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.

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.

I have used the 270 win to take 3 bears here in Montana. All with 130gr Barnes TSX. Two dropped on the spot, the other jumped off the gated logging road and rolled down hill about 30 yards before hanging up in a tree.

You shot a bear off a gate?

My experience has been a little different. Only two black bears I've shot dropped, and both didn't get up. The rest ran after being shot without dropping. Deer on the other hand have been more likely to drop and get up. I'm now more suspicious and worried about deer that drop than the ones that run off.

So of that 100+ bears how many were killed with your .220 Swift or Bill's or George's .22-250s?

I much prefer heavy for caliber bullets in something 6.5 or larger.......

Yes, a .22 Mag can work. I just like to shoot bears with something that should work when everything goes WRONG rather than something that CAN work when everything goes right.

Bear hunting in AK, I use Accubonds in a .300WM or .300WSM. In my .30-06 I use Barnes 180 gr. TTSX, and the .308 Win, my son uses we shoot 168gr. Barnes TTSX from it. I have never felt that either bullet wasn't up to the challenge on brown bear or black bear. I have yet to shoot one, but I have a buddy that has shot several black bears the last three seasons with Barnes TTSX's from a .300WM or .338WM.

I've killed five with factory Federal Premium 165gr Barnes TSX out of a .300 WSM and one with a factory 180gr Nosler Accubond out of a .338 Federal. Both rifles were Kimber Montanas. I sold the .338 Federal, which looking back, is one of the dumbest things I've ever done. That was a great little rifle!

Blue,

Happy to hear you’re going to stretch your legs and go chase some bear! One of the most fun big game animals to hunt IMHO.

Some really good advise here if you sift through the posts. I’m sure you could pick out the top three posters, and when you do, you’ll have 99% of the info needed.

Most bear kills I’ve had or been around have been off baits so our rule was to try to break a front shoulder/upper leg in addition to taking out vitals. Open hillsides not such a big deal. Consider bullet type, caliber/chambering to the expected distance. Thinner skinned bullets at high velocity can “blow up” for lack of better vocabulary at short distances....about the only thing I didn’t see stressed in previous posts. I’ve been a fan of monos, but have used other types and thete are many good ones.

Good luck!

Bob

Stay behind the shoulder and any deer bullet will work fine. Although blood trailing is harder due to fat and fur, black bears do not go as far as whitetails when shot through the boiler room.

Shot one in Maine last year with my .35 Marlin. 150 gr corloks. He went 30 yards. Quartering toward me. Put the bullet between the neck and shoulder. Traveled through 3’ of bear and was lodged Under the skin in the ribs. 488 lbs if I remember correctly
Shot another in NY a few years back that dressed 348. 7-08 with 140 gr fusions. Went 20 yards. Pick what shoots good and make sure you hit it in the right spot. Good luck in your hunt.

For the 270 I would go 150 Partitions and R26. The 7mm I would do the same or 160s with a medium burn rate powder I would give R16 and 23 a try.

Those Barnes lead free solid copper rounds look pretty good, I think they call them ttsx? Kinda spends and hard to find but if you don’t reload might be worth it. I plan on using those in my .30-06 for deer and bear.

I'm hoping to draw a Michigan tag next fall. While the weather is bad this winter I've been loading up some 30-06 with 180 grain Woodleighs. They may be a little overkill for black bear but I trust them and had a box on the shelf.

Trophy bonded Bear Claw would be good.

Going to add another to a list of very good points/observations...…….

Bear FAT...…..especially in agricultural areas...…...can be 6" - 8" thick in the late fall. It takes a GOODLY hole, or better yet PAIR of holes to get blood TO the hair, let alone THROUGH the hair.

I've used 150gr coreloks out of a 270win with no issues.

I used a .270 with a 150 gr Partition on the only Black Bear I've taken with a rifle. The vitals are a little lower and further forward than on a deer. A shot in the upper third of a bears chest could miss the lungs and hit the leg or shoulder bone.

Thanks to our traplines we can kill as many bears as we want. I have never found bears to be anything other than easy to kill. A fast opening, relatively soft bullet through the shoulders will flatten them and keep them there. One that I've used a lot is the dreaded Berger, mostly 180 7 mms. Ballistic tips, Accubonds and most any deer-centric cup and core is fine. If you want to go look for one, by all means use a mono. They are great for anything that you want to die somewhere else.

Haha, I've not read all the threads but folks suggesting premium bullets made me laugh. Bears are much softer then deer, I'm going to use a #46 longbow and wooden arrows this spring, my buddies wife shoots them with a mid-30 pound bow at her 25" draw recurve and has killed a couple truck loads of them. Accurate gun and whatever shoots decent it in will work fine.

Killing them is one thing, finding them another. Having seen the difference between the old days of cup and core and today's bullets I will not shoot them with a bullet that I do not trust to exit. But I am often in extremely thick cover. Give me an 80 grain mono in 25 caliber anyday over a Core-Lokt of any description...

I have shot two black bears - both with a Partition. One was shot with a .358 cal, 225 gr Partition. The other with a .308 cal, 180 gr Partition. Both shot over bait at close range. Both piled up dead within 50 feet of where they were shot. Both shot through the shoulder. Both bullets exited.

