.308 vs .358 vs 30-06 for black bear...Opinions please!
- Thread starter DTM5
- Start date
Yes Sir. A big, badly torn up, exit hole will disappear completely when the hide is sewn up before tanning.
Check.
Right. As you well know, even the biggest black bears are not hard to kill with bullets that expand well. They fold up pretty quickly with lung shots, especially using round nose.
Not the ones I have seen, and there have been no small number of them. I cannot remember how many bears I have taken in the Spring, and all have been in excellent condition. Of course, we hunt them in late April and May, not June.
Ted
Unless you already have an accurate load for the TSX's you mentioned that you are very confident with I'd look at either slightly lighter TSX's or traditional bullets of a similar weight to what you mentioned. Meat loss and hide damage between the two cartridges is probably not worth lost sleep, if similarly constructed bullets are used. Take both rifles, if you can't do that take the one you shoot best.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I often have hunting clients ask what to bring for bear and the answer is always whatever you shoot best. I’ve cleanly taken black bear with 9mm Luger from a carbine all the way up to the elephant guns, none stood out as appreciably better for taking an unaware black bear, all died efficiently. Some guys even use pointy sticks and bows!
The bullet advice is sound, TSXs will kill them but aren’t the fastest to by any means. I still use them but only because my kids are eating the meat and I don’t want lead fragments within a hundred yards of it.
The bullet advice is sound, TSXs will kill them but aren’t the fastest to by any means. I still use them but only because my kids are eating the meat and I don’t want lead fragments within a hundred yards of it.
My go to is a Win 94 30-30 with the cheap 170 PPs. I hunt over a bait though, shots are about 15 yards, and they always get 2. Not just because it's fun, I hate tracking bear. I've hunted with the ole "1 shot, 1 kill" guys before and always asked "why didn't you hit em again?" ..".Well I thought I hit em good" ..."You want to go in there & get em?...thought not". Tracking in the daylight through the thick sh!t really sucks, never mind at night. And I'm usually the dummy up front!
Either choice is fine but I'd say hammer em twice!...lol
Either choice is fine but I'd say hammer em twice!...lol
My buddies all laugh at me Because I tend to shoot deer more than once - Even though its never been necessary. I hate seeing them run off, even if its only 50 yards. I think the time I helped a buddy track and find a wounded deer a very very long way down a valley into a swamp.....and then all the way back left an impression on me.
If I get a chance at a Bruin there is gonna be some lead (Sorry Copper!) flying.
But it is a messy cleaning job... I always put one through the lungs and let them run... they don't go far in the 5-10 seconds they have before the O2 runs out... and that is the shot we always recommended for clients, regardless of what they were shooting.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
Breaking the back shoulders is a worse cleaning job LOL
Ive had several buddies bears run into thick swamps and down steep rocky ravines. I prefer to anchor them where they are if i can. A few more minutes at the cleaning table is easier than a few hours recovery especially during black fly season
To each their own
One through the lungs is not a few hours of recovery unless you are hunting in the Rockies... 95% of the time it is under 50 yards, even with archery... based on about 300 bears for myself and for clients over a 30 year span... but as you say, to each their own.
If i hunt the same 2 sites again and have the bear run over the edge or into swamp you are more than welcome to come help. 3 bears in these areas have been difficult to get to. Im sure there are other areas similar or as in the case down here with deer property lines
Well, the verdict is in! Went hunting with my buddy for a week, He got one!. He used the Barnes TTSX 168gr .308. His shot was a double lung pass thru; Entry and exit holes indicated decent expansion. Emulsified the heart. Bear ran 20 yards, moaned and was dead. The shot was a good one so really I don't think the bullet type even mattered all that much; However for what its worth the Barnes TTSX did exactly as advertised.
Now a bigger bear was shot by another hunter at our camp with a 30-06 Hornady SST 180gr. This was a shoulder shot; Bullet exploded on the bone and detonated everywhere. Flattened the bear but didn't kill it; A second shot was required a couple minutes later to finish the job.
Two different bullets, calibres and shot placements, and two dead bears. Now that being said, that second bear was a big one (425+) and as awesome as the .308 it I think next year it'll be the .358 on the stand with me. Its official - I'm a bear hunting addict!
Now a bigger bear was shot by another hunter at our camp with a 30-06 Hornady SST 180gr. This was a shoulder shot; Bullet exploded on the bone and detonated everywhere. Flattened the bear but didn't kill it; A second shot was required a couple minutes later to finish the job.
Two different bullets, calibres and shot placements, and two dead bears. Now that being said, that second bear was a big one (425+) and as awesome as the .308 it I think next year it'll be the .358 on the stand with me. Its official - I'm a bear hunting addict!
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drum_boy101
CGN Regular
- Location
- Highland Valley, BC
Connected with my first bear this weekend, easy uphill shot, 120 meters away. I was shooting an X-Bolt in 30-06 loaded with 150 grain TTSX. Dime sized entry, slightly larger than Toonie exit. He took about 4 steps, moaned and then gave up, lungs were soup.
Other than its accuracy, which is fine, the SST is about the most unpredictable bullet made. One time it holds together and penetrates well, another it becomes a grenade. This with perfectly placed shots into the heart lung area. Seen it enough times that I decided to not use them about 15 years ago.
One thing you can be sure of, it is not going to hold together well on bone. Even hits on ribs cause blowups.
Ted
