(30-06) Berger 190gr VLD Hunting Expansion Test

In this video we test Berger's 190gr VLD Hunting bullet from 100 to 500 yards through our Tikka T3X in 30-06.

[@whiskeymike8010]

Just found your channel 🎉 Happy Friday!

[@English_Speaking_Fox]

Excellent video with some really good objective analysis. Here in New Zealand this bullet is very popular with the long-range deer shooting guys of which I do a fair bit myself. In our difficult field conditions (steep hill country, wind), we need a very high ballistic coefficient, and soft fragmenting bullets that will not over penetrate and exit the animal with minimal wounding. Adequate expansion and fragmentation at impact velocities at or lower than 2000 ft./s is essential. It is precisely for this reason that we do not use monolithics like Barnes. I’ve used the Berger a lot in 28 Nosler, which will flatten large red deer at the upper limit of your range suggestion in the use case. The problem we have with some of the comments about this bullet’s performance is that not many of these guys ever get to use this kind of bullet in that kind of situation. For us, the norm is to use this kind of fragmenting bullet design for longer range shooting - this is how we are taught and this is what we practice. Berger VLD Hunting, Hornady ELM-M, Sierra TMK are the three most popular options for long-range deer and their field performance needs to be observed before judgement is passed!

[@north61]

Love the Foster book from New Zealand ("Long Range Hunting Cartridges")... he actually dislikes the new Berger's as they don't expand as much as previous designs down at low speeds (below 1600fps) and suggests using the Hornady ELD-M for really long distance work. I'd love to see Frontline test the ELD-M next.

[@EdAb]

Wow, what an excellent and concise review! Too many reviewers/shooters show their ignorance when they say, "the fragmented bullet failed". Wrong! Rarely in 2023, when bullets fragment, do they fail. Overwhelmingly that fragmentation was designed into the bullet. I really appreciate your acknowledgement of this fact. My only thought/request is that such discussions "should" only reference impact velocity and not impact distance. You thankfully touched on both, but I think for maximum clarity our community should really only talk about minimum impact velocities, as every rifle will hit those minimums at different ranges. Thank you so much for your excellent work!

[@kimbellbush1857]

Always enjoy you guy’s testing. Especially the light weight copper solid .308’s.

[@chadwallace3598]

Thx for info. I’ve been wondering about this bullet for awhile.

[@hopefulballistics]

Great video as always

[@stephanematis]

I was very curious about this exact bullet, thank you for sharing your test effort and results. I do note that bullets hitting water is almost the same as hitting concrete, thinking about diving into water from very great height. But it is a consistent test patter.

[@ReloadingWeatherby]

Well... the bullet performs exactly how Berger says it's suppose to.

[@leonardogarcia2506]

Always cool to see a content creator supporting another channel!

[@ronlowney4700]

🕵️‍♂️ Well, it certainly isn't anything I would want to hunt with, other than possibly antelope! 😳 Their is just ABSOLUTELY NO WAY this bullet penetrates All the way through an elk, especially if it goes into the front shoulder! 🙄 A "Target Bullet" that should "REMAIN" a "Target Bullet Only"! 🤮 Austin, You should have seen my response to the "Yahoo" on the Vortex Podcast about using "Target Bullets" (like this) for hunting! He that said All bullets work "equally well" for hunting - including Full Metal Jacket Bullets, Hollow Points, and Fragmenting Bullets Like These! My comments even got a Response from Mark of Vortex (which doesn't happen often)! I think that I "more than ruffled a few feathers" that day and left a few people "speechless"! 🤐 That podcast just goes to show you how many "idiots" are out their, launching bullets at a thousand yards or more on "Big Game Animals"! They don't even understand the minimum velocities required for their cartridge to "utilize" their bullets "properly", at those extreme distances! Some of their "logic" (🤪) and "claims" (🤥) were absolutely insane! 🤯

[@ronlowney4700]

☹ The "Yahoo" had the user name of Hattiesburg! 🤪

[@texpatriot8462]

Perfect bullet for a quartering shots. 😂

[@blueridgeboy7721]

Just subscribed. Good video and good content. I'm currently using the 180 grain berger eol at around 2750 fps. I can definitely get more velocity out of them but it's lethal on whitetails at 550 yards, I smoked a whitetail at that distance last year didn't go 20.

[@goranmalnar5172]

Good varmint bullet. There is so many beter bullets for hunting,special for big game.👍

[@jamesmooney5348]

Wow! Interesting, Thanks.

[@14goldmedals]

12:18 pause and look at the large jacket fragment, 500 yards, bottom right. To its' left is the empty base of the bullet. The bottom right one is the unopened meplat (nose) hollow point. Then a couple mm past, the jacket is ruptured wide open showing all the skives cut in the nose section. Did the bullet hit sideways and basically fold in half causing the jacket to open up like a soup can splitting? It's the only way I can see the hollow point in tact so perfectly. Great videos and well thought out content without any fluff. Cheers from Alberta, Canada 🇨🇦

[@nymeriagloves3957]

i used the berger 185 classic hunter which has a hybrid ogive instead and handloads pretty standard, was the most effect ive seen on a deer.

[@guardianminifarm8005]

Interesting results. Not my preference. But not bad. Thank you.

[@jamesmooney5348]

I like that 190 - 195 weight in the 06. The 195 eldm would be another one to do this on. But I think for this bullet and the 195 eldm in a 308 down loaded so at 500 yrds the impact is approximately 1500 or even 1400 fps would make a great study.

