.68 cal rubber ball loads?

[G.Mitchell]

I’m looking for assistance with loading non lethal rounds to deter bears on my property.

I’ve alreafy spoken to the proper authorities and I can legally use rubber ammo to drive bears from my property.

We’ve had issues with black bear and this week an issue with grizzlies.

I know I can buy premade rubber slug/shot loads but I’d prefer to work up a load of my own so I can practice and get to know the range and limits. Also rubber slug loads are over $4/round which would add up quickly.

I want to use hard rubber rap4 training balls. They’re .68 cal which should work well.

Anyone here done this?

Thanks

 

[pounder]

You must make sure that they will not penetrate that is really bad. I load .12 rubber buck shot rnds. for bears up here,they are very good at moving stubborn out of my yard. Also I never shoot at the front end of the bear too much chance of taking out an eye. If you PM me I can give you my data if you want.

 

[G.Mitchell]

You must make sure that they will not penetrate that is really bad. I load .12 rubber buck shot rnds. for bears up here,they are very good at moving stubborn out of my yard. Also I never shoot at the front end of the bear too much chance of taking out an eye. If you PM me I can give you my data if you want.

Thank you for the feedback, I agree on the loads needing to be safe and not penetrate and will only take hind end shots. I’ve got 5, soon to be 6, little kids that run and play where the grizzly bear was lurking so I really want to deter bear behavior like that...

 

[sixty9santa]

Very interested in this as well.
Where do you guys get the rubber balls from?

 

[G.Mitchell]

Very interested in this as well.
Where do you guys get the rubber balls from?

I found a source in Toronto that sells the hard(er) rubber type used in the RAP4 markers. They’re .68 cal so should work well.

I’ll post more once I know more from them.

 

[pounder]

I got the balls from another gunnut about 2 years ago. I have no idea where he got them. They are .55 diameter and 3 of them weigh 83.0 grns. As best that I can tell shooting them through my chrony they are moving at about 800 fps. at 5 yrds.
I also put together a golf ball gun that is very effective out to about 60 yrds.

On another note why is this bear lurking around ? and how far do you need to move it to feel safe and let the kids out.

 

[TacticalTeacher]

In the winter my high school students and I played indoor arena (Astro turf) paintball with rubber .68 caliber rubber paintballs. I think they were called “reball”. Back in the day we could by them by the bag on eBay. Likely 100 count bags.

Hope this helps. They sure smart when you get hit with them. You welt up just like a paintball bit!

Cheers, Barney

 

[Gatehouse]

I've made them by opening the top of trap loads, dumping the shot and replacing it with hot glue. Works good at close range. After that they fly erratically as they are quite light.

They do work though- after being shot with them the bears will give me a wide berth.

 

[billdick]

With kids in the equation I would use my favourite hunting rifle and remove the threat all together

 

[G.Mitchell]

Thanks all, the bears seem to be passing through.

We can deal with black bears and cougars ourselves here but grizzlies are none lethal loads only unless imminent danger is upon us.

There’s nothing here for the bears other than natural forage. We’ve got chickens, turkeys, and goats but the bears never go near them.