Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game What bullet for Bison

Greetings from Cody,Wy. My wife has drawn a cow bison tag for the Jackson area. Neither of us have hunted bison before. She'll be shooting a Marlin 1895 with a 22" barrel and Williams aperature sight. I had the buttstock cut down to fit and a decelarator recoil pad installed. So far the only loads she's fired have been factory Remington 405 gr and Winchester 350 gr. The recoil of these loads didn't bother her, in fact she's enjoyed it. I'll be reloading and want to keep the recoil at a managable level but also want to develope a load that will give good performance. Anyone have any suggestions ? Jacketed or cast loads. We're going to try to keep shots under 100-125 yards. Thanks Mike

I'd suggest the slug she is most accurate with. Either should suffice. I have a similar unit but installed a 2.5 x Scout scope. I was getting baseball sized groups at 100 yards with factory sights and the 405's, but have not fired any groups yet with the scope. Mine will be a dark timber elk unit. Good luck,

Said this to Elkslayer a few years ago before he went on his cow bison hunt. Spend more time figuring how to get it out then what your going to shoot it with.
I do reconmend U tag them we drag them.

By the way it took 5 rounds from a 338 win mag to put this guy down.

Southfork Congrats to your wife on the lucky draw! Someone here in the Big Bore Levers thread has done some testing. You might look there and post this question. Seems to me they were discussing the Speer Bonded Core Bullets as being a very good choice.

Another source of information would be www.marlinowners.com

Keith

Thanks for the replies. 1 Minute- I had the same problem with my 35 Rem poor groups at 100 yards using 200 gr Core loks put a 2.5
weaver on it and it will shoot 2" or so at 100 yards. There is the possibility that I'll mount the same scope on the 45-70 if she has problems at longer distances. Gotlost - we contacted tag and Drag last week. Couple friends of mine who are alot younger than me used a one wheeled game cart to get a cow out last year about 3/8 ths of a mile through the sage brush. Whipped both of them for several days. Elkhunter thanks for the link. Laura, my wife is very excited about once in a life time hunt. She's a meat hunter and wants to fill the freezer but she also want to put the animal down ASAP. Thanks again Mike

Mike,

Sorry I couldn't be more help. I just got a 45/70 last year and will shoot factory ammo this year for elk and deer. This website and the one I listed are both great sources of information.

Here is one of the threads I was thinking about..

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...owflat/Number/2285111/page/1#Post2285111

We expect to see pictures of the hunt!

Keith

Southfork
One of the nice things that go with working with U tag we drag is that Johnny will do some of the scouting for ya, call him ahead of the time and he'll let ya know when the cows have moved to a area that you can hunt them.
As for his prices well thats hard to tell. I killed my bull on Shadow 50 yrds from a 2 track and it was 300.00.
The big bull that Ed Riekens killed was 300.00 and johnny told Ed a big bull had been hanging a round there. ( It did score #7 B&C)
Lawson killed his bull on the elk feed grounds and it was the same. Close to a road.
A gal at work husband killed a cow a mile or so back in the feed grounds and it was 500.00, he had to use horse.
Again congrats to your wife and enjoy the hunt. feel free to PM me with any questions.

McInnis has been working on some 45-70 loads, you mite PM him.

A pair of 350 grain bullets fired from my 22" 1895 Marlin. The bullet on the left is the Swift A-Frame, a bonded bullet. The bullet on the right is the 350 gr FNSP Hornady. Both bullets were fired into water-filled one-gallon milk jugs at 20 yards. Both 350 grain bullets were loaded over 50 grains of H4198, a stout, but less than max load.

350 gr Hornady FNSP, 50 gr H4198, RP case, CCI 200 primer. MV was 2086 fps.

Results: bullet recovered in 6th jug. Retained wt 296 grains, .846" diameter

350 gr Swift A-Frame, 50 gr H4198, RP case, CCI 200 primer. MV = 2046 fps.

Results: bullet recovered in 7th jug. Retained wt 345 grains, .710" diameter





These are photos of a 405 grain Remington bullet, fired from a factory load. Very mild recoil. It barely even expanded, but penetrated deeper than either of the 350 grain bullets and shed almost no weight. I'm jealous of your wife's hunting opportunity! That's great. Hope these bullet photos help you out a bit - I sure was impressed with the way that Swift stayed together.

Regards, Guy

I shot a cow bison a few years ago. Shot was from a 35 Whelen shooting a Trophy Bonded 225gr bullet at 2700fps. The hump fooled me and I shot a bit high, just hitting the top of the lungs. The other members of the herd immediately surrounded her and I lost her in the mix. Took 5-10 minutes for the animal to expire. Bullet came in quartering from the rear breaking three ribs. Clipped the top of the lungs and hit the bottom of the spine right under the hump. That bone STOPPED the bullet cold with no apparent damage!! These animals are extremely tough....make sure you make a good shot.

The Nosler 300gr Partition at about 1900 fps should give plenty of penetration with about the same recoil as factory loads.

Thanks again for the replies. Laura was contacted by one of the
tag& drag people. She gave her the prices anywhere from $275 to $450 depending on what has to be done to retrieve the animal. I don't care about the cost because there ain't no way Laura and I are going to try to move that much meat over a long distance. Maybe if it falls on a road. Husqvarna I contacted the techs at Nosler and Barnes wanted to know the minimum impact velocity of their 300 gr bullets. Nosler 300 gr partition 800-900 fps and the Barnes 1150 fps. Hopefully one of these will shoot well enough to become the load. I think that you're right about keeping the muzzle velocity around 1900 fps. Should dupicate factory recoil. Knowing my wife there will be plent of pictures, Thanks again Mike