder. She ran about 50 yards before she crashed. Exit hole in her rib cage was barely as big as a golf ball and the exit hole on the hide could only fit my pinky into. Very little blood trail.

I guess I was expecting a lot bigger exit with better blood trail. I usually shoot behind the shoulder to save as much meat.

So was this a one off small wound channel or has anyone else had similar results? I guess it did it’s job, the deer is dead. But like I said I was expecting a lot bigger exit.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

What did the vitals look like? That’s what matters, not the exit wound it leaves.

 

[RFutch]

Lungs were pretty wrecked, didn’t pay attention to much else. I was too shocked by the small exit. I agree the bullet did it’s job even with the tiny exit. I guess I need more than a sample size of one before I judge it.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Lungs were pretty wrecked, didn’t pay attention to much else. I was too shocked by the small exit. I agree the bullet did it’s job even with the tiny exit. I guess I need more than a sample size of one before I judge it.

Bullets can not exit and destroy vitals and they can exit with very delayed expansion or fragmentation and do less damage to the vitals but leave massive exits. I’d just try to make a great shot on the next one and inspect the vitals good. Berger classic hunters are a very proven hunting bullet though so personally I’d just keep shooting them.

I personally shoot Barnes now because of how small the exit wounds are and how little meat they damage. It wrecks the vitals though if you hit them and a good heart hit usually results in the exit wound basically being an open faucet despite usually being dime sized or a little bigger.

 

[Lawnboi]

Sounds like it did what bergers do.

Fwiw on smaller deer, ie something like a doe, I prefer a tipped bullet that expands a little more rapidly. Berger hunting bullets seem like they do exactly what Berger describes, they go in a few inches, expand and sometimes you get a hole on the offside. Catch bone on the way in and sometimes you get some impressive holes it seems

A lot of the tipped bullets I use seem to expand almost immediately, including eld and tmk. I prefer these on deer

A 50 yard run is not all that uncommon for a heart/lung shot.

 

[Krazy_jim]

I personally shoot Barnes now because of how small the exit wounds are and how little meat they damage. It wrecks the vitals though if you hit them and a good heart hit usually results in the exit wound basically being an open faucet despite usually being dime sized or a little bigger.

I shoot 140gr TTSX out of my 7RM for this reason. Small exit wounds, but they do plenty of damage internally.

Friend of mine shoots the typical 150gr expanding type, can’t remember the exact bullet, out of his 7wsm. The amount of exit damage was pretty extensive, and ruins a fair bit of meat. The exits were fist sized at a minimum.

 

[RFutch]

So for my own interest in learning, how does a bullet design do lots of internal damage but NOT leave a lot of exit damage?

 

[Krazy_jim]

I’m going with Hydrostatic shock. Last whitetail buck I shot had a small exit wound, but the lungs were mush and the heart had a small hole in it.

 

[Lawnboi]

So for my own interest in learning, how does a bullet design do lots of internal damage but NOT leave a lot of exit damage?

Ever see ballistics gelatin shot? Velocity causes a temporary cavity and as the bullet sheds velocity it seems to have a smaller wound channel.

 

[nockhunter]

The front half of the bullet probably came apart and the shank/base went through.

Mike

 

[tthomp302]

Aim in the shoulder/ high shoulder. That shot placement is perfect for bergers.

 

[kswaterfowl]

Aim in the shoulder/ high shoulder. That shot placement is perfect for bergers.

I found the same to be true. I've shot a few deer with a 69gr berger out of my 243. I would aim high on the shoulder, and they wouldn't go very far. A couple of them fell where they stood.

 

[RFutch]

Maybe I do need to change my shot placement to high shoulder. I've always relied on behind the shoulder/big exit/lots of blood to trail.

 

[shootertom]

Try Sierra 130 game changers, I tried a variety of bergers on whitetail and they never expanded like I would hope for. The sierra's drop the deer 90% of the time.

 

[mettee]

The bonded bullets almost always do better, those and the copper solids from Barnes or the newerish Hornady cx.

 

[Dead Eye Dick]

Put my Bergers in the boiler boom. Most of the time they don’t go very far, but sometimes they don’t go all they way through. As far as expanding, I really have worries that they won’t hold together. I put this bullet through an 8 point last year. Though the heart and really, really messed up the works. Very little discerable as lungs, mostly bloody mess. The bullet lodged jsut under the skin on the far side. Deer ran about 20 yards or so, maybe a bit further. No blood trail. Pictured this elsewhere but thought y’all like to see it on this thread. Deer is on the left with the unique strip down his neck. Bullet started otu as a 115 Berger Hunting VLD, .257. You can see the weight it finished at yourself.