Berger 6mm 95gr classic hunter on deer?

[Unclecroc]

I’m looking for terminal reports on this bullet or ones similar to it (87 vld or 95 vld). I am curious how these lighter 6mm bergers do on deer. I’m running it in a 1-10” twist 6mm Remington.

 

[sndmn11]

I bought a bunch to shoot at elk from a 10 twist .243. I've got full confidence in them, but couldn't find any on game feedback.

 

[Unclecroc]

I bought a bunch to shoot at elk from a 10 twist .243. I've got full confidence in them, but couldn't find any on game feedback.

Me either. I figured I’d find more on game info on them but so far I’ve found little. There’s some reports of them on antelope that sound positive. But no pictures. I read pictures best lol

 

[JRem257]

Have seen deer and antelope killed with them from a 240 wby and they’ve been fantastic

 

[id_jon]

I've killed two bucks with them from a 6cm. Each deer made it about 5 yards. 535 and 423 yards.

 

[Formidilosus]

I’m looking for terminal reports on this bullet or ones similar to it (87 vld or 95 vld). I am curious how these lighter 6mm bergers do on deer. I’m running it in a 1-10” twist 6mm Remington.

Have used and seen used the 95gr VLD quite a bit. It’s typical Berger- penetrate 2-4” then fragment heavily. I have no issue with using them again and basically any game animal.

 

[doverpack12]

I shot a whitetail buck with the 95 Berger Classic Hunter. It shoots extremely well in my Browning AB3 243 with 10 twist so that’s what I run. Buck was about 200 yards angling up and right slightly away from me on a does trail that had just walked through an opening when I bumped them a little. I hit him slightly low but squarely in the heart and I’ve seen few animals hit the ground so fast. He tumbled 100 yards or so down the hill and never wiggled once he wedged on a log.

I have very few one shot kills that drop instantly. I’ve also shot 2 antelope with the same bullet and 150 and 330. No issues and good killing performance. Both were moving after being pushed toward me.
My dad borrowed the rifle the next year and shot 2 antelope as well. I wasn’t there but they both died with one shot.

I stocked up on the bullet and have no plans to change until that barrel is worn out.

You can look up Petey308 on LRH. He has sectioned several classic hunters and has much more detail on the bullet construction. They are a hybrid so will perform much different than VLD due to jacket thickness and shape.

 

[Unclecroc]

Good stuff guys. This gives me some good confidence in this bullet. I’ll report my findings on the 6mm success thread.
I assume the 2-4” of penetration before rapid expansion is just the hollow point filling with material?

 

[doverpack12]

Good stuff guys. This gives me some good confidence in this bullet. I’ll report my findings on the 6mm success thread.
I assume the 2-4” of penetration before rapid expansion is just the hollow point filling with material?

Hollow point crushes which destabilizes the bullet so then it tumbles and rapidly and violently self destructs. That puts all the energy into the animal with large wound cavities.

 

[CJ_BG]

Late to the party with a grand sample size of 1 ~ 90lb whitetail but here you goes a lot because I enjoy talking about this stuff.

3040fps at the muzzle from a 243, shot distance was sub 50yds on a driven hunt. Figure out impact velocity on that if you need but we'll say it was objectively "high". Had a less than perfect shot opportunity when it stopped in about a 6 inch gap in the honeysuckle. Shot impacted right in the backstraps just forward of the end of the ribs, see picture. Somewhere in that 1.5" range for neck length and then complete destruction. It seems that roughly half of the bullet went into the spine and stopped somewhere in there, and the second half either blew or deflected downwards and completely shredded the nearside lung vertically.

I don't have a picture of the actual lung but if you were looking down at it, and then about halfway back made a cut longways through the middle of the right lung, that's what it looked like when we pulled it out. Right half almost fine, left half a bloody gelatinous mess. That continued to the left lung where it shredded all of that in a 3-4" path of destruction and then the "bottom of the cereal bag" pieces of jacket and core laid to rest with nothing exiting but they did make a nice little hole in the offside of the ribs (first picture). The only notable piece of bullet that was recovered was about half an inch long and a quarter inch wide (from memory don't quote me) bit of mangled jacket.

I would use them again with no qualms, but again sample size of 1 (one) 90lb whitetail.

My only note for the second picture (entrance side) is that this wasn't taken in line with the path of the bullet, you'd need to see it from the left and a little further down (camera pov) to follow the path of the bullet. I say this because from here it looks like the hole is wider left and right (camera pov) than it actually was. The vertical tear (camera pov) would be mostly unchanged

 

[Unclecroc]

Late to the party with a grand sample size of 1 ~ 90lb whitetail but here you goes a lot because I enjoy talking about this stuff.

3040fps at the muzzle from a 243, shot distance was sub 50yds on a driven hunt. Figure out impact velocity on that if you need but we'll say it was objectively "high". Had a less than perfect shot opportunity when it stopped in about a 6 inch gap in the honeysuckle. Shot impacted right in the backstraps just forward of the end of the ribs, see picture. Somewhere in that 1.5" range for neck length and then complete destruction. It seems that roughly half of the bullet went into the spine and stopped somewhere in there, and the second half either blew or deflected downwards and completely shredded the nearside lung vertically.

I don't have a picture of the actual lung but if you were looking down at it, and then about halfway back made a cut longways through the middle of the right lung, that's what it looked like when we pulled it out. Right half almost fine, left half a bloody gelatinous mess. That continued to the left lung where it shredded all of that in a 3-4" path of destruction and then the "bottom of the cereal bag" pieces of jacket and core laid to rest with nothing exiting but they did make a nice little hole in the offside of the ribs (first picture). The only notable piece of bullet that was recovered was about half an inch long and a quarter inch wide (from memory don't quote me) bit of mangled jacket.

I would use them again with no qualms, but again sample size of 1 (one) 90lb whitetail.

My only note for the second picture (entrance side) is that this wasn't taken in line with the path of the bullet, you'd need to see it from the left and a little further down (camera pov) to follow the path of the bullet. I say this because from here it looks like the hole is wider left and right (camera pov) than it actually was. The vertical tear (camera pov) would be mostly unchanged
View attachment 891354View attachment 891352

That’s actual what I’d expect from that type of shot with this type of bullet. Thank you for posting.
I was able to shoot a groundhog with them at 140 yards and I hit it basically facing away between the shoulders and the bullet exited its face. It was not pretty

 

[CJ_BG]

That’s actual what I’d expect from that type of shot with this type of bullet. Thank you for posting.
I was able to shoot a groundhog with them at 140 yards and I hit it basically facing away between the shoulders and the bullet exited its face. It was not pretty

Looks a lot like the ones I saw shot with their old 69gr flat base varmint. That was a 28" 243 ackley and MV was 4012 average.

One thing that I did end up doing, and I don't know how much it changed terminal performance, was I took a flash hole deburring tool and just barely opened/ evened out the hollow point. I don't think this actually did anything but I cannot say for certain.

 

[Unclecroc]

So an update on the 95 classic hunters out of my 6mm Remington. They definitely hold to the penetrate 2” and fragment. If I hit one standing facing me I get maybe a 1.5” exit hole, this is after right at 2” of penetration on average on a standing woodchuck.
Now when I get more than that 2” all hell breaks loose. This bullet/cartridge combo definitely leaves lots of pink mist floating in the grass. I can’t wait to try them on deer.