Black Bear bullet options

[Quicksilver338]

As long as you can have massive damage internally and a large exit wound as mentioned above to let them bleed, black tend to die within 50 yards of the shot. Don't put a well placed shot on them and you have a different story...

 

[BoomFlop]

In my experience, Black bears are pretty easy to kill compared to big whitetails. The only differences is that a black bear can harm you and they do not tend to provide great blood trails due to the fat and long hair.

Also, a black bears vitals are not tucked behind the shoulder as they are on the deer species. Because of this, a bonded or mono is not needed. I'd choose a bullet that expands violently. Something like a Game Kind, Ballistic Tip, Berger and the like. Shoot them 4" back of the shoulder and you'll watch them die.

My opinion and good luck.

Steve

 

[MZmoose]

The average black bear can be killed with any deer cartridge. A big heavy boar is substantially tougher to kill, but anything that will take elk reliably will work.

 

[wv270wsm]

We hunt bears with hounds . All said and done last season I saw 16 different bears be shot out. They are not hard to kill with good shot placement at all. I'd say more bears are killed over hounds with the good ol 30-30 than anything else. So any decent bullet with good shot placement will be more the sufficient.
Now if you were asking about mr bear has been crippled and is not wanting to give up you sure as heck can't beat a slug from the 12 or 20 gauge at close quarters

 

[Alibiiv]

I'm reading a lot about good shot placement. As I'm writing this reply I'm in Maine bear hunting with my son. Our guns are.358 Winchester, 35 Whelen, 45-70 Guide Gun. 200gr Barnes TTSX in the.358, 225gr Barnes in The Whelen, and 300gr Barnes in the 45-70. Our last outfitter asked what we were hunting with , we told him 35 Whelen; and he smiled!! We asked why he was smiling, he said because we don't have to track them. Get a fat, heavy bear and the bullet will blow up inside the bear. And...you want a through and through hole so they bleed a lot

 

[skinnyjk]

I have a likely opportunity to go after black bear in the near future.
Never hunted black bear before.
I already know that Partitions and the 6.5 140 AB's and the 7mm 160 AB's will work on black bear.
Will be using one of my center-grip XP-100 specialty pistols and a revolver.

Here is my question is do these work on black bear?
7mm 175 grain ELD-X at 2900 fps or the Nosler LR Accubond at the same speed.

142 6.5 LR Accubond from 2700-3050ish fps. Three different 6.5's
The 7mm load with the 175 ELD-X took four elk last year and a muley buck, all under 250 yards

Has anyone killed several bears with the 175 ELD-X or LR AB's in 6.5 and or 7mm with satisfying results?

All of the above will absolutely work, my experience has been with Swift A-FRAME, don't think they can be improved on for terminal performance, the Scirrocco is also a great bonded bullet that will work just fine. The Sierra Game changer is another very accurate choice.

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

Pass throughs definitely dont hurt.... but not really needed either if you put the bullet where it belongs. The bear I shot with the 140 a-max at 2685 fps was a boar that dressed at 312lbs. No exit and he went less than 20 yards from where I shot him. On the other hand, I saw a bear shot at 10 ft straight down through the back with a 7mm rem mag and a 140 nosler BT and that bear went 300 yards on one lung. Lost blood at 150 because the hole in the bottom of the chest plugged with fat and hair. Tracked the rest by imprints in the leaves. So as long as your patient and wait for the shot you want you could shoot them with a 243 and they wont go anywhere.

 

[rharfo]

I was witness to a black bear massacre last year. 7 Rem mag, 140 accubond at 50 then closed to 10 yards. 200lb boar. 5 shots before it expired. I loaded the ammo and chronographed it for a friend. I'm guess he was hitting the bear anywhere from 2950-3000 FPS. Now he thinks it was a bullet failure and wants me to load 120 grain. I'm trying to explain that we should go 160 grain. Slow the bullet down and add some weight for the short range brush shots. Of course it wasn't a bullet failure just a mess. Would love to hunt them out west - glass them , dial and shoot. Tough to get standing-feeding shots in the brush where I hunt.

 

[Tiny Tim]

Like others have stated, bears are in the same category as deer as far as how difficult to kill. A buddy of mine went on a guided archery hunt in Canada a few years back. Threw out his back loading for the trip. Couldn't even draw his bow back, so on the last day, he took the guide up on his offer of a 300 Savage. Shot a 400#+ bear that evening.

