Best Bullet GR Weight for Black Bear with 300 WM

[WillieWildCat]

I am currently doing some load development for a black bear cartridge out of by Bergara in 300 Win Mag. I have currently been shooting the 180 Gr Barns TTSX's at 3000FPS. They have great performance of Sub half MOA. Curious if anyone else has a larger 200+ Gr Bullet they would reccoment. I have tried the 200gr Nosler Partitions and had ok performance out of them. The max rage would be 600-700 yards.

 

[medvedyt]

i had great success with the 200gr nosler partition and swif a frame, i will say that both are a little too strong especially the a frame for black bear but worked good as well with the 30-06. never lost a bear with that kind of weight bullet.

 

[BRWNBR]

Keep in mind shooting black bears is like shooting cats. Out of a 300 almost ANY bullet is going to be great. Black bears die pretty easy and about any center fire rifle works just fine with almost any load. Find a load your gun likes. The 300wn is a great brown bear rifle as well…so imagine how it will do on black bears…

 

[Timberline001]

If you’re planning on shooting to 700 yards you definitely don’t want a flat based bullet like a partition. Depending on the twist rate of the barrel I’d be looking at one of the 200+ gr eld m offerings. If you prefer a more traditional hunting bullet I’d try the 200 gr accubonds. To be clear I’m only suggesting the heavy bullets for better ballistics at the ranges listed. Any weight bullet out of a .300 will be effective terminally on anything in North America.

 

[PathFinder]

A hard, controlled expansion bullet is not optimal for black bears. They're very soft and light skinned. Any 168+ grain ELD will work great.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

 

[Rjk300]

I run the 215 berger with N570 in my 10 twist CA Ridgeline. It’s below max charge and at 3000 fps with a coal of ~3.66”. It’s been a very accurate load for me and I wouldn’t have a problem using it on black bear but I’ve only taken deer and elk.

 

[VernAK]

Your 180TTSX load will work just fine for your purpose.

 

[shootnrun]

I shoot 200g accubonds out to 800 with good success from a 300 wby and it kills bears. That being said, my 25-06 with 110 g hornadys also do fine

 

[Ryan Avery]

A hard, controlled expansion bullet is not optimal for black bears. They're very soft and light skinned. Any 168+ grain ELD will work great.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

This! black bears are very thin-skinned and easy to kill if you hit them in the chest cavity. A hard bullet is the wrong answer.

For some reason, I have seen more people miss or wound BBs on chip shots than any other animal.

 

[RDF1]

Whats the weight of these bears?
Just curious

 

[LightFoot]

For black bears, if I was shooting copper, I’d opt for the 150 TTSX. However, I agree with the others that BBs are not as tough as most believe and a cup and core bullet would be my pick. I don’t think the 215 Berger is the wrong answer for any NA big game… well, maybe the biggest bears, bison, and muskox… though it may not be my first choice, I would not feel inadequate.

200 ELDX is also a good option. My 300 Win loved them.


>>>——JAKE——>

 

[2531usmc]

Is it just me questioning the ethics of shooting bears at 700 yards?

Could be that I’m just old school……

 

[z987k]

Is it just me questioning the ethics of shooting bears at 700 yards?

Could be that I’m just old school……

What I'm questioning is how someone thinks they can realistically shoot anything at 700 yards but is even asking the question on what bullet to use. One of those comes before the other.

 

[NMJM]

What I'm questioning is how someone thinks they can realistically shoot anything at 700 yards but is even asking the question on what bullet to use. One of those comes before the other.

Exactly my thoughts. If you can consistently hit black bear vitals at 700 yards you know exactly what bullet to use.

 

[Jellymon1]

From 600-700 yds? There wont be a shot opportunity anyway because the damn things never stop moving…

 

[CMP70306]

A hard, controlled expansion bullet is not optimal for black bears. They're very soft and light skinned. Any 168+ grain ELD will work great.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I mean I’ve only shot one bear in my life but that sucker had 2” of fat on him. It must have provided some resistance as the entrance holes into the ribs were over an inch wide shooting the 122gr Controlled Chaos bullets out of my 6.5 PRC.

 

[Quandary]

What is your twist rate and magazine COL limitation?

 

[PathFinder]

I mean I’ve only shot one bear in my life but that sucker had 2” of fat on him. It must have provided some resistance as the entrance holes into the ribs were over an inch wide shooting the 122gr Controlled Chaos bullets out of my 6.5 PRC.

2" of fat is all the more reason to use a fragmenting bullet. It in no way will stop a bullet, but if the fat is dense enough to upset the bullet, having a massive hole through the fat layer will bleed out to the exterior more. None of the four fall bears I've shot took a step after being hit so tracking wasn't an issue, and the fat layer certainly didn't hamper penetration.
Penetration is not an issue with black bears, getting a bullet to upset enough in their soft, narrow vital section can be.

 

[medvedyt]

2" of fat is all the more reason to use a fragmenting bullet. It in no way will stop a bullet, but if the fat is dense enough to upset the bullet, having a massive hole through the fat layer will bleed out to the exterior more. None of the four fall bears I've shot took a step after being hit so tracking wasn't an issue, and the fat layer certainly didn't hamper penetration.
Penetration is not an issue with black bears, getting a bullet to upset enough in their soft, narrow vital section can be.

do not hit the spine with a so so bullet as for sure the bullet and impact will kill the bear but the bullet if not too strong will fragment everywhere in the body ... do not ask me how i learnt that lol

 

[z987k]

do not hit the spine with a so so bullet as for sure the bullet and impact will kill the bear but the bullet if not too strong will fragment everywhere in the body ... do not ask me how i learnt that lol

This is literally what you want.