Ammunition for bear hunt

[ElevenBravo]

Hi guys-

I have an upcoming black bear hunt in May. I asked the guide what the max shot range would be and he said 100 yards, max. I've been doing up some loads for the wife and I. Wife shoots .308 Win, and I have her shooting sub-moa with 180gr Barnes TSX bullets at 100 yards. I figure this is enough gun for her to take a bear.

I shoot 300 WSM, and have have a very nice shooting load using 220gr Hornady RN Interbonds. I'm not entirely sold with using Hornady bullets for hunting (call it being stubborn), and am working on working up a load using 220gr Nosler Partitions. My primary concern that I have is that according to my reloading manuals, those bullets will be travelling around 2600-2700fps and these bullets (I don't own a chrono), especially the Hornady RN want a slower speed to expand correctly. I'm concerned that I'll either get a through-and-through with little expansion, or the bullet will more or less explode like a ballistic tip when it hits bone due to velocity. If I start reducing the powder load, I'm not sure I can find another load that shoots accurately enough.

I shot a hog a couple of years ago with factory ammo that was loaded with Partitions. Shot was at 82 yards and it was a through and through with some expansion, based on the size of the exit wound. The hog likely died within 10 seconds of being shot, but left almost no blood trail. I've hoped this was due to the bullet going through both lungs and not hitting any major blood vessels or other organs.

I do have a nice shooting 165gr Accubond load, but I figure if I can shoot a 220gr bullet, I may as well for bear unless there is a compelling reason to go with a lighter bullet. Does anyone have any experience with these bullets at these velocities on game?

 

[T.R.]

This photo was taken in the Pocono Mts. of eastern Pennsylvania.

The Operations Manager where I work is an avid hunter. He is particularly attracted to Maine and Ontario for bears. He owns many rifles but the one he uses for shooting bears is a Marlin lever gun in 35 Remington. This rifle is loaded with 200 grain Remington core-lokt ammo and I'm told that this load is more effective than a 30-06 he used previously. The shots are less than 100 yards in heavy timber settings.

I've only taken one bear so I'm certainly no expert. My rifle for that hunt was a Savage .308 shooting round nose 180 grain core-lokt ammo. One shot through the chest organs knocked the bear down but it got back up and ran away. We found the bear approx. 40 yards away. Distance for this shot was approx. 75 yards. The animal was weighed after field dressing; it was 309 lbs. I'm satisfied with this .308 performance. In fact, I shot a big moose in Saskatchewan with this rifle in 1984 with same results.

TR

 

[cowpoke]

I my experience, normally wild hogs dont bleed as much as other big game after being shot.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Black bears are pretty soft. Any of the loads you've mentioned will work just fine on the. I see no pressing need to change.

 

[Jim Watson]

Once upon a time, "deerandblackbear" was just about one word when it came to picking a rifle. Ranges were short to moderate. The standards were .30-30, .32 WS, and .35 Rem. The .300 Savage was a Serious rifle.

 

[stiab]

Once upon a time, "deerandblackbear" was just about one word when it came to picking a rifle. Ranges were short to moderate. The standards were .30-30, .32 WS, and .35 Rem.

I agree from a historical perspective, but it may depend on where the OP is going to hunt. Bear are actually getting bigger in some East Coast locations due to hibernating less, and farmers planting more food crops (corn -vs- cotton & tobacco). While I'm sure the .30-30 has killed countless black bear, it may not be the best choice against some of the 750+ pounders killed in NC and PA recently.

 

[Water-Man]

.35 Remington 200gr. softpoint worked well for many years on black bears.

 

[jmr40]

Black bear ain't that big nor hard to kill, even the really big ones.

I'm most concerned about your wife's 308 load. A 180 gr bullet is way too heavy for 308 speeds with copper bullets. There is a good chance it won't expand well if at all. With copper you will get complete penetration with any of them but you need to start them at about 3000 fps to get good expansion. On black bear with a 308 I'd use 130's, absolutely no heavier than 150's in copper. In a conventional bullet 165's or 180's are a good choice, not with copper. The heavier bullets really need magnum speeds to work well.

About anything you stick in the 300 WSM will work. If you want to use the 220's they'll be fine. I'd use the 165 Accubonds in both personally.

 

[Glockula]

700 plus pounds is big in my book. Perspective is everything though. Last year I loaded 140 gn Barnes TSX bullets for eastern NC black bear and did not feel under gunned. Poking a big enough hole for tracking is my main concern or getting the penetration for neck and shoulder shots. We have some thick swamps and blood trailing 500 pound plus bears can be spooky.