[@zebacake4683]

i thought about the 205 berger, should hold 1700-1800ftlb at 650 yards at 1800-1900fps. both would be very interesting to see

[@joew5792]

Im loading a maker TREX 130gr in .308, be cool to see what they do, they are a wicked bullet

[@ronjones1414]

Seems like it would help something like the 300 Savage out quite a bit.

[@jamesmooney5348]

I do like water and 20% jell, but live game is the best test medium. But I hear water is tougher on bullets then jell. But all 3 are good. Great video

[@WayStedYou]

It absolutely is, we've shot 100 grain 6mm interlocks into water and they basically explode at the front and only leave the base of the projectile with shards of lead and copper everywhere lost about 60% of its weight. If you do that in gel it just mushrooms from what I've seen other people test. An actual animal is in between both of those.

[@pbisceglie1]

I’ve had 155gr vld on the shelf for a while. Any chance you’re testing them as well?

[@texpatriot8462]

Have you had a chance to text the new Tipped Cor Lokt Remington is pushing.

[@Off-target-xy6bx]

2A💪

[@harryorton6061]

would like to know your seating depth for a 165 berger vld. I have a 3.446 coal to the lands magazine restriction leaves me at 3.349 powder win 6,5 staball. Groups 3inches should I switch bullets or load 1 at a time

[@NCWoodlandRoamer]

That wasn’t bullet expansion testing, it was bullet explosion testing.

[@Mrkelsmiller55]

I wish I could see the .308 Berger 175 OTM and see how they act while being shot out of a .30-06.

[@harryorton6061]

yes this is a 3006 26in barrel

[@jeffreywilson690]

.243 berger 95 grain classic Hunter very good But I like the solid copper too inits place

[@highcountryadventures9606]

Is it just me or does it seem like though the vld expanded and lost much of its original weight, it didn't really seem to bust the jugs more violently than other bullets that expand, and don't shed weight? Obviously this is just observation and not really testable, but it seemed that way to me. Although these did exactly as advertised, can't knock them for that

[@ronlowney4700]

🧐 I had just e-mailed Austin (Reloading Weatherby) about this, but, have you seen the Badlands Buldozer-2 bullets yet? They make that 0.277 140 grain bullet - with a G1 B.C. of 0.650 and a G7 B.C. of 0.333! It says that you need a 1 in 8 twist to stabalize it, but...🤣...that might be a good bullet to test??? 🤔

[@kuigglugmiu9339]

Can you share the load data you used?

[@ChrisRau-cb1dy]

That looks like fun to eat. Definitely want to avoid bone and heavy muscle.

[@jonathanrogers9961]

Well, that's not the performance I an looking for......

[@mikemelina7395]

While I wouldn't want to get hit with that, I also wouldn't use it for hunting large game. Anything but a "meatsaver" shot behind the shoulder, perfectly broadside could be problematic and messy.

[@camonly849]

Water is much harder on bullets than ballistics gel. It'll smoke whatever you shoot.

[@dinsixiengmay9781]

🤔 there sure lots of shrapnel, I would rather use a bonded bullet.

[@asdfghjk2933]

Maybe, but this is the most ethical type of bullet out there.

[@jasonrottlaender1721]

@@asdfghjk2933 Would it be ethical to have the bullet blow up on an elk shoulder at 100 yards with a 300 win mag and never get to the vitals? Not trying to be an ass but like they said pick the bullet for the type of hunting your doing for most that would be a bullet like a nosler partition or a good cup and core that holds together at close range.

[@asdfghjk2933]

@@jasonrottlaender1721 A 190gr VLD isn't going to "blow up on an elk shoulder at 100 yards" unless you're running it at like 5000fps impact velocity. Elk scapula is just not that thick. Bullets like VLD, hornady ELD-M/AMAX, Sierra TMK, etc. may not always exit, but they will absolutely penetrate an elk's shoulders and make a mess of the vitals. Significantly more so than a bonded or monolithic bullet. That means faster kills and less suffering for the animal. I'm not trying to be an ass either, but I'm sick of people thinking that a good quality fragmenting bullet isn't going to penetrate an elk's shoulders at close range. It's just not true. Penetration is just not a valid concern for these type of bullets unless you're hunting very large game.

[@English_Speaking_Fox]

@@asdfghjk2933 Well said. A lot of guys simply do not have the experience with these bullets to comment objectively. They regurgitate what they read or watched on KZbin. There are lots of commentators out there who will just about have a coronary at the idea of using a fragmenting bullet like this. The Real Gunsmith channel is a good example. See my comment above for some more info.

[@asdfghjk2933]

@@English_Speaking_Fox I've noticed that many hunters are obsessed with weight retention and pretty little mushrooms, when results are what actually matter. Idk, they see fragmentation as a bad thing when it's one of the best possible wounding mechanisms as far as actually putting the animal down as quickly as possible. Maybe they don't actually care about how much the animal suffers and would rather use inferior bullets just to prevent a bit of meat damage? I don't know man. I would NEVER pick a bonded or mono over my TMKs, because I know they will just make smaller wounds and kill slower. I am interested in trying Bergers though. I've heard those VLDs are nasty.

[@tonypaquet4123]

Berger vld ain't hunting bullets

[@REDNECKROOTS]

Terrible. Those are junk. Terminal accent now thats a game bullet! 💪

[@hellyeah6987]

Not a good hunting bullet!

[@ajdube9967]

How so? Lots of animals being killed with Bergers