243 for Bear????

[black dawg]

Another thing I have learned with bears, is that you probably wont have a blood trail without a fist sized exit.

 

[Brandon.miller.4]

There are preimium hunting bullets and premium killing bullets. I prefer premium killing bullets… certain match bullets…

But what about close distances at high velocity? Aren't they too explosive and suffer penetration? Hell, if you're that close and you can't hit the 12"-18" vitals on your critters you got bigger issues than bullet selection. Yeah shit happens, but surely you wouldn't have been better off with a "penetrating" bullet at close distances.

 

[Ryan Avery]

But what about close distances at high velocity? Aren't they too explosive and suffer penetration? Hell, if you're that close and you can't hit the 12"-18" vitals on your critters you got bigger issues than bullet selection. Yeah shit happens, but surely you wouldn't have been better off with a "penetrating" bullet at close distances.

My wife’s bear above in this thread was shot at 60 yards and like I said the 108 ELD-M went through the bear and all the way through the steel barrel. Massive damage to the bear.

 

[black dawg]

The only soft bullet that I have used up close was 178eldx loaded fast in a 3006 at less that 30 yards. Bear was quarted to me nearly straight on. Shot placement was just in front of left shoulder making shot angle from there through last rib on right side. Bear died instantly no noise, just dead bear. There was an exit through the hide, maybe quarter sized, and internal damage was massive all the way up to that last rib. Also shot an elk at pretty close, dont remember but less than 50 yrds, through shoulder, and a big chunk of bullet made it to the hide on the other side with massive damage. Elk just stared at me.....and then tipped over.

 

[kylem]

But what about close distances at high velocity? Aren't they too explosive and suffer penetration? Hell, if you're that close and you can't hit the 12"-18" vitals on your critters you got bigger issues than bullet selection. Yeah shit happens, but surely you wouldn't have been better off with a "penetrating" bullet at close distances.

I shot a bear last year at 35 yards with a 147 eldm from a 6.5 prc and it worked great. Shot behind the shoulder, great internal damage with a complete pass through.

 

[Brandon.miller.4]

My wife’s bear above in this thread was shot at 60 yards and like I said the 108 ELD-M went through the bear and all the way through the steel barrel. Massive damage to the bear.

But that's not possible from a target bullet

 

[HappyHuntr]

@Brandon.miller.4 that was point in asking my last question. At ranges less than 150 no good. There will be horrendous meat loss. But when your prize is a black speck on a hillside, it is the deadliest thing since Cholera

 

[HappyHuntr]

You want rapid expansion, somewhat slow bullets for shorter ranges. You don’t want to lose a bunch of meat so a quick expansion bullet not going to fast behind the shoulder is what you want American Whitetail loads by hornady are perfect

 

[Brandon.miller.4]

@Brandon.miller.4 that was point in asking my last question. At ranges less than 150 no good. There will be horrendous meat loss. But when your prize is a black speck on a hillside, it is the deadliest thing since Cholera

I respectfully disagree. Every fragmenting bullet shot at high velocities. Aka 300wsm and eld at less than 100 yards I have had 0 meat loss. That's on at least 7 different big game critters. Shoulder hits are a different story. However at those very close distances I see no reason you can't aim for vitals rather than shoulder.

 

[HappyHuntr]

I completely understand what you're saying and experience is worth 10,000 words. If you double lung a bear at any range with any bullet wether it is a deer bullet, match/varmint bullet, or controlled expansion he will die. I personally prefer a deer bullet for deer, antelope, and black bears (except for the fat alaskan bears) do to its good expansion in the vitals. For grizz and moose a heavy soft point does the trick and terminal ascents and trophy bonded bear claws only for elk

 

[HappyHuntr]

I personally use the varmint and match bullets for what they're made to do

 

[Brandon.miller.4]

I personally use the varmint and match bullets for what they're made to do

Have you tried match bullets on game or are you speaking from theory? Don't take these as condescending comments. I'm genuinely curious

 

[HappyHuntr]

Have you tried match bullets on game or are you speaking from theory? Don't take these as condescending comments. I'm genuinely curious

Don’t worry, I ain’t no snowflake. No never used them, they just told me they don’t work on CNN so they obviously won’t work


J.k. I have never used them but have seen pictures, processed, and eaten match bullet killed deer and all of it was awful in my opinion. Like I said though, experience is worth 10,000 words

 

[Brandon.miller.4]

Don’t worry, I ain’t no snowflake. No never used them, they just told me they don’t work on CNN so they obviously won’t work


J.k. I have never used them but have seen pictures, processed, and eaten match bullet killed deer and all of it was awful in my opinion. Like I said though, experience is worth 10,000 words

Give it a try...you may like em!

 

[HappyHuntr]

I’ll take ‘em blacktail hunting. Do they make eld-m in 30/06?

 

[Brandon.miller.4]

Handload?

 

[black dawg]

Don’t worry, I ain’t no snowflake. No never used them, they just told me they don’t work on CNN so they obviously won’t work


J.k. I have never used them but have seen pictures, processed, and eaten match bullet killed deer and all of it was awful in my opinion. Like I said though, experience is worth 10,000 words

The thing is, if you keep any bullet clear of the shoulder meat loss will be minimal. Any bullet even ttsx can be ugly if shot through the shoulder. The thing I have learned over time is that I try really hard to avoid the shoulder, and that soft bullets through the vitals clear of the shoulder kill quickly. Used to feel like the right thing to shoot a tough bullet and shoot through the shoulders, but then this can ruin most all of both shoulders. Same tough bullet back from the shoulder to avoid meat loss, and things start covering some ground before they die.

 

[Brandon.miller.4]

The thing is, if you keep any bullet clear of the shoulder meat loss will be minimal. Any bullet even ttsx can be ugly if shot through the shoulder. The thing I have learned over time is that I try really hard to avoid the shoulder, and that soft bullets through the vitals clear of the shoulder kill quickly. Used to feel like the right thing to shoot a tough bullet and shoot through the shoulders, but then this can ruin most all of both shoulders. Same tough bullet back from the shoulder to avoid meat loss, and things start covering some ground before they die.

Who wants to deal with processing front shoulders anyway? Win, win! Juuust kidding....kind of

 

[Ishisube]

Sounds good for black bear, but not brownies, and probably not grizzlies either.

 

[Cahunter805]

I completely understand what you're saying and experience is worth 10,000 words. If you double lung a bear at any range with any bullet wether it is a deer bullet, match/varmint bullet, or controlled expansion he will die. I personally prefer a deer bullet for deer, antelope, and black bears (except for the fat alaskan bears) do to its good expansion in the vitals. For grizz and moose a heavy soft point does the trick and terminal ascents and trophy bonded bear claws only for elk

What is a deer bullet?