35 Berger ?s

[YoteSmoker]

I have heard this bullet is very fur friendly on coyote. How is it on fox and bobcat?

H322 works very well in my CZ w/32 V-max. Are any of you guys using this powder with the bergers? if so, are you able to get by with the same exact load for both bullets?

Thanks for whatever info/experience you can provide.

[ddubas]

I have 32 and 40 vmax 32 nosler and 35 and 40 grain bergers loaded up with H322 for testing. hopefully the weather breaks and i can shoot them this week. I will report back once i get to the range.

[Thumper]

The 35gr bergers will give you just enough expansion to get the job done without exploding on impact like other plastic tipped bullets will. I have shot P-dogs with the 35's and had them just punching holes thru them and thats all. A couple coyotes shot with them at 100-250yrds made a 20 cal hole in, and about a 25 cent size hole out on both, also a coon shot at 30yrds had the same 20 cal in and quarter size hole out. Thats as good as you could ask for, those holes can be sewn up easy. I'd say anything with less damage say in .17 cal would not be as reliable retreiving your animals. I'd diffinatly stay away from head shots or neck shots cuz any time you hit solid bone your going to make a mess with any caliber or bullet style. And another thing I will add is you need to use the right bullet for the game at task. Polymer tipped for varmints, and bergers for fur bearing game, than your .204R will shine! I've tried using the same bullet for everything and it doesnt work as well.

In my personal experiance in the past hunting fox and hopfully a cat here and there with mostly shooting coyotes, I used a .223, that was my choice of caliber at the time. But wanting flat shooting I had to speed up the round, than it left huge holes in fox. Slowing it down left smaller holes but had a rainbow for shooting arch and didnt stop the coyotes as well. That smaller 35 berger .204 bullet running 3800-3900fps is the best bang for your fur hunting, flat shooting, plenty of power on target, and not leaving huge gapping holes in fur. That round was invented for the fur hunter, and it does its job very well! If there was something better out there, I'd own it by now. And I use to think the .233 was the best varmint/predator round, but that .204R out does it in everyway I can think of!

I'm not as well seasoned a fur hunter as some of these guys here, but I'm sure they will tell you the same thing.

[ddubas]

Weather didn't help but i did shoot the 35gr and 40gr bergers and 40gr vmax. all shot less than 3/4 of an inch and would be pushing 1/2 inch if i had better shooting conditions. All shot about same point of impact at 100 yards. I used max charge from the Hodgdon website using H322. Didn't set up chrono but again I am very plased with the results. My only problem is all three shot so well I don't know which one to load.

[YoteSmoker]

Thinks for the info guys! I picked up 4 boxes of 35 grain bergers today and 2 lbs of H4895.

Do any of you have a pet load using this bullet with H4895 or H322 in a CZ 527 Varmint? I have both powders and going to work up some test loads here real soon and see what happens.

I agree with you thumper, the 32 v-max are a sight to behold on impact of prairie dogs. The bergers will be used on coyotes and what not.

[Gube]

My personal favorite and most accurate with the 35 berger is 26.8 gr of benchmark.

[B-78]

27.8grs of H4895 and 35gr Bergers seems to work well in all three of my 204s. Not one is a CZ although.

[Unclebob4]

In the last 3 weeks I've bagged 4 Fox and 2 coyotes. One of the foxes was a gray. So far the 35 gr Bergers have been very fur friendly and couldn't ask for a more accurate bullet for my gun.

[YoteSmoker]

Cool deal! Headed to the range now to test the berger bullets. Will report back with the range report this evening.

[YoteSmoker]

The good news: Shot 1/2 inch group with the bergers using 27.8 H4895 set to 2.250"
The bad news: Attempted to try this load set to 2.265" and no fire. The bolt decocks when I close the bolt. I got a feeling I have a broken sear. Bummer!

[YoteSmoker]

Well, I figured out that the screw in the back of the trigger group was set out too far causing the sear not to be engaged. Fixed that and headed back out to the range. With the 35 grain bergers seated out with a COL of 2.265 this time and a charge of 27.8 H4895, I shot a 3 shot group that measured .370" on the outside and .146" center to center at 100 yards. It looks like two holes touching each other. Not too shabby!! Thanks again for all of your input!