Bear Bullets

I am on this bear hunting quest once again. I can't seem to get bear hunting out of my mind lately. I HOPE to remedy that in the next year or so with another black bear hunting trip. I am thinking hard about going to Manitoba for two reasons. They have larger bears on average than most N/E states like PA, NY, Maine etc. That is not to say that one cannot bag a 500-600 lb bear in any of those states, as it has been done. I just think the odds are in your favor more in a place like Manitoba than in the states. The other part of the equation is color phase bears are available in Manitoba.

As discussed in my blog and many other places, black bear have been cleanly taken with everything from a .243 Win on up to .375 H and H and even the mighty .458 Win Mag. Perhaps the old lever action 30-30 has taken more bear than any other caliber just like it has taken more deer than any other.

In terms of ideal rifles for black bear hunting whether over bait, or with hounds or spot and stalk would be calibers ABOVE .30 cal and with premium bullets that are likely capable of leaving an entrance and an exit hole and the possibility of a better blood trail. With premium bullets of proper weight, they are capable of taking a heart/lung shot and/or a shoulder shot and giving full penetration from just about any angle.

In terms of bullet hole size going in and out, muzzle energy, bullet weight and other criteria, they give one an advantage you just don't have with faster smaller diameter calibers and lighter bullets like the .270 Win, 7MM Mag, .264 Win Mag, etc.

In the old argument about whether or not the 9mm or the .45ACP is the better self defense round  for a handgun, the old adage is that a 9MM MIGHT expand but the .45 certainly will NOT SHRINK. I realize that there are other factors such as velocity, shock, energy expended etc. at work, however when talking about an animal that could potentially kill you, it is nice to have a load that you know will likely give full penetration, dump a truckload of energy and do a lot of tissue damage whether any expansion takes place or not.

I own and am fond of four different calibers that I consider black bear rifles:

.35 Remington Marlin Model 336 lever action using Buffalo Bore 220 Grain loads
.45-70 using either Hornady 325 grain FTX Lever Evolution, or Buffalo Bore 350 grain JFN Penetrator loads or one of the Garrett Cartridge loads.
.338 Federal using the 210 grain Nosler partition
.350 Rem mag using the 225 grain Nosler partition

There are also numerous other loads that would qualify with the right bullets, including but not limited to the .300 Win mag, the various short mags such as the .300WSM, the .338 Win mag and the offspring of same such as the .338RUM, and the Ruger version of same, along with the .35 Whelen, the 7MM mag with heavy bullets, the .308 Win, .338 Marlin, .450 Marlin, etc.

I would not hesitate to take a baited bear shot with any of these loads including a shoulder shot or a broadside heart/lung shot and not feel under gunned. At the very least all four loads start out as .35 caliber and above so expansion is less important.

Dan