What loads do you use for bear season?

I used a 6.5x50mm arisaka for my black bear. I used 140gr nosler accubonds. they didn't bond as expected. at 100 yards they barely travel 2000FPS and the bullet still split in half and took off in 90 degree angles upon entrance. I lucked out and one of the halves took out a lung and the other took out the liver. the bear barely made it 50 yards. luck aside I am not planning on using that combo again any time soon.

my backup is 100gr federal powershoks out of a 243. next year(as I filled my bear tag in the spring season) I will see about trying either 90gr speer deep curls or 100gr nosler partitions. I like the weight of the partitions but speer bullets have yet to let me down. noslers have been less than stellar in my experience.
 
im excited for bear season

I will be carrying a mossberg 500 with slugs as my primary. If I get the right shot I will forgo the shotgun and attempt to take a Bear with my Glock 29. The slugs will be Basic remmington slugs. 10mm load will be underwood 200gr xtp.

Regards, Vermonter
 
Bullcamp....Can you get the accuracy out of the Remington 250's? I am using a .350 Rem. Mag...very similar to what you are and the Rem. is all over the place. I bought a bunch of them in various weights and I just consider them as a brass supply as they aren't accurate enough to do much with. I handload a 225 bullet that works good out of it.
 
Don't hunt Black bear. Considering how small an area their eternal organs take up in the body cavity after they've had a little sleep time in hibernation and re-woken and harassed out of their den. Or again in the Spring just after leaving their den. {shot placement is critical} If I were to hunt one. I would use nothing less than a 12 ga. w/ 1-oz slugs or a 280-cal and above in rifle. I've seen first hand what a large black can do and how mean one can be after its wounding. {On more than one occasion.} Now you know (why) I don't hunt them.

S/S
 
Old Stony,

I get very nice accuracy with the Rem 250 grainers. Out of my Ruger Hawkeye I average 1.25 inch groups. I've had even smaller groups when I'm really on my game at the bench. Didn't take a lot of tweaking with the rifle either. I think I just got lucky on that one as most Rugers I'm familiar with aren't that good without some work.

I figure I'm doing real well for a 35 Whelen, since it is primarily an elk shooter for timber and semi open country.

BTW.....for Whelen shooters...... The 200 grain Hornady Superformance factory load is the real deal. An honest chronographed 2875 from 22 in barrel with very low SD. Accuracy (in my experience) is outstanding. This baby makes the Whelen a 300 yd. round with ease.
 
If the FWC ever opens it up here in FL ( We have a pile and they are pests! ) the wife plans on planting one with her .243........mostly because she shoots it well and I think a proper shot is what really counts.

Still......I think bigger bullet would be better. If I was to try it my 45-70 would come out of mothballs.
 
I have not killed any bear in years, but when I used to hunt them I used a 44 magnum most times. I used both 265 gr Hornady bullets and later 320 gr LBT Cast bullets on them. Both bullets works very well, but the LBT was better in that it always exited the bear and I had 2 of the 265 gr bullets stay in them. I like a through and through wound.
All in all I killed seven with my 44 mag revolvers. 6 with my S&W and 1 with a Ruger Redhawk.

I also killed a three with my 270 with 150 gr Nosler Partitions, one with a 45-70 with a 400 Gr RCBS cast bullet, and two with a 375 H&H with 270 gr Winchester Power points. (It’s what I had handy at the time)

I think that's all of them. I can't remember any others.
 
My primary is a .45 300gr XTP ahead of 80gr of BH209 out of my TC Pro Hunter. My backups are a pair of Taurus Judges loaded with .45 ACP. No way in Hell would I take a .243 after bears on purpose. I wouldn't hesitate to use it if I came across one while hunting yotes but taking a varmint gun after bear by choice is just silly
 
We have a widow friend who has a black bear on her property and doing damage. This fall, when it is legal, I wil go after it with my traditional muzzle loading Jaeger flintlock rifle in .54 caliber. I will be using a pure soft lead cast roundball with proper patching and 100 grains of 3Fg real black powder.
If using my suppository gun it would be the 30-06 using a hand loaded 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip.
BTW, she also has a destructive mountain lion on her property. Officially they do not exist in Arkansas but I will try to get a predatory permit to kill that one just to stay out of legal trouble. Would use same fodder as for the black bear.
BTW#2: I will be trying to call them with calls I make.
 
"I get very nice accuracy with the Rem 250 grainers. Out of my Ruger Hawkeye I average 1.25 inch groups. I've had even smaller groups when I'm really on my game at the bench. Didn't take a lot of tweaking with the rifle either. I think I just got lucky on that one as most Rugers I'm familiar with aren't that good without some work.

I figure I'm doing real well for a 35 Whelen, since it is primarily an elk shooter for timber and semi open country.

BTW.....for Whelen shooters...... The 200 grain Hornady Superformance factory load is the real deal. An honest chronographed 2875 from 22 in barrel with very low SD. Accuracy (in my experience) is outstanding. This baby makes the Whelen a 300 yd. round with ease."
Click to expand...

My pet load in my custom Mauser is 60.4 gr. of Reloder 15 with the 225 gr. Barnes TSX bullet exiting the muzzle of the 24" barrel at 2710 FPS. CAUTION: Above max in any book. I recommend starting a full 3.0 gr. below that and working up. The load proved to be too ht in my Remington M700 Classic and I have yet to try it in my Ruge M77RS. FWIW, I dropped my cow elk this year at 350 yards as estimated by my guide and my hunting partner. With a proper load, the .35 Whelen is more than a short to moderate range cartridge.
I've been playing a bit with the 225 gr. Nosler Accubond and 225 gr. Partition in the Mauser and reached the Nosler book max load without problem. That load is 59.0 r. of Re15.
Accuracy with the TSX has run from .50" to .75" from the bench. Th two Nosler bullets so far have been 1.50" with the Accubond and 1.25" with the Partiton. Using H335 and the 250 gr. Speer Hot Core, and 250 gr. Hornady Spire Point and round nose bullets, Paco Kelly's load of 53.0 gr. has proven to be safe in all three of my rifles, reasonbly accurate all in the 1.25 average range. Velocity's in the 2550 to 2570 FPS range.
If you get the idea I'm a big fan of the .35 WEhelen, you'd be absolutely right. :D
Paul B.
 
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I use the same load for black bear as I do for elk, a 180g Nosler partition out of my .30-06. I've never gotten a bear but I'm confident this load would do it.

Tony
 
How far north and what type and size of bear? Modest size black bears will die if you scramble a few pounds of neck or vital organs with conventional deer loads.
 
We saw a nice blackbear last spring. It was down in the Bosque along the river, and the range was around 300 meters. We won't kill them, as they are totem critters, but they're always fun to watch. We figure it was doing the same thing we were, looking for piggies to ambush.
 
45-70 handloads using Hornady 350 grain Interlock flat point bullets or my new 30-30 using factory Federal 170 grain Nosler partition ammo ! Pretty much most quality factory ammo would do the job in either of these calibers I would think for woods type ( over bait ) hunting anyway !
 
Over bait I use my 30-40 AI with 180gr Hornady Interlocks over 49gr of H380. If treed by dogs I use a Win 94 30-30 with 170gr factory loads, usually Silvertips.

George
 
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