Black bear bullets

[TroutsMan]

I read the other post in this fourm on grizz and moose loads and got alot of good info. Thank you Murphy for that.
For black bear I have been tossing up using a 180 gr. fail safe 30-06 and was wondering your thoughts on it. If not the bullet then what would you suggest?
Also we have a pump 30-06 winchester we would be using for a back up at close range (20 to 30 yards). what bullet would you suggest here? the big 220 gr.?
Thanks for your help.

Russ

 

[Paul H]

Where do you plan to place your shot, and how far out? The thing with bullet choice is you have to factor where you plan to place the shot with which bullet to choose. The failsafes are great tough bullets, and hence a good choice for driving them through bone. On the other hand tough bullets give up some tissue disruption for deep penetration. I'd even consider dropping to 165 gr in a failsafe or X bullet, they are so tough that more velocity aids their expansion, and the fact they retain most of their weight allows them to drive deep even when going lighter than conventional bullets.

The 220 gr rn bullets will be a great closerange bullet. An -06 doesn't drive it fast enough to have to worry about the bullet coming unglued, and those heavy rn bullets open right up.

 

[GaryVA]

Bullets

Bullets

I don't mind using 180grain Core-Lokts on black bears and if it's a fairly short range affair, I'd probably use the flat based round nosed SP-CLs. But if given a preference, I like the heavier bullets from the Whelen over the '06 when it comes to big bruins.

 

[Flintlock]

Failsafes

Failsafes

Last year I shot a black bear with a 180 grain Failsafe with my 30-06. I fired at 158 yards and it entered his right shoulder area and exited out his left, upper shoulder, neck area. He crumpled like a piece of foil and expired almost instantly. There was a lot of meat damage and trauma that this load produced.

Although I was pleased with the results, I don't think it would hurt to go down to the 165 or even a 150 grain bullet. I think they would do just fine as well.

Good luck!!

 

[dwhunter]

Re: Fail-Safe

Re: Fail-Safe

I would agree with dropping back a bit with the failsafe bullets. They are a fantastic bullet and will definitely do the job.

Doug

 

[Gusimo87]

black bear with in 100 yards, 30-30 170s, and 357 180 grain hornadys. black bears in the internal organs are just a tad different from a human. but if you don't want to chance them running off do what these guys say

 

[BRWNBR]

all bullets are black bear bullets...they don't die hard.

 

[Vince]

all bullets are black bear bullets...they don't die hard.

:ditto::ditto::ditto::ditto:

yeah they really are not as big and thick as people make them out to be... once you skin one... you'll be OH... coulda used a .22

 

[walk-in]

all bullets are black bear bullets...they don't die hard.

x2

I think I killed my last one with 150 gr. Silvertips. Assuming proper shot placement, pretty much any bullet will do the job. If you screw up the shot placement they will all fail.

 

[Dan in Alaska]

Bears are not hard to kill, but they can cover a lot of ground after a good lung shot. I don't like chasing them, so I try to place my first shot so that it goes through both shoulders and takes out their front axle.

I use TSX's almost exclusively for big game hunting, and I like the way they've treated me. I would imagine the Failsafes doing a good job in this role, as well.

 

[JC in AK]

How can I get a few boxes of Winchester Supreme 230gr Fail-Safes in 338WM! I don't reload and understand Winchester discontinued these but I am seeing that Troutsman has some in 06. Those are my (and my rifles) favorite round. My buddie used it on a grizzly at 325 yards and it took out both shoulders and stopped just under the skin. I use Winchester ammo exclusively in my rifle (it loves those nickle cases and black bullets). Tried the 200gr ballistic silvertip on black bear this year and at 125 yards it preformed flawlessly. I believe Winchester makes its new XP3 bullet in your caliber. I would go with that if it is available. I can just hope they start making the XP3 in 338WM. The accubond ct is also another option.

 

[kodiakrain]

These sound pretty large to me,
I tossed a 130gr Speer Boattail Soft Point(.270wsm) at a fairly large Coastal Blk Bear last spring and with both lungs vaporized, he ran a few yds and down.

Thinking, I'll maybe try the 110gr VMAX next year .............(Ok, maybe just kidding on that,..... maybe not?)

They go down prett-easy I'd say, no need to take Brown Bear loads after em

Tho I would say if you whomp him in the Butt with even a 250gr Supreme "Failsafe", that's could fail-ya and then he could come on over and kill you.........
might be good to have your Single-Six loaded with .22mag on your hip just in case :topjob:

(Thinking about it a bit,......Really, who(?) came up with naming a bullet Failsafe, anyway???)

