6mm /.243 hunting success on Big Game

[AZ_Hunter]

Just did some more detailed examination of this bullet I recovered (compared next to a Berger 108 Elite Hunter below):
View attachment 865051
It's a flat base bullet, not a boat tail.

It also measures 0.223-0.225 at the base:
View attachment 865052

And lastly, it has 6 grooves, but my barrel has 5.

This bullet came from a different gun, likely a .22 cal, and must've healed over.

Therefore I revise my assessment, I think my bullet blew clear through and made that huge hole, and must've ended up somewhere in the main body cavity. Crazy stuff!

JVB: See!! 223 doesn’t have enough wallup for deer!

 

[Taudisio]

6 Creedmoor got it done this afternoon! My longest shot ever, and largest bear to date. We estimate he was around 350, with a 5” layer of fat on his back/rump. The 109eldm performed flawlessly. 523 yards behind the shoulder and a nice mushroom just under the hide mid body. Lung soup. I’ll have to weigh the bullet and I can take better photos of it after I get home from the butcher and taxidermist tomorrow.

 

[Taudisio]

Elevation was 3600, impact velocity was near 2270. Butcher said it’s only the second bear so far for the season. Taxidermist said it’s his first for the season, and charged me an extra $100 for the largest black bear form.

 

[nuffgun]

Looks like the 109 eldm performed flawlessly. Nice bear.

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

That’s a stud nice work @Taudisio making me regret not applying this year

 

[PoniBoy]

6 Creedmoor got it done this afternoon! My longest shot ever, and largest bear to date. We estimate he was around 350, with a 5” layer of fat on his back/rump. The 109eldm performed flawlessly. 523 yards behind the shoulder and a nice mushroom just under the hide mid body. Lung soup. I’ll have to weigh the bullet and I can take better photos of it after I get home from the butcher and taxidermist tomorrow.
View attachment 865370View attachment 865371View attachment 865372

Nice bear! Glad to hear the 109 eldms got the job done.

 

[HighUintas]

Nice bear, @Taudisio . Bait or spot and stalk? I'd love to get a bear, just don't have enough time to do the baiting. It seems like it'd be ton of work

 

[Taudisio]

Nice bear, @Taudisio . Bait or spot and stalk? I'd love to get a bear, just don't have enough time to do the baiting. It seems like it'd be ton of work

No baiting bears around here. It was more of a spot and shoot. I didn’t have to stalk.

 

[HighUintas]

No baiting bears around here. It was more of a spot and shoot. I didn’t have to stalk.

Well you're even more awesome then. Congrats. I've got a couple areas I could potentially happen upon a bear on a harvest quota tag, but wrong time of year for me to put enough time in. Maybe one year I'll get on it. You give me hope

 

[Taudisio]

Well you're even more awesome then. Congrats. I've got a couple areas I could potentially happen upon a bear on a harvest quota tag, but wrong time of year for me to put enough time in. Maybe one year I'll get on it. You give me hope

I’m not a big book reader, but I read a book about hunting black bears 2 years ago. I’ve killed 4 bears and helped with 4 others since reading it, and only 1 before reading it. I can pm you the book name/author.

 

[HighUintas]

I’m not a big book reader, but I read a book about hunting black bears 2 years ago. I’ve killed 4 bears and helped with 4 others since reading it, and only 1 before reading it. I can pm you the book name/author.

That's impressive. Yes please, and thanks

 

[ReddingArcher]

I’m not a big book reader, but I read a book about hunting black bears 2 years ago. I’ve killed 4 bears and helped with 4 others since reading it, and only 1 before reading it. I can pm you the book name/author.

I’d like the name of that book also if you don’t mind! I’ve killed a couple but I’d like to get proficient at it.

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

I’m not a big book reader, but I read a book about hunting black bears 2 years ago. I’ve killed 4 bears and helped with 4 others since reading it, and only 1 before reading it. I can pm you the book name/author.

+3 for this sacred literature if you wouldn’t mind

 

[atmat]

That's impressive. Yes please, and thanks

I’d like the name of that book also if you don’t mind! I’ve killed a couple but I’d like to get proficient at it.

+3 for this sacred literature if you wouldn’t mind

It’s very likely this classic hunting book: Bear and Bear Ecology.

 

[HighUintas]

It’s very likely this classic hunting book: Bear and Bear Ecology.

An ad before the video saved me

 

[Taudisio]

It’s very likely this classic hunting book: Bear and Bear Ecology.

Here is the actual link for the book at Barnes and Noble

 

[Thegman]

Elevation was 3600, impact velocity was near 2270. Butcher said it’s only the second bear so far for the season. Taxidermist said it’s his first for the season, and charged me an extra $100 for the largest black bear form.
View attachment 865703View attachment 865704View attachment 865705

That's about ideal bullet performance. Enough shed to wreck stuff along the way and enough left to keep going.

 

[solarshooter]

Are you surprised at all by that mushroom? With that bullet I would expect more fragmentation.

 

[Taudisio]

Are you surprised at all by that mushroom? With that bullet I would expect more fragmentation.

Not really based on my experience with the eldx, which is nearly the same bullet except with an “interlocking ring”. If the impact velocity was higher, I would expect lead core/jacket separation, which I have seen from the eldx many times. If the impact velocity was very high, I would expect to find a shredded base of the jacket and fragments throughout the wound track.

 

[cornstalker]

@Taudisio, that's a Great bear! Congrats! If he was that fat in early spring, could you imagine what he looked like last September/October?