 

[yobuck]

I was witness to a black bear massacre last year. 7 Rem mag, 140 accubond at 50 then closed to 10 yards. 200lb boar. 5 shots before it expired. I loaded the ammo and chronographed it for a friend. I'm guess he was hitting the bear anywhere from 2950-3000 FPS. Now he thinks it was a bullet failure and wants me to load 120 grain. I'm trying to explain that we should go 160 grain. Slow the bullet down and add some weight for the short range brush shots. Of course it wasn't a bullet failure just a mess. Would love to hunt them out west - glass them , dial and shoot. Tough to get standing-feeding shots in the brush where I hunt.

You wouldn't really need to travel west for a glassing type long range hunt for Black Bear Rharfo.
PA is rated among the best states in the country for them, and there are lots of people there who hunt them that way, and lots of good places to do it. The center part of the state north of RT 80 would all be a good area for that type of a hunt and much of it is open public land. The counties with the most good steep type terrain for glassing would be Lycoming, Tioga, Clinton, Cameron and Elk, with parts of other counties in that region also. Those would also be the ones with the higher kill numbers.

 

[yobuck]

Very few of us ever get to be what we might call "qualified" as for our bear killing experiences. Ive got 70 hunting seasons behind me in PA, and about 2/3 of those included hunting bear there also. I have always hunted the N C region of that state which also has a high population of bear. Yet I've known quite a few hunters who have never even seen a bear in the woods during any of the hunting seasons.
The best method for hunting them "legally" in PA would be to join up with a large group, with the key word being "large," and drive out the nastiest steepest places in the area.
That method would offer the highest percentage of success for bear in that state.
Next best in my opinion is to find a place offering good visibility for long distances, and wait for somebody else to move one to where you can see it.
It's like a hitter waiting/hoping for a good pitcher to make a mistake. And the same rule applys, hit it right now because there wont be another chance any time soon and maybe ever.
Preparation is the key element, especially with how you are set up to shoot, followed by having enough gun and knowing it well.
I don't really think the bullet matters as much as getting it there with plenty of velocity.

 

[Quicksilver338]

Very few of us ever get to be what we might call "qualified" as for our bear killing experiences. Ive got 70 hunting seasons behind me in PA, and about 2/3 of those included hunting bear there also. I have always hunted the N C region of that state which also has a high population of bear. Yet I've known quite a few hunters who have never even seen a bear in the woods during any of the hunting seasons.
The best method for hunting them "legally" in PA would be to join up with a large group, with the key word being "large," and drive out the nastiest steepest places in the area.
That method would offer the highest percentage of success for bear in that state.
Next best in my opinion is to find a place offering good visibility for long distances, and wait for somebody else to move one to where you can see it.
It's like a hitter waiting/hoping for a good pitcher to make a mistake. And the same rule applys, hit it right now because there wont be another chance any time soon and maybe ever.
Preparation is the key element, especially with how you are set up to shoot, followed by having enough gun and knowing it well.
I don't really think the bullet matters as much as getting it there with plenty of velocity.

Here in NW Washington through the cascades we see more bear than we know what to do with! Enough that you become a snob and start being "selective" on what you shoot because you can go through up to 10 options in a season. Saying that I do agree with your statement because even with all those bear some people get out and can go a season without seeing anything. Typically those are the people who like to hunt from their truck and don't but on miles to get to more remote areas whether on a trail or off.

 

[yobuck]

Ive heard and read about the bear numbers in that region of the country. There are no snob bear hunters in PA though, i can assure you of that. Any size bear is in serious jeapardy when the season opens. And back in the boonies wont be apt to have more of them. Where the food is is where you will be more apt to find them including trash cans, at least until the pressure is placed on them with people numbers.
We glass the ridges every day "weather permitting" during the 2 week buck season. Some years we might see several, and some years none during that time frame. Fact is though we have seen more at some locations than we have at others.
When i started hunting in the late 40s, bear season started on a Monday for the entire week before the buck season. Later it was reduced to 3 days, and it remained that way until rather recently for a Saturday opener.
Archery hunters now have a full week plus the rifle season where they can still use their bows.

 

[Hatrick]

Ive heard and read about the bear numbers in that region of the country. There are no snob bear hunters in PA though, i can assure you of that. Any size bear is in serious jeapardy when the season opens. And back in the boonies wont be apt to have more of them. Where the food is is where you will be more apt to find them including trash cans, at least until the pressure is placed on them with people numbers.
We glass the ridges every day "weather permitting" during the 2 week buck season. Some years we might see several, and some years none during that time frame. Fact is though we have seen more at some locations than we have at others.
When i started hunting in the late 40s, bear season started on a Monday for the entire week before the buck season. Later it was reduced to 3 days, and it remained that way until rather recently for a Saturday opener.
Archery hunters now have a full week plus the rifle season where they can still use their bows.

And muzzleloader and senior/ youth days.