6.5 PRC Berger performance

[TradLife406]

Started handloading for my rifle this year. I've been shooting black box Hornady. Shoots good and it does kill. The deer seem to take death run first though. Had one buck death run then stand dead in his feet for a few minutes with his butt to me before dying.

Decided to try Bergers. Got them shooting pretty good. Scheels has the 140 elites on the regular though I did get the 156's shooting a 15 shot mean radian of .3!

Anywho kid shot her buck Thursday right in the 10 ring at 325 with a 140. That buck went straight down! Just knocked him on his butt! Went in right behind the onside shoulder and broke the offside.

I've shot probably a dozen animals with this gun and that was the fastest I've had one go down other than a head shot doe.

Is this normal for Bergers? I ended up buying another box the next day!

On the flip side somehow she gut shot her doe at 200. Not even sure what happened because the doe was broadside standing still.
She hit in front of the onside back quarter and it came out the offside in front of the shoulder. No blood. Almost gave up but found her 100 yards away in the brush. Just one of those wtf hunting moments. Not blaming the bullet for her bad shot.

 

[TheViking]

My experience has been same as the buck dropping. DRT - massive trauma. I’ve also heard the horror stories of them not opening up and penciling through. Some guys stopped shooting them because of that. The biggest design flaw is the tiny opening in the tip, it can get clogged and not open. Again, never happened to me, but if you read enough forums, you’ll find guys this has happened to. If they tipped these bullets, they would be freakin awesome.

I personally went away from Berger’s this year in my 6.5 PRC - I hate the meat damage. I have Federal Fusion Tipped 140s screaming out of my gun at 3035fps. It’s a bonded bullet, but they also expand 2x diameter, so hoping for less meat damage, but still a lot of thud. We’ll see…

 

[sierracharlie338]

Yeah the 140 elites are freaking hammers. I shoot them out of my 260 and shot a buck with them last year. He went ten yards but the shot was only about 60 and some of the projectile exited. Massive internal damage.

To be clear were you shooting hollow point black box or the red tip black box? Those two do not perform the same.

 

[30338]

We've used the 140 vld extensively. Your buck was typical of our experiences over many animals the last 12-15 years. Son used a 156 a couple years back and hit a large whitetail buck a bit far back while he was on the move. Shot made him very very ill and he laid down within 40 yards. Quick finisher and that was that. I kind of appreciate that awesome internal damage in that situation.

The 135 grain hunting hybrid has been amazingly accurate in 3 different 6.5 rifles we have shot it in. Haven't used it on game yet.

One other thing, with initial velocities of 2600 fps to 2900 fps, I tend to shoot shoulders and rarely have significant meat loss. They do tend to anchor animals very quickly in those situations.

 

[MOwhitetail]

That’s pretty typical for most match type bullets in my experience-VLDs, Hybrids, ELD-Ms, TMKs.

 

[sveltri]

I shot a buck last year with a 156 at 400 yds, top half of heart was gone and a 2" tunnel out the other side. That buck still managed to run 50 yards dead on his feet.

 

[eyeguy]

6.5 prc with 156 eol and n565 has been accurate in my gun. It has accounted for 2 antelope and 1 nice mule deer. If anything it is to explosive. Have gotten exits but man what a mess.If going for elk I would pause but sure it has worked great for some esp if long range through the lungs... Ranges have been 200, 250 and 475.

 

[JO.]

I’ve only shot the 156 in mine. So far this year that’s been my wife’s Mtn goat at 330 yds one shot went about 20 yds and tipped over. Black bear at 60 yds made a bad shot as it was on the move and slowed it down enough to get a follow up behind the shoulder that dropped it. This weekend shot a big mule deer and dropped at the shot from about 150yds. The 156’s seem to wreck them pretty quick. Not that it can’t happen but I haven’t had any failures with Bergers.

 

[Timjohnson11]

I've shot the 140 Elite Hunters almost exclusively out of my 6.5x284. I've got over a dozen kills with that bullet from a frontal shot on a bull elk at 7 yards to mule deer out to around 800 yards. Pretty much everything was dead right there. I can't speak to visual performance within the cavity as I typically do gutless and get out of there as quick as possible but everything has died fast, even if my shot placement wasn't perfect.

I recently picked up a 6.5 PRC and was excited to see the Berger Factory Ammo in the 140 Elite Hunter w/ Lapua Brass. Unfortuantely though, speeds have been super slow for me. Hoping I have an outlier lot as i'm hopeful to run these and not have to reload them.

