Brown Bear Ammo

[ball151]

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping you guys can help me out on some ammo recommendations. I have a spring AK peninsula brown bear hunt coming up. I'll be running a custom 300PRC for this hunt with a 1 in 10 twist. It shoots factory Berger 215's at sub 1/2 MOA groups, but that's not an ideal bullet choice for this hunt. The rifle does not like the ELD-X or ELD-M ammo. I'm not a handloader and will be running factory ammo for this hunt. The slower twist hampers some of the bullet weight choices a bit too. I'm looking for some other suggestions that you guys would recommend. Thanks in advance for any input you all can offer, I appreciate it!

 

[hiker270]

200 Grain Nosler Accubond Choice custom ammunition 300 PRC

 

[jd270win]

Somebody’s going to jump in here and tell you those Bergers are fine, but I agree with your assessment of “not ideal.”

Accuracy requirements aren’t particularly painstaking for a brown bear. If I can get 1.5 MOA with a bullet I like, that’s good enough. Getting closer is the fun part of brown bear hunting, and helps with field judging.

Midway has a good selection of 300 PRC with sturdier bullets in stock right now. Of their current offerings, the Federal Terminal Ascent load would be my first pick.

To echo the above though, I have had great success with 30 cal 180 Accubonds on bears. The 200 gr out of a PRC would be awesome if you can find some.

 

[ball151]

Somebody’s going to jump in here and tell you those Bergers are fine, but I agree with your assessment of “not ideal.”

Accuracy requirements aren’t particularly painstaking for a brown bear. If I can get 1.5 MOA with a bullet I like, that’s good enough. Getting closer is the fun part of brown bear hunting, and helps with field judging.

Midway has a good selection of 300 PRC with sturdier bullets in stock right now. Of their current offerings, the Federal Terminal Ascent load would be my first pick.

To echo the above though, I have had great success with 30 cal 180 Accubonds on bears. The 200 gr out of a PRC would be awesome if you can find some.

Thanks so much for both of your replies, greatly appreciated. I agree with the Accubond, but Nosler doesn't load it factory for 300PRC. I do know Copper Creek loads the Accubond in 300PRC ammo, but I haven't heard the greatest reviews on the Copper Creek stuff, so I've been reluctant to try it out. I have my eye on the Federal Terminal Ascent as well, that's at the top of my list to try. This might get some flack, but given how well the 215 Berger target bullets shoot out of my rifle, would it be worth trying their 210 Berger or 205 Berger hunting bullets? Gunwerks loads the 210's and Copper Creek loads the 205's, which are both listed as Berger's 'hunting' bullets. Thanks again, I appreciate the input!

 

[Laelkhunter]

Since you don't reload, see if you can find either the 180 grain Nosler Partition or the 180 grain Swift A-Frame in a factory load.
The Swift A-Frame is built like a Nosler Partition, but it is a bonded bullet. A perfect brown bear bullet with plenty of penetration.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Try Copper Creek Cartridge Co. They seem to have a lot of 300 PRC listed. Maybe give them a call and tell them what you will be hunting and maybe they can recommend something for you.

 

[Blake C]

I too run 215 berger in my 300winmag. They shoot a ragged hole. But for the same reason Alaska in spring. Im loading some nosler partitions. Big brown bears at close range(250 or less)

 

[ball151]

This is all great information, thanks so much! I did call Copper Creek and they were less than helpful on the phone to be honest, unfortunately. Given what I've read about them, and my phone call with them, it wasn't exactly 'confidence-inspiring'. They do have a lot of 300PRC options though, that's for sure. I will give the Federal Terminal Ascent a try and see how it groups, and go from there. Thanks again for all of the input!

 

[bthomas43]

Another vote for the Federal Terminal Ascent if you are limited to factory ammo. Killed 2 brown bears with them this fall out of a 7 PRC. Both bears were dead withing 30 yds

 

[gbflyer]

Biggest soft point you can accurately shoot.

