Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading Bear Bullets?

Having shot many deer with various bullet types and settling on LSWC led me to loading those in my .40 S&W for most uses including bear, pig, dog, etc.

However, I'm not necessarily in the "heavy for caliber" camp. Now it's 200 - 215 grain bullets in the .44 and 160 - 180 in the .40. all solids.

I use LSWC because I've not yet experimented with the WFN bullets. If they perform as advertised and expected (punched hole, not torn hole) I will have no qualms with them but will continue to avoid the "heavy for caliber" bullet. IE: 300gr in .44 and 200gr in the .40.

I have 10mm 200 grain hardcast flatpoint predator penetrator loads in the classifieds right now. They run 1150 FPS in a standard Glock (versus a longslide).

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...1/10-mm-bear-predator-loads#Post18177211


I will be doing another run of the Heavy 250 grain +P .45 ACP Bear/Predator hardcast loads in about 10 days or so.

Though both are designed to get the job done and penetrate deep, the heavy .45 load is a personal favorite and one I carry quite often in parts of Montana and Idaho that are thick with Grizzlies. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I often carry a 1911, and use one as a dual purpose gun for trail and town, even though I consider the Glock 21 a better tool for the woods due to weight and capacity.

The 200g xtp is what I carry in my 10mms if I'm just in black bear country. I load them at 1150fps over Longshot. I've ran them up to 1250fps but they seem to expand more and penetrate a bit less at that speed. At 1150 they expand a decent amount and penetrate well and function reliably with quick follow ups and don't seem to be too hard on the gun.

In grizzly area I carry a 200g wfn hard cast with a check at 1250. They have a .300" meplat and round nose from there. I used to carry laser cast 180g tc flat nose but I prefer the round flat nose with the wider meplat to the tc.

I ran the laser cast 180 tc before I started casting again and ran it at 1150 from a 40 over Longshot and 1300 in the 10s. They are a pretty hard bullet and a dozen years ago many shops I'm idaho stocked them.

Bb

Burley boy, what wnfp 200 grain 10mm bullet are you running? You cast your own or buy?

I'm loading my son's 10mm but shot a 45 super myself. Was going with the 250 grain but have switched to the 215 grain wfn from Missouri . I feel like the added speed has better performance than the higher bullet weight.

At least a 44 mag, with at least a heavy loaded , hard cast 300gr bullet. Anything less is insufficient. Anything more you can handle is better. Don't kid your self on this.

The 200g cast 10mm I've been shooting lately is actually a factory loaded grizzly ammo round that I bought a bunch of on sale a few years ago. I've been casting mostly 175s or 180s and I. Looking for a good 200 grain mold. I'm trying to get m&p to make one that steps down to .390 right ahead of were it'd crimp and rounds down to a .300 meplat.like these grizzly rounds. I want the initial drop to .390 to make throating powder coated bullets no problem.

I know what I want I just need to figure out how to get it made. I want cup point and hollow point pins along with the flat point. I'm liking what I'm seeing with some cup point medium hardness designs. A little expansion to about bore diameter with good penetration. Getting ready to test some 420 grain cup point 45-70 stuff now that the weather is warming up. The kids have emptied enough milk jugs to run a few tests.

Bb

That 215gr from MBC really interests me. How wide is the meplat? I realize it is likely an SWC with a long wide nose - not a true WFN. But it appears to give you the most you can do in a stock 1911.
I don't know why, but wide meplats penetrate better - my guess is the resistance of material sliding down the sides is less.

dla, I think it is about a 0.355" meplat. Not quite as wide or as a sharp edge as Montana Bullet works but close and I feel like performs very well for cheaper.