 

[Sunray]

Like jmr40 and Jim Watson say, Yogi ain't that tough. Your regular deer load will be fine. No need for heavy bullets. A 150 out of a .308 is plenty. A 165 is better though.
No mention of 220gr Hornady RN Interbonds on Hornady's site. Use the 165.

 

[H&Hhunter]

700 plus pounds is big in my book.

You show me a 700+lb black bear and I'll show you a bear that needs to go on a diet. While I know that there have been a few black bears that heavy killed a bear that size is truly a rarity and I'm guessing an extremely fat bear.

 

[stiab]

I have an upcoming black bear hunt in May

Come on down to NC and try for one of these. Bear of this class have been killed each of the last few years. It was 784#, and a 782# was killed a few weeks before this one. State record is 880# IIRC...

 

[jim in Anchorage]

I hunt Brown bears exclusively. They only live in the wilderness and eat pure natural food.



"] [/URL]

 

[H&Hhunter]

Bear of this class have been killed each of the last few years. It was 784#, and a 782# was killed a few weeks before this one. State record is 880# IIRC...

And obviously those are the exception not the rule. The average black bear is much lighter. BTW look at that bear on the table. Not only is he fat, he's morbidly obese!

 

[stiab]

And obviously those are the exception not the rule.

But getting less so every year, bigger black bears are being killed and the trophies are out there, it's hard to deny that. To quote the guide for the 782#..."Seeing bears twice the size of the average 300 to 400 pounder is no longer rare".

 

[Glockula]

Come on H and H hunter! I'll be happy to show you You would not believe some of the bears we see the hunt club.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Alright then, bears in NC are eating more ribs and tatter salad and drinking more Dr Pepper than ever before!

That bear on the table is one of the fattest bears I've ever seen. I've seen bigger framed bears by a significant amount that weighed 200lbs less. My point being that an average framed fat bear isn't any harder to kill than any other black bear. A 700 hundred lb morbidly obese butterball, ain't the same bear as a 700lb lean Mt Grizzly.

 

[stiab]

Alright then, bears in NC are eating more ribs and tatter salad and drinking more Dr Pepper than ever before!

No, it's mainly corn. But the point remains that heavier black bears are now being killed in the Eastern US than a few years ago, for the reasons I stated above.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

But getting less so every year, bigger black bears are being killed and the trophies are out there, it's hard to deny that. To quote the guide for the 782#..."Seeing bears twice the size of the average 300 to 400 pounder is no longer

This is why bears are scored by skull. That's the real bear size, not it's pot belly.

 

[Glockula]

A 700 hundred lb morbidly obese butterball

Lol. That is funny. Even our deer are short and fat.

Our bear do little or no hibernation and fatten up nicely as a result.

 

[Laphroaig]

Yeah, there are some big bears in PA and NC. But I think that most of the really big ones are being fed or otherwise obtain unnatural feed to achieve the enormous weight that makes all of the papers.

Here's a link to the PA record. It had a name (Bozo) and some guy fed him donuts every day. http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101120/NEWS/11200303

The successful hunter was savvy enough to set up between the bears morning donut snack and where the bear bedded during the day. He did nothing illegal.

I wonder how they got it out of the woods?

The chances of seeing big bears like that in the woods are pretty slim.

Laphroaig

 

[klcmschlesinger]

Very funny!!!

Some great lines in this thread!! I have only shot one bear, with a 30-30, 170grain CoreLokt. Dropped her very quickly. She was just over 200 but was the biggest one on this particular Canadian trip. Nothing like the McDonalds eating monsters being pointed out here.....

 

[stiab]

This is why bears are scored by skull

For Boone and Crockett records, which not every bear hunter goes to the trouble and expense to submit a skull for. The fact remains that the heavier bears are creating new interest, and sportsmen are traveling from all over the US to hunt them. It's hard to argue with success.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Well I don't know if a waddling wheezing bear on the verge of a Arterial thrombosis is a success but they must produce some mighty big rugs.

 

[stiab]

Well I don't know if a waddling wheezing bear...is a success

The success is the bear hunters now coming to NC from other states, seeking both increased numbers of bears and the increased size of bears. I previously mentioned only the larger size in this thread because it was revelent to the OP's question about hunting loads.

But the success also includes increased bear numbers, partially due to refuges and sanctuaries which now number about 800,000 acres. With more bear, bigger bear, longer seasons, and more places to hunt, yes that is definitely a "success" for NC and bear hunters in general.