 

[omicron1792]

Somebody’s going to jump in here and tell you those Bergers are fine, but I agree with your assessment of “not ideal.”

Accuracy requirements aren’t particularly painstaking for a brown bear. If I can get 1.5 MOA with a bullet I like, that’s good enough. Getting closer is the fun part of brown bear hunting, and helps with field judging.

Midway has a good selection of 300 PRC with sturdier bullets in stock right now. Of their current offerings, the Federal Terminal Ascent load would be my first pick.

To echo the above though, I have had great success with 30 cal 180 Accubonds on bears. The 200 gr out of a PRC would be awesome if you can find some.

Ugh

 

[Rwolf]

I'm planning to use the 200gr Terminal ascents in my 300 win mag for my brown bear hunt this spring. I think they will do a good job.

 

[Blake C]

You guys shooting terminal accents. How fast is going in comparison to advertising on the box?
I tried a box of 6.5prc, 100fps over speed. Second shot blew the primer out.
Last season my buddy used it on his 308win. He had hard bolt lift and couldn't extract from the chamber.
Just interested how it did in your guns.

 

[Rwolf]

300 win is advertised at 2810. Mine shoot around 2835. No problems and they shoot .75

 

[ridgerunnerrron]

I wonder how many Brown bears have been shot decades ago w old fashioned regular Rem or Win ammo?? Even though I don't own a 300 PRC, I shot my Brown, Polar and Grizzly bear w a diff 300 and run of the mill180 gr pills. No state of the art high priced ammo. Double lung 'em with breaking down one or both shoulders is going to result in a quickly dead bear!

 

[ball151]

Awesome, thanks so much for all of the input from everyone, greatly appreciated!

 

[Muleyczy]

Thanks so much for both of your replies, greatly appreciated. I agree with the Accubond, but Nosler doesn't load it factory for 300PRC. I do know Copper Creek loads the Accubond in 300PRC ammo, but I haven't heard the greatest reviews on the Copper Creek stuff, so I've been reluctant to try it out. I have my eye on the Federal Terminal Ascent as well, that's at the top of my list to try. This might get some flack, but given how well the 215 Berger target bullets shoot out of my rifle, would it be worth trying their 210 Berger or 205 Berger hunting bullets? Gunwerks loads the 210's and Copper Creek loads the 205's, which are both listed as Berger's 'hunting' bullets. Thanks again, I appreciate the input!

I’ve tried, and still use, Copper creek with great success. I did the entire load process, which is time consuming, and costly, but once I was done, I had the bullet I wanted and it was dialed in. The only head scratcher I had with it was once dialed, I chrono maybe 12-15 rounds and was surprised to see the that much in speed variances/ spread. I would have thought they would have been tighter but shrugged it off because gun liked the load and was stacking them. I’m only a sample of one so take it with a grain

 

[SDHNTR]

I’ve tried, and still use, Copper creek with great success. I did the entire load process, which is time consuming, and costly, but once I was done, I had the bullet I wanted and it was dialed in. The only head scratcher I had with it was once dialed, I chrono maybe 12-15 rounds and was surprised to see the that much in speed variances/ spread. I would have thought they would have been tighter but shrugged it off because gun liked the load and was stacking them. I’m only a sample of one so take it with a grain

Exact same experience I had with a batch of .223 ammo I bought from them. Accurate, but wild ES!

 

[LightFoot]

200 gr A-Frame here:

.300 PRC - BEAR HAMMER

Discover Pendleton Ammunition’s .300 PRC Bear Hammer—handcrafted heavy game ammo with Swift A-Frame and Barnes LRX loads. Designed for deep penetration and knockdown power on grizzly, brown, and polar bears, moose, and elk. Proudly hand-loaded in Oregon.

pendletonammunition.com

Also consider Barnes 180+ loads and the Hornady Outfitter 190 CX.


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