22-250 for bear

3

303carbine

BANNED
BANNED
BANNED
EE Expired
Rating - 99.5%
198   1   0
Location
Vancouver Island BC
I have never taken a bear with a varmint gun and I would not say that the 22-250 is a bear gun, but has any of the members ever had to use one on a black bear ?
And if so what was the distance , bullet , etc.
I have 2 30-06's. a 7mm Mauser, .338 mag so I beleve the 22-250 should be for varmints. Maybe its big enough for deer if you have the perfect broadside shot and you're under 100 yards with a Nosler Partition bullet. Its like I always believe, you cannot be overgunned but you can be undergunned.
 
As you know, Van Isle bears are like varmits but don't be go'in and pulling no stunts shooting them with a varmit cartridges. I don't want to be eaten by some PO'd bear.
 
I've seen a bear drop in it's tracks from a .22-250 with a factory 55 grain soft point. It wouldn't be my first choice but it can be done. In NB it's perfectly legal to use "any" centre-fire cartridge for big game. Now let's see who the armchair quarterbacks are....
 
First off let me say that I don't approve of using little gun on big game animals. Having said that some folks are going to keep on using them, and sometimes they have good results. When a man gets a one shot kill on a moose, as a local fellow did here this year - with a .22-250 shooting 55 gr Remington bulk bullets at .223 velocities - I know cause I loaded the ammo - you aren't going to convince him that he needs a .375.
 
I have bene tempted to take a shot at a bear wiht a 22-250AI and a X bullet...

Haven't done so as of yet, and I wouldn't try it with a grizzly, but it should work if everything goes perfectly.

There was a Jack OConnor reprint in Outdoor Life this month, and trhey mentioned that his hunting partner had killed a grizzly with one shot form a 22 Varmit cartridge (Wildcat)

That eing said, there a re better tools for the job. It's that simple...
 
I did a little test this summer with Vancouver phone books. I soaked the phone books in several big buckets of water. The 4 inch phone book expanded to approximately 12 inches thick.The smaller phone books expanded less obviously. I stood the phone books up giving me about an 18 inch thick surface to shoot. First was my 7 mag shooting 150 grain nosler ballistic tip. The 7 made a huge hole about 6 inches in diameter. The first 12 inches of phone book was completely destroyed(6 inch hole)and the damage tapered from that point . I found the mushroomed bullet at the very back of the 18 inch thick books and was intact.
Now for my 22/250 shooting 55 grain nosler ballistic varmint. I still had the bottom half of the phone books to shoot at. Surprisingly enough the 22/250 left a massive hole just like my 7 mag through 12 inches of book. The bullet stopped about 1.5 inches from the back of the stacked books. The bullet completely came apart leaving what looked like a solid brass primer in the pulp material.( Nosler BTs have solid brass pieces about the size of a magnum primer in the very back of the bullet) By looking at the damage, the varmint loads did very well. They completely came apart but they still did one hell of alot of damage. 22/250 VS bear body???? I would take that bet.
I did another test earlier in the year shooting a 1/4 inch thick steel disk that was about 2 inches in diameter. A chain was welded to the disk so the disk was hanging by its own weight. Both the 7 mag and the 22 /250 left an almost identical hole. Very clean hole BTW.
Next summer i will test 1/4 inch steel plate with a phone book behind to see what happens to the bullet. The 1/4 inch plate will simulate hitting a rib.
 
Seen bear shot with a 225 winchester. Dropped stone cold dead with a 55 grn softpoint. 225 is pretty close to a 22-250.
 
Yesterday I changed a light fixture. I used three different screwdrivers, a pair of wire cutting pliers, and a pair of wire strippers. Thinking about it, I could have got by with just my Swiss Army knife, but the toolbox was available...
 
Cannot recommend varmint cartridges for big game, but it can be done. I shot a very large Black bear with the 220 Swift many years ago. The load was a 55 grain Hornady FBSP at 3900+ chased by a big charge of H380. The kill was a bang-flop. That being said, the autopsy showed that the bullet had disintegrated in the interior of the bear, and had penetration been needed, the shot would not have made it in. Regards, Eagleye.
 
Done it.... wouldn't hesitate to do it again if the conditions were right. Bullet selection being critical, with the 55gr Sierra SBT Gameking being my choice. Having said that, it is certainly not my first pick for a bear cartridge under all conditions (and you had better hope for a Bang-Flop)!

280_ACKLEY
 
Ive never done it, hell, Ive never even fired a 22-250 in my life I dont think.

if I *had* to, Id load 53 gr. Barnes Triple Shock X's, and make sure shot placement was SURGICAL, 100 yards or so at a calm bear that was oblivious to you being there.

Ive been somewhat tempted to try it with my 223 w/ X's, but I dont think I ever will...:rolleyes:
 
BIGREDD said:
Darwin Award.... coming up !;)
Click to expand...

I'm gonna have to agree with BIGREDD on this one, something that I don't do very often. :eek:

Even though the 22 centerfire makes a great deer caliber with proper bullets and good shootin', I think it would be pretty stupid to shoot a bear with one. :D


SC.............................
 
Supercub wrote:

"Even though the 22 centerfire makes a great deer caliber with proper bullets and good shootin', I think it would be pretty stupid to shoot a bear with one."

There is actually very little difference between the two in terms of how hard they are to anchor, and I would even go as far to suggest that I have found bear to be one of the least "tenacious" critters I hunt.

On average, I have seen whitetail bucks run further than black bear (neither go far :D ).

Except for the "Big Teeth" factor, black bear are actually pushovers, and highly over rated thanks to Outdoor Life and other "Bear Attack" stories.

A bears skeletal structure is not much different than large deer, and their skin is not as thick, with a brisket that doesn't require a bone saw to split, even on MONSTER blackies I can split their sternum with a knife and a simple twist of the wrist (much easier than a large mulie buck).

I still prefer a larger caliber however for deer and bear, as it opens up options when shot presentation is less than perfect.

280_ACKLEY
 
I've taken 3 blacks with a Remington 788 in .222. None of the shots were more than 50 yards and were either placed in the neck or behind the shoulder of the quartering away bear, so as to penetrate forward on the angle. The 2 neck shot bears were up in trees, and when they hit the ground they never moved again. The bear that was on the ground ran about 40 or 50 yards and died.

But I've also shot a bear at 100 yards using a 150 grain bullet out of my 7mm mag and it didn't even flinch. It was standing in some water and at the shot I saw a splash behind it, and it just ran off. I thought I had missed, but I couldn't beleive it. I had to make sure it wasn't hit, so when I went to look I found it dead 30 yards into the bush. The bullet had completely penetrated and I saw it hit the water after it had exited.
 
Uh huh. Same here Bronc. Shot several deer with my 7 mag and the deer wonder off as if going for a stroll in the park.
Im going to do some serious testing this summer to prove the devastation a 22 pill traveling at 4K fps will do. I have no doubt in my mind it will drop a deer or bear easily.
I think people forget that a 22 will expend every last bit of energy into an animal where a heavier bullet will penetrate through the animal and take out a couple unsuspecting pine trees and lodge itself in a fir.
I will still use my 7 mag obviously but i would bet Gatehouses spear that the 22/250 will devastate a bear in the vitals.
 
I'll admit I have no experience at all in this department but I wouldn't hunt black bear without anything smaller than a 120gn hot .25 cal(257 Rob+P and up) and I'd be much happier with a 7mm or above.
I might add that this debate has an ethical aspect.
Probable capabilities & performance should weigh over possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom