Hunting & Fishing bullet selection help

[athanasios23]

Hello all,

I may have a chance to go on a black bear hunt in Northern PA this fall and need some help on bullet selection. I had SW Ammo load me 180gr spitzer rounds for the hunt. I shot them out of my Rem LTR today and my shots were all over the place. I had been shooting one whole groups at 100yrds with this same rifle and SW match reloads today as well so I know the rifle shoots well. I put the 180gr spitzer rounds in my GAP 308 and got much more consistent grouping. Problem is the GAP is a heavy pig and I don't want to carry it through the woods and up a tree stand. My LTR does well with 168gr bullets. I have Barnes vor-tx ttsx bullets I will be hunting deer with.

My questions are-

Are these sufficient rounds for black bear?
What is a good bullet around that weight in 308 for bear?

 

[dk17hmr]

Guys that I hunted with in Michigan used 30-30's with 170gr round nose bullets for black bears and I only remember following up one more than 50 yards, it was hit a little to far back. If your hunting from a tree chances are your shot is going to be close so your normal weight bullet is probably fine. I wouldn't use a match bullet personally but if you do put it in the ear. I'm a big fan of Accubonds for heavy animals.

 

[long range newbie]

and if your in a tree stand a heavy rifle won't bother you (and if I'm wrong I'm sorry I have never hunted in a tree stand only normal spot and stalk.

 

[SavageSlayer]

The Barnes VOR-TX ammo with 168 gr. T-TSX bullets will be more than what's necessary for black bear. In fact, for deer, you can drop down to the 130 gr. bullets and those will still be more than what's necessary for deer.

I do use the Barnes T-TSX bullets for hunting. I use the 168 gr. in my 308 at 2700 fps. I also use the 130 gr in my 270 at 3000 fps. I wouldn't hesitate to use either on anything up to and as big as elk including black bear.

 

[coldboremiracle]

Shoot what you and your rifle do best with, match or not. I've shot nothing but match bullets for probably 8-9 big game animals now, I cant believe a "hunting" bullet would have done a better job. Go with what works.

 

[45.308]

All over the place, what does that mean? Hunting rifle has to hit where it is aimed into the engine room, while accuracy is good it is not the most important aspect of a hunting rifle. What ranges do you plan to hunt? And do you really need sub .5moa accuracy to make that shot? Bullet placement is #1 with bullet design #2. Me, I recommend Partitions, not one hole dimers, just under 1moa in 338 but have never failed like most other bullets.

good luck and have fun

 

[Ghogs Nightmare]

Out of the 308 anything in the 165-180 class is fine. Black bear aren't very thick skinned (hide) so you don't need a super tough bullet. You may want to try the Etip or Accubond both would fair well for what you want to do.
.
Oh an good luck while visiting PA. Hopefully you don't step into to big of pumpkin patch (pa woods in hunting season.)

 

[Graham]

Bear are not thick skinned animals so you don't need to worry about bullet performance. And even if they were thick skinned animals, bullet placement would still be everything.

 

[psinclair]

This old, heavy boar was taken with one shot from my 7.5lb GAP .308 at 580 yards. My bullet of choice is Lapua's 155gr scenar. It's worked well for me on dozens of big game animals over the past 7-8 years.

Like what Graham said, shot placement trumps everything else.

 

[psinclair]

Another good sized male killed with the same rifle and load. This one was 490 yards, hit through the lungs, broadside. The bullet left a 1.5" exit on the off side. He ran about 50 yards after the hit before he piled up.

 

[cconn30]

180 grain Nosler Partition always did the trick. Not going to win any competitions with this round, but it groups well enough for a kill shot. [MENTION=17825]psinclair[/MENTION] very impressive animals with a scenar. Testament to great shot placement.