Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Lost a bear with .338 wm.

In 2019 I shot 3 bears.
First was a spring black bear (350lb.)I shot 3 times from 80 yards. First shot was shoulder/lung, second was lung/lung, third was lung/heart. He still had about 45 seconds of fight in him after the third shot.
Second bear was a brown bear from 150 yards. Hit him twice. First shot was shoulder into chest. He ran uphill and I sent a quartering shot just behind his ribs into his chest cavity. I waited 45min and followed him. Blood everywhere, after 1/2 mile I found bone fragments from his shoulder. I followed him through a burned area of forest for 4.5 miles and lost him when he crossed a river.
Third was a brown bear a few weeks later in late fall. First shot was double lung from 100 yards. Watched him run across a creek and onto a hillside. Second shot was lung/gut from about 400 yards. 9 foot bear. I found one bullet. It had great expansion, penetrated about 2 feet and was intact.
Im shooting a Tikka T3 lite .338wm with my favorite reloads. 225 sp's (its what my rifle likes). Ive had problems not dropping caribou also. Its not a matter of accuracy. Im just tired of chasing [bleep]. Especially when its big game a long ways from the boat. Does anyone have moose/brown bear experience with .375 ultra mag .416 ruger, or .416 rem mag? Specifically have you had multiple well placed shots and watched them keep running?

Haven't heard from OP in a bit.

In 2019 I shot 3 bears.
First was a spring black bear (350lb.)I shot 3 times from 80 yards. First shot was shoulder/lung, second was lung/lung, third was lung/heart. He still had about 45 seconds of fight in him after the third shot.
Second bear was a brown bear from 150 yards. Hit him twice. First shot was shoulder into chest. He ran uphill and I sent a quartering shot just behind his ribs into his chest cavity. I waited 45min and followed him. Blood everywhere, after 1/2 mile I found bone fragments from his shoulder. I followed him through a burned area of forest for 4.5 miles and lost him when he crossed a river.
Third was a brown bear a few weeks later in late fall. First shot was double lung from 100 yards. Watched him run across a creek and onto a hillside. Second shot was lung/gut from about 400 yards. 9 foot bear. I found one bullet. It had great expansion, penetrated about 2 feet and was intact.
Im shooting a Tikka T3 lite .338wm with my favorite reloads. 225 sp's (its what my rifle likes). Ive had problems not dropping caribou also. Its not a matter of accuracy. Im just tired of chasing [bleep]. Especially when its big game a long ways from the boat. Does anyone have moose/brown bear experience with .375 ultra mag .416 ruger, or .416 rem mag? Specifically have you had multiple well placed shots and watched them keep running?

Answer is simple, 250g partitions in the existing 338, AND buy a 416, shoot some bears with both. Report back to us this time next year!

I used a 338 Win enough to decide it wasn’t any more effective than a big 30. Actually I believe a 30/06 loaded with 168 TTSX bullets would consistently out perform your 338/Sierra load.

Im starting to see that... The thing is, I just started reloading last year. Ive been shooting that rifle in Alaska for 10+ years. 90% of that time its been with factory ammo in all varieties. Ive only droped (stone dead) two moose and a handful of caribou. Most animals run alot further than I would think. Now, 375 rum, 416 rug, 416 rem anyone?

You didn't lose a bear because of the .338 Cartridge, you lost it because of the inadequately constructed bullet for the task you gave it.

Nosler and Swift make Partition bullets with the Swift bonded at the front and the Barnes X bullets are ideal from 225gn to 265 grains some in TSX and others in TTSX design, but all, any bear adequate.
Change your bullet and lose the problem forever.

Holy fu ck dude. You keep using the same bullet after multiple failures, now your asking about 416 rem, etc? This chit is never not funny. Ive never had an issue dropping any animal with the 338wm.

The fact is- both the bears I recovered last year were double lung shot. The blackie had one through the heart. Its just not a matter of shot placement, or expansion. the shots did what a .338 does. We just have some big pissed off bears full of adrenalin. Ive shot 8 brownies and countless black bears. Im not some dude shooting columbian blacktails. I dont like following them through the brush when they refuse to go down. I want more kenetic energy and knock it the [bleep] down. Im looking for a bigger rifle and asking opinions on calibers from guys that own and shoot them at dangerous game. Nuff said.

The .338 was made for Alaska, and killing Bears. Your choice of bullet is the problem. I’ve shot 3 Grizzlies and when I go after an animal like that, I want the best bullets on the market. Accuracy isn’t the first consideration. The last Bear I shot was a B&C Grizzly. 210 grain Nosler Partition at 2916 FPS. 1 shot, dead bear. Choose a Premium bullet. If you can afford to hunt the big bears, you better be able to afford good bullets. Seems simple to me. If that’s not clear, you shouldn’t be hunting them. One of them may decide to come your way.