Berger Bullets

2012 Southwest Long Range Nationals

What could be better than enjoying a week in sunny Arizona in the middle of winter? Except maybe enjoying that sun, while shooting rifles and spending time with good friends. In early Feb, over 200 people came from all over North America to Ben Avery Shooting Facility for the third annual Southwest Long Range Nationals, sponsored by Berger Bullets. The week kicked off on Tuesday with the long range wind clinic. Over 85 people showed up for the clinic, which almost doubled the class size from 2011. The morning started with equipment/position tips and techniques for the different disciplines (prone shooting by Nancy [...]

NEW – Berger 6mm BR Column Bullet

There have been Bench Rest bullets in the past which were well-known for achieving consistently small groups over a wide tune range in many rifles and loads. One example of this was the Euber bullet. The seemingly 'magical' performance of these bullets has been attributed to special dies, stars aligning, owl feathers, or some other unknown influence. However, there are actually specific mass balance and aerodynamic properties which allow a bullet to mitigate dispersion and shoot precisely over a wide range of imperfect launch dynamics. Understanding the physics behind dispersion mitigation, Bryan went to work creating a specific design for a bullet that had the [...]

Long Range Hunting in Brady, Texas

Let’s get one thing out of the way right up front. There are several different ways one can go hunting. You can go out into the open spaces all over this great country of ours and seek out animals in a free range hunt. You can spot and stock or set up in a blind and wait. Another option is to go to one of the numerous ranches who raise game for the purpose of being hunted (or shot if you regard the word hunting as meaning more than shooting game). Some would call this game shooting rather than game hunting, and I don’t disagree [...]

Tuning Your Rifle by Switching Bullets – Oldest Secret in Firearms

If you are a discerning rifle shooter, this is information you need to know (if you don’t know it already). It is time to cut through the marketing confusion and talk about the truth when it comes to bullet performance. Every brand of bullets (and components, but for this article I am going to focus on bullets) boasts about being capable of achieving top performance. Nearly every brand can quickly produce a report of a competition that was won or a great hunting shot that was made with their product. So how is it possible for all brands to claim that they produce “TOP” performance [...]

NEW 338 and Heavy 30 cal Tactical Bullets

For several years, we’ve been asked a few questions over and over again on nearly a daily basis. Two of those questions are, “When will Berger make a 338 cal bullet that I can shoot as fast as I want?” and “When will Berger make a heavier 30 cal bullet?" (until now 210 grain was out heaviest option). Even though we have wanted to make these bullets for as long as shooters have been asking for them, we had been unable to make them because our machines did not have the stroke length capacity to make bullets this long. Fortunately, we were successful in custom [...]

Form Factors: A Useful Analysis Tool

Background In 2009, Berger Bullets introduced G7 BC's for boat tail bullets. For those who are unfamiliar with G7 BCs, it's simply a Ballistic Coefficient referenced to the G7 standard projectile instead of the G1 standard projectile. The G7 standard is a better match for modern long range bullets, so the G7 BC will be more constant over a wide range of velocities compared to a G1 BC. Please refer to article: https://bergerbullets.com/a-better-ballistic-coefficient/ for the complete explanation of the benefits of using G7 BC's. Since 2009, many shooters have realized the benefits of G7 BC's thru more accurate trajectory predictions. The objective of this article [...]

Redding’s NEW Bullet Seating Micrometer Plugs for Berger VLD Bullets

I am excited to announce that in Redding’s 2011 Product Catalog, they have listed as one of their latest products a line of Bullet Seating Micrometers, which includes plugs made specifically for the Berger VLDs. These Seating Micrometers can be used in their dies, which are ½-20 thread (which I believe they use in all of their standard bullet seating dies). These items are a component (or part) of the bullet seating die. These are not the dies themselves. It is the top portion of the die that contains the plunger, which pushes the bullet into the case. The shooters will know which [...]

Berger Hybrid Bullets

Have your cake and eat it too In the late 80s, the VLD was born. This design allowed shooters to use lighter bullets and smaller calibers to achieve the same or better trajectory than heavier bullets in bigger calibers. The concern that this addressed was recoil management. Lighter bullets shot in small calibers were easier on shooters resulting in higher scores and an improved shooting experience. But, this improvement came with a price. Each shooter had to adjust their load in each rifle until they could get the VLD bullet to shoot precisely. Once the load was dialed in, the VLD was one of the [...]

History of the Match Grade Berger Hunting VLD

The story of the Berger Hunting VLD is a story of discovery rather than design. The VLD bullet design was created by Ballistician Bill Davis during a project that also involved Dr. Lou Palmisano and Ferris Pindell of PPC fame. Bill’s goal was to produce a bullet design that performed better in the wind than the 30 cal 168 gr SMK. He was asked to do this by the US 300 meter shooting team, who had discovered that they were losing points late in the match due to recoil fatigue. They wanted a lighter bullet (less recoil) that would fly with the same or better [...]

“Premium” or “Match Grade” on the Hunting Bullet Label. What’s the Difference?

When we learned that our VLD bullets were a very effective and quickly lethal hunting bullet, we knew that this fact was going to be met with resistance. For decades, other bullet brands and many of those whose opinions are regarded highly by others have said that Match bullets are not good for hunting. Long ago, we made a commitment to a factual, scientific-based marketing position so we decided to leave the “Match Grade” on the box. Later, when we made thicker jackets to resolve an issue with bullets used on targets, we separated the bullets made on standard thickness jackets into the “Hunting” line [...]