Water Jug Penetration Tests with (4) Rifles

I thought I would republish my water jug penetration testing I did about 3 years ago when planning for a black bear hunt in Maine. Unfortunately neither my son Jeremy or I took a bear on that hunt with Carey Outfitters. It was not really Dave Carey's fault as the weather was in the high 80's and low 90's the entire week we were there and the bears were simply not cooperating. Hey that is why they call it hunting and not just shooting.

I used (4) different rifles in the water jug testing sequences:

• 45-70 with Buffalo Bore 350 grain JFN called the penetrator
• 30:06 with 180 grain Nosler Accubond load
• .308 Winchester with 180 grain Soft nose Corelokt
• .338 Federal with 210 grain Nosler Partition

If we were looking at strictly penetration in the water jug medium as a benchmark, the Marlin Model 1995 Lever Action with the Buffalo Bore 350 grain jacketed flat nose penetrator is the hands down winner. The bullet penetrated 9 jugs and landed neatly in the bottom of the 10th jub with a classic mushroom.

That being said any of the above rifles and respective loads are more than adequate for black bear hunting under any circumstances. My bear hunts have been strictly over bait in the great state of Maine. My hopes for the future are that Jeremy and I can go on another bear hunt, perhaps to Manitoba next time and have an opportunity at a really nice bear in the 300 pound plus range. I would not hesitate to take any one of the above rifles with me if and when we get the opportunity to go again. I might even get my brother Tim to go with us next time.

I normally take (2) rifles on every hunt in case of a malfunction, or dropping a rifle on a rock and busting the scope etc. It has NEVER happened on any hunt I have ever been on, however it is a good habit and I tend to err on the side of caution. If I KNEW I was sitting on a bait where a monster bear was coming in late, I would probably use the 45-70 with the 350 grain JFN load from Buffalo Bore for that watch. I am pretty sure I would get full penetration and an (entrance and exit) hole from about any angle. As a backup I would probably bring the Ruger .338 Federal with the 210 grain Nosler partition load. Both rifles wear Bushnell scopes with rain guard and firefly.

Jeremy is coming home for a while this spring and we hope to do some more range testing perhaps with water jugs again and maybe throwing in some wet tphone books, and/or chunks of 2X6 etc. into the mix. The July 7, 2009 link below gives an explanation of testing medium.

In any event here is a link to all (8) videos we did three years ago, and a separate link to explanation of testing medium:




http://gunsandoptics.blogspot.com/2009/07/bear-bullet-penetration-and-expansion.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qdumOj9W6Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqh7XTiWsIY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQSpskiurBs

http://gunsandoptics.blogspot.com/2009/11/45-70-penetration-and-expansion-bullet.html

http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=gunsandoptics+blogspot+8+youtube+penetration+test+videos





Enjoy,

Dan