 

[Ryan J]

The black bear I shot this season was a smaller guy, I hit him with a 180gr Accu-Bond from my .30-06 just behind the front leg on a broadside shot. The round passed through the chest violently turning the heart and lungs into jello. A lighter round may have saved me some meat and that second hole in the hide, but he was on the edge of a lake and really wanted to get in it after I hit him. I'm glad that I had the heavier round in this instance because it nailed him right where he stood and other than a little rolling and clawing at the ground he didn't make it into the water.

 

[AlaskaTrueAdventure]

Any black bear, even the biggest black bear, is still a black bear and will die dead when shot with any projectile through the lungs. Black bears, shot in the "boiler room"-especially double lung shots- all die easy with any of the projectiles mentioned.
Dont over-think the easy ones....

 

[JC in AK]

These sound pretty large to me,
I tossed a 130gr Speer Boattail Soft Point(.270wsm) at a fairly large Coastal Blk Bear last spring and with both lungs vaporized, he ran a few yds and down.

Thinking, I'll maybe try the 110gr VMAX next year .............(Ok, maybe just kidding on that,..... maybe not?)

They go down prett-easy I'd say, no need to take Brown Bear loads after em

Tho I would say if you whomp him in the Butt with even a 250gr Supreme "Failsafe", that's could fail-ya and then he could come on over and kill you.........
might be good to have your Single-Six loaded with .22mag on your hip just in case :topjob:

(Thinking about it a bit,......Really, who(?) came up with naming a bullet Failsafe, anyway???)

Probably some high priced marketing team cause the field guys would likely have called it F*#@ing Sweet! Seriously though Kodiak any idea where I could get some of these rounds in .338WM?

 

[beartooth]

I have used the 165gr Sierra HPBT which has a double drawn jacket and taken black bear. The last one I hit with a 165gr Sierra HPBT at 90 yards out of a 30-06 Ackley Improved, took the heart and lungs out the other side of the black bear (when we cleaned him the heart and lungs were not in the chest cavity) leaving a tennis ball exit wound. My favorite in taking black bear (only one so far) is with the 225gr Sierra SBT G/K out of my 358Win. Both the 165gr HPBT and the 225gr SBT dropped the black bears where I shot them. I had one run using a 180gr Core-Lokt out of my 30-06, and he ran about 80yds. Black bears are not hard to kill.

 

[trperk]

My first rifle, other than M-16, was a remington 700 30-06. I ran through several bullet makes/models until I found the most accurate. A lot of game fell to this over the next decade but I began noticing that my trailing of mortally wounded game sometimes was longer than other guys with the same double lung shot placement. I resolved this by placing shots through the shoulder(s) of animals that I needed to drop fast because of species or hunting location(sitting on the side of a mountain) I was using soft tip boat tail bullets in wieght appropiate for game.

15 years ago or so a guy I was sharing a bear camp with downed a bear and I helped him retrieve it. The exit wound was the size of a softball with chunks of ribs hanging out of it. The lungs and heart were virtually vaporized. He was using a Nosler Ballistic Tip.

I have been using ballistic tips on black bear, caribou and deer every since. My recovery distance has dropped by 75%. The critics of this load say it wastes meat and it can. But it's got the job done each time.

 

[nitroshrew]

Any well bonded bullet over 150 gr. is ok with me. I shy away from cheapo Rem Core-Locks, had a bullet failure in the form of total jacket sepration from it's core on a 2 year old blackie I took at 75 yards. Most of my hunting is in brush, shots under 100 yards, I prefer heavy round nose, Jack O'connor school of thought.

 

[tjen]

From a 30-06 you can not find a better black bear bullet than the 180gr CoreLokt ROUND NOSE from powder burn to 250 yards. Its got the best terminal performance going you can spend alot for simular performance but not better. I have seen where the 220gr was to tuff for a 350lb bear and the 180gr was just right for any size black bear. The pointed soft point CL is a different beast and is better for +150 yards shooting from a 30-06. If not the CLRN than I would look no further than the 180gr partition. There is and is suppost to be a differance between the pointed and round nose core lokts, in short I have never seen or hear of a CLRN from any cartridge fail if keep to with in is best distance or range for what cartridge it was loaded in.

 

[Crew Dawg]

Black bear huh?? I can give an opinion about that even from down here in Ga. We have enough. Our current state record is a 575 pounder taken just out side the Oky swamp. By a high school kid. Yea, i am upset about it. He skipped 45 days. I only had 2 weeks leave. I've used 180gr partitions for years. If you really want a heavy bullet Woodliegh makes a 240gr made to work at 30-06 velocity.