25 cal 134 Eld-M vs 133 Berger EH

[hereinaz]

I guess I’m gonna have to do a deep dive into whether I should choose the 133EH or the 135HT Berger. Appreciate the info.

No deep dive is necessary. Berger hunting bullets are on the “tough” end of this spectrum.

Berger target bullets have a thicker jacket than the hunting bullets. Some of the target have been proven effective and some have not. No sense worrying at all.

The difference between them ballistically is inconsequential for hunting ranges. There is no benefit for external flight ballistics or terminal wound channel ballistics.

Your question and concern eliminates the 135. And, I can’t remember, if they are pointed, but pointed bullets will act like a FMJ.

 

[SaltyAquaholic]

1

No deep dive is necessary. Berger hunting bullets are on the “tough” end of this spectrum.

Berger target bullets have a thicker jacket than the hunting bullets. Some of the target have been proven effective and some have not. No sense worrying at all.

The difference between them ballistically is inconsequential for hunting ranges. There is no benefit for external flight ballistics or terminal wound channel ballistics.

Your question and concern eliminates the 135. And, I can’t remember, if they are pointed, but pointed bullets will act like a FMJ.

135s have the hollow point as well. Unsure if its more or less aggressive of a hollow point then the 133s but seems redundant to look into now since I won’t be using the 135s. Your knowledge is really welcome. Growing up in Florida and hunting with my dad with a 30-30 bullet choice was pretty straightforward. But since I’ve come back from living overseas and living out west bullet choice matters a lot more. Threads like this make the learning curve a little less steep.

 

[Bater]

The 135 is pointed and the open tip is MUCH less pronounced than a 133.

 

[SaltyAquaholic]

The 135 is pointed and the open tip is MUCH less pronounced than a 133.

Very glad I came here first then

 

[willfrye027]

I was shooting the 135s for a while until the 134s came out. Personally around a dozen animals with them from elk to pronghorn. My cousin and uncle continue to use them in guns I built for them..roughly another 20 animals there.

They work. The jackets are thicker and so I believe they are not going to work as well towards the low end of velocity. I had a couple wounds in the 2200fps impact range that I felt were questionable..the animals still died. Recently cousin killed a deer at same impact velocity and it was very devastating wound but he also hit some bone.

I mostly hunt deer and don’t like how Berger’s have a long neck length—penetrate 3-6” and then expand/explode. On a broadside deer with a rib shot you can end up with minimal or no damage to the onside lung. On an elk it’s a non issue IMO. But I shoot mostly deer and the 134s shoot great out of my 25 creedmoor so that’s what I use.

At the end of the day I’d have zero issues putting a 134, 135, or 133 through an animal beyond distances I should be shooting.

They all work, I’d probably buy a box of each and see what shoots best from your gun. And keep in mind Sierra is coming out with a new .257 bullet in the same range which would probably be an awesome choice as well.

 

[willfrye027]

No deep dive is necessary. Berger hunting bullets are on the “tough” end of this spectrum.

Berger target bullets have a thicker jacket than the hunting bullets. Some of the target have been proven effective and some have not. No sense worrying at all.

The difference between them ballistically is inconsequential for hunting ranges. There is no benefit for external flight ballistics or terminal wound channel ballistics.

Your question and concern eliminates the 135. And, I can’t remember, if they are pointed, but pointed bullets will act like a FMJ.

The 135s are pointed but they seem to explode just fine, sample size of 30-40 animals between myself and family. If a guy had a pile of them and they shot good..I’d not worry too much about them failing unless it was regularly impacts below 2200fps which is where I saw some narrow wounds (but still dead animals).

I bought around 3000 of them when they first came out and it was the only options for a couple of fast twist 25s that I owned. Cousin and uncle are shooting up the remaining bullets and still stacking up the kills. They fly amazing too! Took the 25 creedmoor out to a mile a few times with them and it was a blast.

 

[ID-Muley]

You will not get 3,000mv in a 20" barrel with a 25 saw. I'm running 54.5gr of H1000 in Lapua brass in my 22" 25-284 (66-68gr capacity). That load and 134 ELDM is getting 2,828 MV.

The SAW case has 54.2gr of total capacity (not usable) and runs about 75fps faster than the 25cm according to this article from WTO.

https://westtexordnance.com/25-saw-the-ultimate-hunter-match-cartridge/

If you want 3,000 from a 20", you're going to need a serious magnum cartridge- 25 WSM, 25-7PRC, 257 WBY, 25 Nosler, etc...

25-6.5 PRC and 25 SAUM only have a slight capacity advantage over the 25-284, and will not get you there either.

I know you posted this a couple months ago but I just saw this thread.
I’m running 134’s with 53.5gr of Rl23 with a 22in 25-284 and lapua brass @2925 with no pressure

My gun smith has a awesome new reamer where he’s seeing 100fps + than me without pressure out of his 25-6.5prc

So it is possible to get good performance with the correct reamer designs/powder. And I don’t count Rl26 since I won’t run the stuff…

 

[jonnyviceroy]

From what I’ve gathered in the discussion on BC in the new TMK threads is that a bullet being optimized for BC and terminal performance is an inverse relationship. The LRHT is optimized for BC with a longer bearing surface and a slightly smaller meplat. So the LRHT would need more velocity than the EH. I’ve used the 6.5 144 LRHT with great success but always above 2100 fps impact. Both your mentioned choices will work but I think the EH would be the better bet. It’s what I’m stocking up on for my 25 prc build personally.