.284 195 Berger

[trophy8]

Oh I could not agree more about the Accubond. They are without question my favorite hunting bullet on the planet. I have been shooting 140gr Accubonds from copper creek in my 280ai for several years. Copper Creek has been out of them for a long time and they have no idea when they will have them again. My FIL has a few boxes of factory loaded 162 Eldx so was considering giving them a try until Brandon is outta the white house and copper creek can get components again… lol

They’ve been impossible to find for my PRC for awhile. I rounded up 250 of em and I shoot it lightly so I don’t run out. Try the eldx. Don’t take my word for it. Might have better luck at higher speeds

[willieself]

Not a Bullet failure. You gotta hit something fairly solid to open them up. This is why Berger got a bad name years ago. Folks shooting light thin skinned critters with em and they’d pencil through. Middle of shoulder or high shoulder and they are violent.

Which is why I haven't given up on them. Its all about shot placement as usual. Have an Axis doe hunt coming up next weekend and the 28 is the designated hitter. That will be the biggest bodied animal I have tried to take with my own rifle and load so interested to see how it goes.

[cb4128]

From what I've seen personally and heard from others shooting the 195's at 28 Nosler speeds - they work awesome IF you hit something solid. Either a big bodied animal - ie, Elk, Nilgai, big Mule Deer, big hog, etc. I could see them zipping through a whitetail easily - that bullet in a 28 nosler is really cooking.

I think you'd have more luck if you were running them at a lower velocity on whitetail to give them a chance to expand more reliably - sub 3,000 fps.

*There's a ton of very experienced folks who prefer the 180gr berger hybrids or vld's over the 195's though.

I've had great luck in other rifles with the Elite Hunters and Hybrids - 105's, 140's, 156's, 175's and 215's. With these bullets, I'm always aiming for the opposite shoulder, mid-way up the body. If you hit there, that animal is lights out - furthest I've had anything go is 80 yards. This includes 600 lb red stag, 350lb aoudad, 200lb whitetail and even some very big boar hogs.

If you shoot animals further back through the lungs, there's not a ton of resistance there unless you hit a rib going in - especially on a smaller whitetail...

Sorry for the rant, but hope this helps.

[bdubb]

Ran them in a 7 SAUM and a wildcat based off the 300 Norma mag. No issues with either. The 7 SAUM took whitetail and had exits wounds the size of a softball.

[Texans42]

I’ve never seen an issue with any Berger’s and penetration, much less at 28 Nosler speeds with dang near 200 grains. If anything I’d be worried about penciling right through without expanding, but I doubt that’s the case.

The EOL’s have a very deep nose capacity. In other words it's more explosive then the hunter or target. Made for low impact velocity at range.


I killed one of my mule deer this year with 195/28 nos combo. impact velocity was approx 2850. It was a passthrough with 2” exit. There was chunks of lung behind it and in the exit hole. He was bedded when I shot.