Big Bores For Black bear

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the 12 gauge shotgun with slugs (vs.) the 45-70 (vs.) a .50 cal muzzle loader for black bear over bait. Up front, I have to say they will all do the job very nicely but its fun to look at the numbers.

Take a look at a few 12 gauge slug offerings:

Lightfield Hybred Sabot Slugs

546 grain 3inch MEXP at 1730fps
546 grain 2 and 3/4 inch sabot slug at 1450fps

Remington 12 gauge 3 inch 1 ounce copper solid sabot slug at 1550fps / 2331 ft lbs

Federal power Shok saboted slug 12 gauge 2 and 3/4 ounce 1500fps
Federal 3 inch 300 grain copper sabot slug 2000fps / 2664 ft lbs

A Few 45-70 loads that make the grade:

Hornady 325 Grain FTX Lever Evolution Ammo (Many bears have been taken already with this load)

Buffalo Bore has several loads available for the 45-70 in Marlin Lever Action Rifles:

I have shot the following two loads: (Either will do for black bear and the 405 grain load has a great reputation on black bear over bait)

405 grain JFN Expander / designed to penetrate up to 2 feet in flesh and bone and expand to 1 inch diameter / 2000fps and 3597 ft lbs
350 grain JFN Penetrator designed to penetrate up to 4 feet and expands to .60 caliber / 2150 fps and 3591 ft lbs

.50 caliber muzzle loader / the loads available for this set up are too numerous to mention here:

In spite of that, here are a few:

ALL loads would work with either 100-110 grains of Pyrodex RS or 2 /50 grain/ .50 cal Pyrodex pellets. You would need to put in range time to determine the most consistently accurate load out of your In-line .50 cal rifle.

Barnes all copper 250 grain, 285 grain or 300 grain TMZ spitfire saboted load

TC 250 and 300 grain saboted Shock Wave loads / preferably BONDED bullets

295 grain Power Belt bullets

TC Maxi Ball full bore sized loads 350 grain

Dan