I witnessed a 4 1/2’ cinnamon killed once with a 375H&H using Federal premium 300gr Nosler Partitions. Guy shot the little old bear from about 75 yards, hit it right behind the shoulder from broadside. Bear rolled around a little and died. When we shucked the hide off we were surprised to find the picture perfect 300gr partition against the hide on the offside. No exit! A 4 1/2’ bear probably weighs #125 BTW.

I guess bears are bulletproof or partitions suck. .

I will not say they suck, but I have used a bunch of them over many years and have a large number that failed to leave the scene. I rank exit wounds as more than extremely desirable and that is why I no longer shoot them at big game. Last time I went to buy bullets they were more expensive than X bullets.

The bullet went through both shoulders and still exited. There is a lot of bone there. Must have been small bears. Shot a white tail in shoulder with same bullet. It didn't exit.

When you guys talk about shooting through shoulders, are you talking through the knuckles or the blade? Everyone talks like shoulders are 3/4” plate steel or something. I’ve shot and butchered just about everything from rabbits to moose, to include black and brown bears, and none of them have a shoulder blade that is very thick at all. Moose and elk have pretty thick bone down at the knuckle but the bone on the scapula isn’t much over a 1/4” thick, bears even less so. I believe Sitka even has a picture showing how thin a big brown bear scapula is.

I’ve shot hundreds of wild pigs, most in the last 2 years with 223s and a 222mag. A 200 pound pig will have scapulas about 3/16” thick and if it’s a boar he’ll have a 3/4” or so “shield” over the shoulders. I haven’t had any trouble blowing a hole through both shoulders and the “shields” with 53gr TSXs as well as plain old 55gr Hornadys. I did manage to catch a 150gr SPCE out of S&B factory 30/06 a couple years ago on a 300 or so pounder shot through the shoulders from about 12 yards.

Not really. Bear bone is very tough and flexible, but not particularly dense, hard, or thick. Far less bone in any bear than most ungulates of equal size. Even great big bears have surprisingly light bone.

Yup... I will have to dig that out. OlBlue shot the Kodiak bear and it was a beautiful sunny day so I boned a scapula out and took a picture of an orange knife handle... THROUGH the scapula... I have to admit a complete lack of knowledge and experience with black bears over 8 1/2 feet, but brown bears do not have heavy scapulas at that size! I have cleaned up a few others to check, but the pictures do not come out as nicely as that particular bear.

Please let us know how your hunt went and what bullet you decided to go with. Hope your trip goes well!

Black bear aren’t that tough. I’ve seen a 450 pound Bruin dumped with a 22-250, 55 grain green box load. Not my preferred load but none the less. Guy was checking bait and expected coyotes. It kind of just happened. I’ve killed mine easily with standard deer bullets. 30 cal 150 grain Speer Hot Cor and last one with a 240 grain JSP 44 Mag load out of a 6” pistol. Good deer bullet in the engine room. I might be hesitant with a mono due to lack of expansion. Maybe a LRX And yes, their coat can hold blood but bear stink and it’s not hard for a good dog to track one. 140-150 in either and go hunting.

I only know of one legal tracking dog in AK, and most consider that a bit of a joke. There are many more, obviously, but they are far from common.

Having shot a pretty good sized pile of bears with many types of bullets from a bunch of firearms and having seen a very big pile killed by others, I find it laughable when someone suggests monos do not kill every bit as fast as any other and usually a lot faster.

Any deer cartridge willwork with a heavy for cartridge bullet. shot placement is most important. I agree with the 7mm08 and 270. would not prefer the light deer cartridges unless that's only what I had. I would use my Roberts but I have others. I have taken bears with the 7mm rem mag, 338-06 and 358win. most with the 358 with 225gr. This year will be a 308win 168gr accubond. Preferred shot is broadside through both shoulders, Last bear went 11 FEET, The vitals are behind the shoulders. Don't let the long hair cause you to misplace your shot. If you see a bear before and after skinning that will drive that point through. Good luck and most importantly have fun.

A good friend of mine was a government predator hunter and almost certainly shot more bears than most of us have seen (I think his biggest year was 68 bears and he had a few 50+ years). He shot them with everything from a 22LR to a 375. His favorite combo was a 270 using 130 grain Winchester Silvertips. He shot a lot in populated areas and didn't want the bullet coming out. Also, he wanted the bear to die right there. He also liked the 308 with 150 ST. I have trouble arguing with his experience. When he was in grizzly country, he felt more comfortable carrying a 338 Win. GD

I have just about the opposite experience where almost every sled dog is also a bear dog at least for the white ones. We even had a Golden Retriever that was a good bear dog. Knocked at least one brownie off it's feet with no scratches. Not sure what a legal tracking dog is?

Greydog in some combinations the Silvertip acts like a premium with a slightly delayed expansion then very rapid expansion but usually retains the core as they have a sort of hour glass crimp to the core. I have heard of PHs in Africa choosing these for baited Leopard and one would carefully peel the aluminum wrapper off a 375 silvertip just for this purpose. Not sure when they switched from tin alloy to aluminum but some were not happy when they did. The old 87 grain 250 Savage load was one that performed well at least on deer and hogs. Anything that does well on hogs is bear worthy as they are similar in bone and fat make up with if anything an old boar hog being tougher but not quite as big as a good bear.

Dogs are illegal for big game hunting unless registered with the State. And they distinguish between tracking dogs (which must be leashed IIRC) and hunting dogs.