Brown Bear with a 358 STA.

PaLuke

PaLuke

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Joined
Dec 11, 2004
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186
Location
Hegins, Pa.
My friend is going for brown bear in the spring and I'm helping him by working up a load for his hunt. He's using a 358 STA and I already have some 225 gr Accubonds loaded and I just picked up some 225 gr Barnes TTSX FB for him. I'm thinking the Barnes would be better suited for his hunt. Does anyone have any experience with the Barnes on brown bear? I'm pretty sure he won't have any trouble with penetration. Thanks for your help and replies. Take care.
 
sloone said:
barnes are awesome and i have used them almost exclusively for 25 years on things that can ruin much more than just your day.swift a frames are good as are trophy bonded and woodleigh.might want to work up a load with some 250s.but whatever you use make that 1st shot a good one.
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Starting this week I'm going to begin shooting the Barnes. Just from reading I should be able to find a good load for him. Thanks for the replies.
 
I have shot a lot of barnes 6.5 to 375 both TSX & TTSX. I have been very happy. I took my brown bear with a 270 TSX out of a 376 steyr at 65 yards. Both rounds fired were quartering shots. The first entered the shoulder neck crease and penetrated about 6 ft of bear and stopped in the offside hip joint. Bear flipped around 180 deg and the second entered well behind the near shoulder and exited out thru the opposite shoulder area.

Only 1 bullet recovered 268.8 grains retained weight.

Have loaded Barnes for at least a dozen rifles. I start 60/1000 of the lands and for the 358 I would use .6 grain increment loads and the OCW method. Find the two loads next to each that have the same POI relative to POA and that have good accuracy split the difference between them. If you want to improve on the accuracy try seating 20/1000 deeper.
 
I shot my 9' brown bear at about 40 yards with a 416 Hoffman and 350 gr Barnes X-bullet. Muzzle velocity about 2400 fps. The bear stood up, did the biting dance and fell down dead. In addition, I shot a 500 pound black bear with a 300 Wby Mag with a 150 gr TTSX at near 3550 fps muzzle velocity at 65 yards. The bear ran about 20 yards and expired. The bullet did not exit the brown bear but it did exit the black bear. But, neither bear lived more than an few seconds after the shot. Barnes bullets work very well when placed in the vitals.
 
No experience on brown bear using Barnes, but I've taken Africa game using one in my 375 H&H. 250 TTSX for eland with one shot at 150 yards (ran maybe 50 yards) and a Cape buffalo using a 300 TSX at maybe 35 yards (two shots as it circled, stopped and dropped).
My Kodiak hunts I carried a 375 H&H with 300 gr Nosler Partitions, but if I ever returned (not likely since I'm pretty broke after 2 tries!) I'd use either the 250 TTSX, or a 300 Swift A-frame.
If your friend does his part, he should do well with the 225. Hoping you post some pictures of a successful hunt!
 
Last edited:
ENGUNEER said:
I shot my 9' brown bear at about 40 yards with a 416 Hoffman and 350 gr Barnes X-bullet. Muzzle velocity about 2400 fps. The bear stood up, did the biting dance and fell down dead. In addition, I shot a 500 pound black bear with a 300 Wby Mag with a 150 gr TTSX at near 3550 fps muzzle velocity at 65 yards. The bear ran about 20 yards and expired. The bullet did not exit the brown bear but it did exit the black bear. But, neither bear lived more than an few seconds after the shot. Barnes bullets work very well when placed in the vitals.
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1731159462669.png
 
1wildcatfan said:
No bear, but bison....put a 225 Barnes out of my 358STA @ 3100 fps pass through broadside, it turned 90 degrees then second shot pass through length ways at 75 yds. Dropped in its tracks on the second shot.
Click to expand...
Congratulations on the bison! Do you remember or the data available for your load? I'm looking at H-4350 or H-4831 for this. Thanks again.
 

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