Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game .243 on Black Bear?

I'm looking for input from anyone who has ACTUAL EXPERIENCE with the .243 Win on black bears, and more specifically, the 85 GR TSX in said caliber. I saw some comments from a few folks on the .257 Bob thread, and would like to explore this a little further.

What would you condisder max range for such a combo on the average size blackie? How much penetration could be expected at ranges under 400 yards?

Before you flame me for using too small a rifle on a big bad bear, know that I am no stranger to killing Ursus Americanas from little to big. I know that they aren't bullet proof, they aren't likely to eat me, and they die just like anything else. I'm not a 'stunt hunter' and I don't get 'flinchitis' from big calibers.

My primary rifle of choice is a .35 Whelen for black bear, I'm just entertaining other options.

Thanks in advance.

Dont have experience with the 85 gr.TSX but I have shot a bear with the .243. Lots of experience with other TSX booilts. I say do it, no problemo, but I personally would feel best at 300 yds. and under...
Ingwe

i've shot one mid sized (200lb) black bear with a .243. i used a sierra 85 bthp at about 20 yds... it worked perfectly and the bear died almost in it's tracks...

A friend of my dad used either a .222 or a .220 Swift on
black bear for years, the last I heard he had switched to
a .243. He is one of these guys that gets a bear every year
also.

The last black bear I saw killed with a 243 happened before TSX's ever made their debut--but I've seen close to a dozen killed with 6mm 100gr Sierra's and PT's.......



Casey

Have posted this picture before.



My friend's wife took this nice Spring black bear using 100 gr Win Power-Point factory ammo. One shot at around 125 yd and it was all over except the shouting, and the the work!

She has also killed quite a few caribou with the same load, so really don't think it would be much of a trick to do it again. Bears, contrary to popular belief, are not really hard to kill.

Ted

Just do it.............

Joseph

You said you wanted actual experience so take this FWIW.

I have never shot a bear and I don't own a 243, however I have a good friend who uses one and uses 85gr TSX to kill hogs. I can't imagine a big hog would be a whole lot different than a bear.

He kills them like lightening given anysort of decent hit with that combo. He regularly snipes them up to @ 250 and has never had one run off so he tells me. I know he is a pretty fair shot.

BCR

Last spring I was out on the hill with a good friend of mine and he used my 6/06 with a 85 TSX to absolutely dynomite a bruin. So yeah, I'd use a 242 again with no worries!

I've seen enough bruins taken with the Swift and a 22/250 to know that they'll work just fine so will a 243 or 6 or some type.

Get after it I'd say.

Dober

+1 on whacking pigs with the .243 and 85gr TSX. Of course a big CA pig will shade 300# and the bears here can run much larger. .243 wouldn't be my first choice, but I wouldn't hesitate.

My Sucks .243 has accounted for several caribou, one black bear, two Dall rams, and a moose, at ranges of 50 feet ( a ram) to 150 yards( a caribou) with Plain Jane and NP bullets of 100 gr. None of them went more than 50 feet (the moose, at @ 80 yards), and most of them went straight down. Seems to work.

I prefer heavier calibers, however - the Sucks 725 in .260 did a fine job on that cow elk at 150 yards, caribou at 200, and wolf at 40....

Can't beat an '06 for "all around", IMHO, but the .243 with good boollits, will do the job at reasonable range on most anything in NA, with proper placement. especially if hunting from a tree stand. I took my black bear (maybe 250 lbs), from a drifting boat at 30 yards. Right through the white spot on his chest, as he dozed, sitting, in the sunshine, on a high cut-bank... golly, I loved that....

Sure you kill a bear with a 85 grain TSX in a .243 Win if it is a well placed shot. Heck, you can kill'em with a well placed shot from a .22 LR.
A .243 Win wouldn't be my first choice and neither would my beloved .257 Roberts.
I would want something with a little more frontal diameter and a little weight.
If you have ever seen a mad bear or a mad hog you'll know why I want some thing bigger.

Thanks for the replies.

The folks at Barnes say they have reports of the .243 85gr TSX being used on game up to and including moose, with good results at reasonable distances.

I think I'll take it as a back up, maybe carry it along in some of the more open country.

Thanks again.

Let us know how ya do Kilmer

Kilmer, I am more old school than the building I guess, so for me it would be the .35-Whelen, 30-06 or my 444 Marlin. My wife uses her .243 for whitetail and coyotes mostly. I would never let her go out after any bear with a .243. One never knows just how big that black bear will really turn up to be in size.

I'm not impressed with the black bears I have seen shot with the 243..The bears have a lot of hair and it can soak up a lot of blood, and you just need a bigger hole and more blood on bears IMO in the event they don't drop at the shot...Lots of bear are killed but lost with lighter caliber. I see it every year. You need two holes and big ones so the blood gets to the ground quickly.

If your close and shooting from a blind and make a spine or brain shot I suppose they work Ok..

I used my 243 this year for the first time. I feel it did so-so. The first shot was at a spike at 40 yards. The 100 grain federal blew up on the shoulder; the deer ran 30 yards and died. The next was a frontal neck shot at 100 yards. The bullet went in the front, bounced off the neck bone and came out the side of his neck. Deer died on the spot. Last was a 200 pound hog at 40 yards. Shot him right behind the ear. The 100 grain bullet hit the neck bone and blew up. No exit hole, couldn�t find any pieces of the bullet at all inside the neck. Pig died on the spot. Now, these are not �big game� animals. Yes it killed them, but the bullet performance is not what I would want to use on a bear. Using a 243 on bear is up to you. I�d take my 30-30. If I had to track a wounded bear (with the results I have had) I hate to do it with a 243.

Bullet and placement

plus one....

Many fall yearly to black powder rounds. I'd have zero worries with a 243.