I've been shooting the accubond of my 257 wby. No problems out of it. Thought about trying to Barnes this year, butnget concerned because I hear they're not always as consistent shooters. I threw in the bergera because a friend shoots them and says they're insanely accurate.
What's y'all opinion on the four choices?

I've got rifles shooting all but the partitions. Any one of them will shoot.5moa all day long if I do my part. Right now the Barnes is the most accurate gun I own (7mag). It shoots in the .2s

Never tried anything above but the berger. They have shot in every gun I have ever owned. Which ever one you choose it will all require load work up. As far as killing goes they will all do the job. It really depends on what you are wanting to do with the round being shot.

The VLD is very picky with seating depth. From my experience they like to be Up in the lands. Look into the the elite hunter or classic hunter bullets with the hybrid ogive. That hybrid ogive isn't sensitive to seating depth. Much easier to find a good load...

All of the above will be with a factory load

You have a decent chance of the Barnes TTSX factory load shooting well in your gun because of the fact that they are made so short in order to accommodate all chambers on the market (and not get themselves sued for creating too high of pressures). The Barnes bullets love a big jump to the lands for whatever reason. Barnes themselves will tell you that you are wasting your time loading their bullets anywhere under 0.050" from the lands.

Barnes TTSX.

I've used TTSX, Accubond and Partitions with such satisfaction that I wouldn't even consider a Berger VLD.

never shot the VLD's. Ive been reading up on them for a while. from what I've read they are picky about depth and barrel twist as others have stated. But if your set up likes them I've been told they are lights out. Me personally the Accubond is my #1 go to for a hunting bullet. #2 Barnes if is something fast, #3 Partition

I can the the 110gr accubond going 3400 fps and the Barnes 100gr ttsx going just shy of 3600 fps.

If you are asking about terminal performance the two best bullet choices for the .257 are the 100 Grain Hornady InterLock Spire Point or the 110 Grain Nosler Accubond.


I've got some of the Bergers. I can give you some if you want to try them. I shoot/shot them in .25-06 because they shot so well in my gun. Terminal performance on the all copper bullets doesn't seem consistent to me in smaller calibers. They seem to drop in their tracks when hit. But when they don't fall over dead I've never got a real good blood trail. So I'm not a huge fan though I do shoot them some.

Goat myself and a friend have shot deer out to 500 yards with the 115 berger in the 25-06 and they have performed flawlessly. That's with the hunting VLD anyway.

I've had a few runners an I'm not sure maybe the internal lung damage was so massive there was no pressure built up to push any blood out the hole it left behind...

I'm with you... kind of hard to quantify at what point you had a negative experience when the end result was a dead deer.

Can't beat a .35 caliber for a blood trail that looks like a slasher movie. Maybe I'm just spoiled. I like to see it spray out the other side like a buck of paint.

The doe I shot this year with the 25-06 at about 330 yards did have the poured paint experience but im guessing its all about where you hit them. From what I have seen there is usually more damage when its tucked in the crease of the shoulder/ shoulder. Makes for a more rapid expansion

I will admit that connecting with bone I have blasted through the font leg/shoulder.. They have made it all the way to the ground.

One reason I'm shooting the Bergers is I'm getting just under 3200 with Retumbo 24" barrel so that isn't much off my .257 which is 26"

I tried the Barnes and although they were super accurate i kept getting pin holes in deer and spotty blood trails. Opening the deer up would reveal good damage but the exit hole was super small. Ive always used nosler partitions with great results and great blood trails.

That was out of a 7mag.

I haven't chronoed mine im gonna guess im around3-3100. I have like 16lbs of IMR 4831 so that's what I have been using for my 25. Got to save all the retumbo for the 338.

Don't yet know on terminal performance on deer, but the Berger VLD 140's shoot less than 1/2 MOA out of my 6.5-284 Norma.

As soon as the season opens I'll let you know about the terminal performance.

Lonster

All the Barnes I've shot have been "consistent shooters". Most consistently shot around 1", some significantly better. Terminal performance is goal #1 in a hunting bullet, getting them to shoot bugholes is goal #2.

I thought the VLD's were comparable to or softer than a ballistic tip? Suppose to grenade after 2-3" of penetration? That's fine if you expect the shot to be over 300yd, but inside 100yd and at 257bee speeds that seems sketchy.

Lonster, what's the MV with the 140's?