Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Bullets for black bear?

We've got our hunt booked for Colorado in September.

Any load recommendations in 7-08 and .270? Factory loads would be preferable, but I'll start loading for them if I need to. Colorado bears.

Anything you’d load for deer will handle a black bear. Wouldn’t worry too much and shoot something that’s accurate.

hope you all limit out on them. Too many bears in Colorado IMO. They put a hurt on elk calves & mule deer fawns. What ever you use for elk/deer would be good to go IMO. In the 270 I would go with a 150 grain bullet. I don't know about the 7mm-08. I'd guess around the same weight. I killed my Colorado bears with a 30/06--180 grain factory loads.

Whatever you use on deer.

Thanks guys. We’ve been shooting Fusions for several years but I didn’t know if we should get something a little tougher.

I have been impressed what a Barnes TTSX will do to a bear. Have killed a number of Black Bears with Barnes and penetration is outstanding. My daughter even got one with her 6mm Rem shooting an 80gr TTSX. Accubond worked well but that was only one sample as was one rem CL. Six or seven have been taken with barnes.

Killing them isn't as much of an issue as finding them after you shoot. We have only hunted them is Wisconsin over bait, but that fat and long hair stop a lot of blood before it gets to the ground and bears have soft feet that don't make much noise or scuff up the leaves like a deer.

That hide soaks up blood like a bath towel. We always try to shoot them in the neck.

Fusions would be good. I found blacks to be less tenacious than your average whitetail. Take out the front axle and you won’t have to worry about a blood trail.

Go with a heavier constructed bullet than you use for deer. There's nothing worse than a bullet that hits the shoulder and doesn't get the job done. Bears' shoulders are armor plated. Get as much penetration as you can.


I was on a guided hunt in Maine one year and used my 7x57 with 170 grain Sierra. I hit the shoulder high and the bullet flattened out. Lost the bear. Took numerous deer successfully with that load. I toyed with loading Barnes at the time but figured my trusty deer round would be enough. Sometimes the perfect shot doesn't happen and paying for a hunt make the pain of a lost animal worse. A bad shot is a bad shot but more penetration might have allowed me a second shot.


Load a stouter bullet...just in case.

Dan

How do you know the bullet flattened out if you didn’t find the bear?

Most good deer bullets work on black bears OK, but there are a lot of bullets out there that folks use on deer that are a bit too frangible too, in my opinion.

If you go with a mid to heavy weight bonded bullet, Partition or expanding solid you'll do just fine. Also the Factory loads from Winchester and Remington in 150 grain 270 and 160 grain 7MM will be good too.

One way to look at the answer to this question is to ask what would be a good bullet for elk with a quartering shot. Any good answer you get will be a good answer for bears too.

My son and I shot two last fall, both with a 30-06 and 165 interlocks. Total blood trail was maybe 10 yards. In my 270 I'd just run 150 interlocks.

150gr NP in the 270, 140gr NP in the 7-08. Doing so you can be free to focus on other more important things like boots, binoculars, and physical conditioning etc. to name a few. Good Luck !

I know the 170 grain Hornady FP out of a good ol' .30-30 will knock the snot out of black bear.

Six Maine black bear rifle, Nosler Accubonds. Pass throughs all, good blood trails. Short runs. Busted bone.
Nosler factory loads, .308W/.30-06/.270W.

My son shot his first bear with his .270 Win. We used a Hornady 150 gr. ( 2740?) It was the interlock. The bear went 20 ' and fell over. He did good with a shot quartering to him a bit through the front shoulder . I think some bone shrapnel led into it's heart cause it was messed up. The bullet went out the other end. It was 206 lbs gutted.
I've shot 3 bear with the .270 with cheap 130 gr Core loc bullets. One , shot in the lungs went a long ways but it was running in and all jacked up. The other two were in the head and will never do that again.

My last 5 bears have been taken with 95gr NBTs via 243, rarely go more than 20ft and have only kept a bullet in one of them. They are quite easy to kill but nothing wrong with heavier/tougher bullets either.

The guide believed that the bullet didn't pass through both shoulders. All blood on saplings that the bear brushed against were on the right side which is the side I shot. We tracked the bear for several hours through the thickest forest that I've ever been in.

I had thought about loading a Barnes X bullet but everything I read said a deer bullet would do the trick. On a perfect shot I'm sure it would. I wish I had used the Barnes. The end result may have been the same, but I believe if I got a pass through, I would have gotten a chance at a second shot. I'll always question that one.

I just don't want the OP to experience the same thing. Hopefully he won't. Why chance it.

Dan

Any good deer bullet will work.

My preference is for 150 grain bullets especially Nosler Partitions.

Good luck on your hunt.