Another Berger question: VLD Hunting vs Elite Hunters

[SDHNTR]

Berger’s marketing stinks. They don’t provide enough real info for someone new to their bullets to determine what is best for their application. And there are way too many options with similar names. I even emailed their CS and asked what the difference in jacket thickness and/or expansion qualities is between the Elite Hunters and the VLD Hunter bullets. What I got back was some lame standardized response that the difference between the VLD Hunters and the VLD Target bullets was the Hunters had a thinner jacket and would expand more reliably for hunting, and provided a link to their website page that only vaguely explains the bullet differences without any technical info. Which I had already read several times.

Ok so that’s nice, but I already knew the VLD differences, and that’s not what I asked. So I politely replied and asked again and got no response.

So…. Maybe someone here knows. What’s the jacket/expansion difference between the Elite Hunter and the VLD Hunters? Thanks y’all.

 

[SDHNTR]

update: Berger did respond basically saying (I think) the expansion characteristics are similar and they use the same thinner J4 jacket, but the ogive shape is different. A hybrid of Tangent/Secant on the EH and Secant on the VLD Hunting.

 

[BBob]

I think you'll have to scour the web for anecdotal results from people that have used the individual bullets. In 6.5 the 130 VLD's work about the same as the 140 HYB. Both kill stuff fairly similarly. I have not had issues with either to get to fly. I've migrated to the HYB designs over the VLD's mostly for BC but will admit it's only a number and I shouldn't dwell on it as much as I do. I jump both styles of bullets a fair amount so can't comment on short throat loading. I believe the HYB designs were made to be more tolerant of seating depth. This I think was prior to people figuring out you could jump the VLD's a lot and get rid of the finicky nature of that bullet and the false requirement of having to seat them up into the lands.

So I think your question would be answered maybe by stating Berger didn't really make either of those to perform differently on game but created a new design (EH/HYB) to get them to shoot easier with an improved BC. Marketing

 

[Gila]

update: Berger did respond basically saying (I think) the expansion characteristics are similar and they use the same thinner J4 jacket, but the ogive shape is different. A hybrid of Tangent/Secant on the EH and Secant on the VLD Hunting.

Both are “frag” bullets not bonded bullets that mushroom. Both are designed to penetrate a few inches then fragment. They give pretty good descriptions of both on their website. I have some federal factory ammo in 185 gr. Berger hybrid hunters which have a tangent-secant OGIVE. They are not the elite hunters. But have not shot any game with them yet.

 

[rootacres]

The ogives are the main difference. It plays a roll in the length of the bullet and the BC. The jackets are supposed to be the same. I would suspect, if the impact velocities are the same between the CH, VLD and EH, and the bullet weight is the same. The performance will be nearly identical. All Bergers are designed to penetrate a couple inches and break up. Ive used VLDs and CHs on elk. No discernible difference on performance, there was a difference on how I loaded the 2.

 

[Jmgates09]

Both are “frag” bullets not bonded bullets that mushroom. Both are designed to penetrate a few inches then fragment. They give pretty good descriptions of both on their website. I have some federal factory ammo in 185 gr. Berger hybrid hunters which have a tangent-secant OGIVE. They are not the elite hunters. But have not shot any game with them yet.

The 185 hybrid hunter load from federal has become my go to deer load out my 300wsm it shoots a little better than the vld load I was using from HSM but I can't tell no difference between the 2 on game performance