 

[260shooter]

I've shot the 140 Elite Hunters almost exclusively out of my 6.5x284. I've got over a dozen kills with that bullet from a frontal shot on a bull elk at 7 yards to mule deer out to around 800 yards. Pretty much everything was dead right there. I can't speak to visual performance within the cavity as I typically do gutless and get out of there as quick as possible but everything has died fast, even if my shot placement wasn't perfect.

I recently picked up a 6.5 PRC and was excited to see the Berger Factory Ammo in the 140 Elite Hunter w/ Lapua Brass. Unfortuantely though, speeds have been super slow for me. Hoping I have an outlier lot as i'm hopeful to run these and not have to reload them.

I shot a long range class this weekend and a guy was shooting Berger factory 140 EH's and his velocity was slow as well, 2820 fps.

 

[Timjohnson11]

I shot a long range class this weekend and a guy was shooting Berger factory 140 EH's and his velocity was slow as well, 2820 fps.

Yeah appears Berger has been bitten by the same bug as Hornday lately with slower speeds... My speed was the equivalent to roughly 90" fps per inch of velocity loss from the stated velocity for a 26" barrell on the ammo box. Ridiculous..

 

[Kimber7man]

I've shot the 140 Elite Hunters almost exclusively out of my 6.5x284. I've got over a dozen kills with that bullet from a frontal shot on a bull elk at 7 yards to mule deer out to around 800 yards. Pretty much everything was dead right there. I can't speak to visual performance within the cavity as I typically do gutless and get out of there as quick as possible but everything has died fast, even if my shot placement wasn't perfect.

I recently picked up a 6.5 PRC and was excited to see the Berger Factory Ammo in the 140 Elite Hunter w/ Lapua Brass. Unfortuantely though, speeds have been super slow for me. Hoping I have an outlier lot as i'm hopeful to run these and not have to reload them.

The Berger 156 ammo has been a lot slower in mine than my hand loads with the VV load data. Don’t know what they’re using but they come nowhere near what they list on the box….

 

[30338]

I don't like stuff not as fast as advertised, but a 140 at 2820 fps is going to wreck stuff to very long range. But again, it should be up there around advertised velocity.

 

[Timjohnson11]

The Berger 156 ammo has been a lot slower in mine than my hand loads with the VV load data. Don’t know what they’re using but they come nowhere near what they list on the box….

Appreciate your observation. Curious how much more velocity you are seeing in your hand loads relative their factory offering?

This seems to be a newer issue for Hornady as I ran their 108 Extreme Hunter factory ammo for the 6CM earlier this year and was hitting numbers similar to what they were listing on the box. I was hitting over 2900" in a 24" barrel from day one even before barrel break in. I was stoked with that result but my more recent result with their 6.5PRC loads is extremely dissapointing.

I don't like stuff not as fast as advertised, but a 140 at 2820 fps is going to wreck stuff to very long range. But again, it should be up there around advertised velocity.

I'm getting 2700" out of my 21"element action/barrel. Again, this is over 90 fps of loss per inch of barrel from their stated figure. That is border line fraudulant marketing by Berger

 

[Timjohnson11]

Curious if anyone has any positive experiences with Choice Ammunition, Pendleton, or Henderson's? Not a reloader but also want to run the 140 Extreme Hunter and appears they offer some ammo there that is inline with Berger's pricing. Worth trying theirs?

 

[sveltri]

I haven’t shot the factory156 but I get 2940 with 57.7 N565 with my load.

 

[30338]

Thats moving for a 156. Should hammer stuff.

 

[CJ_BG]

Animals are weird and what they do after a lung shot is pretty much up to how they feel in that moment. I would say that on average a berger will drop game where other bullets won't, but I think part of that is just the width of the wounding and the higher chance it has of disrupting the spine.

Two of the fastest kills I've seen on lung shot deer were with 85gr 6mm tsx doing about 2900fps. One doe was uphill, and when hit toppled over and slid upside down in the snow with her feet up like an upside down table. The other was a 50yd running shot as she jumped a creek. Bullet impacted mid jump and when she hit the bank she completely collapsed and was dead before we got up to her (took maybe 10 seconds, we thought she was spined and ran up to finish her). I have no explanation for why those two died so fast from those wounds.

Keep us in the loop but I would not be surprised in the least if you would lung shoot one that goes 100+yds. If dropping game on the spot is top priority I would not be doing lung shots.

 

[Kimber7man]

Appreciate your observation. Curious how much more velocity you are seeing in your hand loads relative their factory offering?

Factory was 2,675
Handloads with N565 were from 2,770 (57.0) to 2,850 (58.5).

 

[coues32]

Seekins Element 21" avg 2720 with factory Hornady 147 m, I will start handholding after the first of the year with Bergers.