Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers M71 - 348 Black Bear/Buffalo Bullets

I am headed to Alberta soon to hunt bears and also a chance we could run into a Wood Bison on the hunt as well. I am taking my Dad's M71 that he bought new in Alaska in about 1957. I lost Dad almost two years ago so it is time to take the old rifle for a hunt.

I am working with two bullets. The Swift 200 grain A-Frame and the Woodleigh 250 Weldcore. My question is would you shoot a buff with the A-Frame or stick to the 250 Woodleigh only on the buffalo? Both shoot very good in the rifle.

Thanks for your time and feedback.

I would use the 250 gr Woodleighs in a heartbeat, I shoot the old heavy jacket Barnes 250's in mine and would pop a buffalo with those too.

Either should work. But the 250 has got some punch to it.

You're reloading I presume. What's your recipe for those?

Using 57.0 grains of H4350. I am still playing with RL-17 as well.
I agree the 250's have some punch, you can certainly feel the difference between the 250's and 200's off the bench.

When going after critters that size I want bullet weight

Good on you for honoring your Dads memory by taking his old rifle on a hunt. I hope you're successful and experience the connection with your father.

I have never shot a buffalo, but have seen hundreds of them up close and have cut one up. My bear experience isn't much greater, but I have killed a couple and seen quite a few.
Bear and buffalo are quite different animals. Bears are a lot smaller than most people think, and it's a rare one that goes over 350 pounds. Buffalo can easily be three or four times that size, and their hair has to be experienced before you can understand how tough it is. Bears, for their size, seem fairly easy to kill with well plead shots. Point being, the penetration and expansion characteristics that would make a good bear bullet probably would be a little lacking on a buffalo.
When they were culling the buffalo coming into Gardiner, MT some years ago, the shooters found that a poorly hit buffalo could soak up half a pick-up full of bullets.
If I were you, I would test both of the bullets that you are considering, and take the one that penetrates the best. Then, I would plan on shooting the bear through the shoulders and the buffalo through the lungs. I'll be the first to admit being somewhat short of firsthand experience here, but I think my reasoning is fairly sound.

Royce

This.

Thanks for all the replies. I got a pic from the outfitter, they killed a great big bull over the weekend. He took four 225 TTSX's out of a 338/378 Wby. Hopefully we get to see how the old 348 will do on one here in a couple of weeks. They had some others at 50 yards a couple of days before they killed that one, so a good range for the 348 and more so me!!

I would have zero issue chasing them with the 220 gr X stash I have either.