The topic of HOW Berger bullets kill is interesting, and something that seems to get different answers from different people. Note that I am not questioning if they kill effectively here - I know that they do in many situations. The three main theorys I have been told are:
1) The bullet expands via the hollow point;
2) The jacket point collapses into the cavity in the lead under the jacket, thereby initiating expansion; or
3) They dont expand, they tumble in the animal, and any expansion is the by-product of tumbling.
From what I have seen, the tumbling theory doesnt line up with what I have seen. But the different causes of expanding the bullets is harder to confirm.
I know guys that are adamant that its the hollow point that initiates expansion. These are guys with a lot of experience using Bergers on sambar deer in Australia. These guys had erratic performance with Bergers in the early days, where they would sometimes experience lost animals or animals going long distances before expiring. But they started to use a fine drill bit to clear out the hollow point, and from that time they have seen consistent effective kills.
So if what they saw was causation, then that would be proof its is in fact the hollow point that initiates expansion in the animal. But maybe Berger just changed something in the manufacturing process around the same time, and those hunters are just seeing correlation.
And it gets further confused by the people that claim they made a perfect shot on an animal with a Berger, but the animal ran off and was never recovered. Those cases are often accompanied by claims that this is proof that the bullet "pencilled through". But in the absence of a recovered animal, its proof of nothing.
So thats a long way of saying that I am interested to hear what people believe is the actual cause of Berger bullets killing game. And just to add, I still use a drill bit to clean the hollow point - if for no other reason that it seems like a worthwhile insurance policy.
