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

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. If Partitions shoot well in your rifles, they would be my choice. If not, then try an Accubond or Hornady Interbond in the mentioned weights.

Bullshit.

I agree with the deer rifle and bullet crowd. I'm also a strong believer in the behind the shoulder shot. With proper bullet placement, I see no reason that a 7-08 or .270 Win wouldn't work fine on a black bear. I used hard cast lead bullets on tow black bears in spot and stalk hunts. Both were one shot kills. One with my .44 Ruger Super Blackhawk, and the other with my 1911 .45 acp.

+1

You made a piss poor shot, end of story.

I have shot 2 black bears when I was actually bear hunting. One with a 270 and one with the 45-70.
All the rest I shot when I was elk hunting, so I killed them with what I had along.

But from what I have seen any good deer rifle with a bullet that will penetrate well is just fine.

I have killed bears with two 270 Winchesters, two 44 magnum handguns, 30-06s from an M1 Garand and Browning M95 lever action, my Mauser in 375H&H and a Browning 1886 45-70.

My dad killed one with a 300 Savage with a 150 grain bullet and my friend Greg killed one with my 35 Remington with a 220 grain Speer.

An old friend, now passed on named Jake Correl killed one I know of with a 22 Magnum with two 40 grain solids. Jake's kill with the 22 WMR was actually fairly fast. One shot and the bear humped up a little and bit at the wound and about 2 seconds later he fired the next round which dropped the bear out of the tree about 1 second after the hit. One of them even exited the bear. It was better then I though it would be.

My grand-son's very first big game animal was a bear shot with a 270 with a 140 grain Nosler Partition. Instant kill.

Another friend of mine has killed 4-5 of them with his 7-08 using Barnes 140 grain X bullets.

So I have seen them killed with guns as small as the 22 Rim-Fire Mag and as big as the 45-70 and 375H&H. All were fine. The 22 rimfire is one of two I saw used that needed 2 shots. The other was shot by my friend Bob Bracken. He shot one 2 times with a 25-06 with Burgers which broke up badly and didn't kill very fast. I was about 300 yards from him when he shot the bear the 1st time. He told me the bear got out of the tree and went about 150 yards across the gully, where he was able to get a 2nd bullet into it. I helped him recover and process that bear, and it was a mess. But he did kill it. He said he's use Nosler Partitions the next time.

We hunt bears a lot and with your 270 or 7mm-08 almost any good quality bullet will work, the list is endless. We have used a lot of Nosler Partition's, Accubonds, Speer Grand Slam's etc and never been disappointed. We always go for a double lung shot too and they don't go far. The guy I used to guide for told me he had most of his troubles when a guy would do a shoulder shot and always recommended a lung shot. I think a lot of guys hit a shoulder but miss the vitals because "everyone told them" bears are tough and they have to do it that way. The bear runs off never to be found and they decide they need a bigger gun and heavier bullets. The other mistake inexperienced guys make is thinking they need the heaviest and toughest bullet made in a particular round and make a poor choice. In the 7mm-08 for example using a 175 gr TSX would be a poor choice but a 120-140 gr TTSX or 140 gr Partition Accubond etc would be far better.

Just my .02 on the matter from years of bear hunting, hope this helps.

Yes, it was a piss poor shot. It didn't initially feel or look that way, but it was. My point is, is that if one is travelling and paying for a hunt, a premium bullet like a Barnes is just some added insurance. A premium bullet won't save a really bad shot but it may do more damage to slow a bear down more and perhaps allow a second shot.

Dan

Nothing you have posted on this thread makes much sense...

I'll be sure to avoid those "Burger" bullets....TFF.

FWIW, I've killed 50+ black bears myself, and seen at least that many more killed, and through my eyes,(based on real world experience)black bears, even large, old boars are no harder to kill than a deer.

Learning how and when to shoot will solve about 99% of so called bullet failures...…

The largest black bear I've ever killed was with one 130gr Berger Hunting VLD at a touch over 280 meters with a .260. It was a frontal shot, with a slight quartering angle, facing. I recovered the bullet lodged in the left hip bone.

He went less than 50 feet.

Ya watch those Berger’s!!! 510 yards, 1 and done6.5/06 ai 140 Berger, pencil hole in , 50 cent exit...

I don't have the experience of others (killed six bears in eight years, all spot and stalk), but I wouldn't hesitate for a second to shoot a black bear with a .22-250 stuffed with 55gr Vmax if it was what I had in my hands at the time.

Surely you're just speaking in jest....grin...

I've been around a bear killing or two. They die easier than deer, but they don't cotton to poor placement.

That said, they are much quicker to drop at the shot, regardless of placement, but quick to get up after a marginal shot. Be ready.

An old saying: "A well hit bear won't go as far as a well hit deer, but a poorly hit bear will go a lot farther than a poorly hit deer" Shoot them through the chest and they don't go very far.

Exactly my experience with them.

Glad to see others experience mirrors what we have seen. They aren't hard to kill but poorly hit bears are tough to find and can be easy to loose. I haven't shot anything with those "Burger" bullets yet, might have to finally try those 170 gr bullets sitting here in the 270 Win and get at least a bit of personal experience with them.

Having dealt with many, many black bears a couple things are obvious fantasies:
Bear bone (black, Brown, or grizzly) is very light weight and relatively soft. It is tough and flexible, neither of which means anything to a bullet.

Bear hide is nothing like as thick, hard, or tough as many other critters and it is the antithesis of armor-plated.

Bear hair is thick and deep, making lighter bullets start opening a bit soon (star-shaped x bullet entry wounds) and I have found a number of bullets caught in off-side hair. Hair does soak up a lot of blood.

Heart shot bears sometimes cover a lot of ground.

Having never seen an Accu-bomb exit, and believing strongly in the value of an exit... I much prefer monos.

Firm, yet rude...

I've killed the majority of bears with Partitions, a few with Barnes and one with an Accubond.


Seen them killed with all manner of bullets. Biggest black bear I ever saw killed was with a 7mm-08 slinging factory ammo (1985). I'm assuming 140gr Core-lokts. .

That said, Core-lokts are one of the last bullets I'd ever use.

Good stuff this thread. I do agree that a black bear will hit the deck fast and get up even faster with a poor hit. Brought 2 different guests with me that made poor hits on a bear. One hit the ground backwards, got his feet under him and was gone in a flash. No recovery. The other one collapsed on his belly and in one motion sprung up and was gone like he jumped a hurdle. No recovery.

Pissed me off both times especially since one of the guests was a seasoned hunter and did not wait for his shot despite the bear closing the distance and walking toward him.