Best bullet for a bison

Leonidas said:
I shot a bison January 1st of this year; 375 H&H, 300gr nosler partition, bullet performance was perfect, animal only ran 20 yards. one round was all it took.

These are huge tough beasts, and the chance to hunt one is so rare, why use a marginal caliber? Even Guys using 300 win mag were having trouble. Several guys said they need to shoot their animals 6-8 times before they went down. I think 30-06 is not enough, I wouldn't hunt bison with anything less than 338 mag.

Having said that there is a big difference between hunting wild ones and shooting them on a farm... for a canned "hunt" 30-06 might do the job.

Just my two cents.
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.375 H&H really when i was making plans to go to africa for a plains game hunt i was thinking about a .375 H&H but i reserved that money for something else only reason i though about that cal for there was the chance of running into somthing bigger

im fan of slow,wide and heavy rounds they pack a punch and are almost unstoppable like the big old martini henry slug .470" 480gr moving around 1400 fps no doubt it will go through and moose and its known to have taken elephant
 
antiqueguy said:
no archery hmm seems odd ive seen vids of ele taken with both compound bows and crossbows
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yes, you ve seen vids but that doesnt everybody must hunt that way.

there is really a concensus on what to use for bison hunting ...

Alaska 200 grains and over E100 yards 2000 ft/lbs (30-06 mini)
Wyoming and Montana 150 grains (means 270 win)
Poland 3000j or 2200 ft/lbs at 100m with 7mm mini caliber (7x64 or 280 rem)
BC 2712j/ 2000 ft/lbs +175 grains/+ 11,3 grammes again at 100m (7x64 is the mini and 7 mm rem mag the practical one)
NWT 200 grains and over (30-06 the mini)
Yukon 30 cal with 2800 ft/lbs 3800j at the muzzle and 180 grains (30-06)
Alberta recommending Yukon rules. (30-06)

we dont hunt with numbers for sure but those reccomendations are a good guideline.

the 30-06 is really a good caliber especially with good bullet.
 
antiqueguy said:
thats kind of high my martini with the BP load is only putting out around 1950fpe but no dubt it will drop one out to 100 yards
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Everything requires 2800 FPE including black powder for hunting them up here. It was put in because there was a lot of people wounding them and not recovering.

To the original poster you may want to just get used to ordering stuff in. Since Sean quit that shop has been terrible for things like reloading components. I bought the last of the 375 300gr TSX's there over a year ago and nothing new has come in since(and the only reason I bought them is because they had them). Elwood epps has always treated me well with loading components for both bullets and brass. Powder I've started ordering in from Higginsons. 21lbs gets free shipping or else about $70-80 shipping in smaller amounts. I think I ordered like 11lbs and with shipping it was still cheaper than what Hougens sells the same for....at worst on par($25/lbs plus shipping VS $35/lbs at hougens).
 
Freyr_255 said:
Everything requires 2800 FPE including black powder for hunting them up here. It was put in because there was a lot of people wounding them and not recovering.

To the original poster you may want to just get used to ordering stuff in. Since Sean quit that shop has been terrible for things like reloading components. I bought the last of the 375 300gr TSX's there over a year ago and nothing new has come in since(and the only reason I bought them is because they had them). Elwood epps has always treated me well with loading components for both bullets and brass. Powder I've started ordering in from Higginsons. 21lbs gets free shipping or else about $70-80 shipping in smaller amounts. I think I ordered like 11lbs and with shipping it was still cheaper than what Hougens sells the same for....at worst on par($25/lbs plus shipping VS $35/lbs at hougens).
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That kind of energy requirement for a black powder firearm puts the low end minimum to something like a 16 gauge muzzleloading rifle or thereabouts. I think that's close to it.

Edit: From what I gather, also the 358 Winchester with reasonable handloads and a 200 grain bullet just barely exceeds this minimum energy requirement. Most 35 Whelen handloads easily surpass the mimimum as well. From on the 'book' recipes it looks lika the 356 Winchester would just fall short of this legal requirement, even with 250 grain bullets in stout handlaods. I suspect in the real world it would do just fine if you could close enough to the animal with a good handload and Speer 220s.
 
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Energy figures aren't really the definitive answer, only a general guideline. While a 30-06 with 180 Nosler Partitions would be more than adequate, a 30-378 with 150 gr. Ballistic Tips is an extremely poor choice, even though it has the higher energy figures. Heavy, well constructed bullets that hold together and penetrate deep are the answer for Bison.
 
Wild_Thing said:
Ya, they are not that hard to kill. A .30-06 w/ 180 will do just fine. I think that folks not all that familiar with the beasts tend to aim a little too high.
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This is exactly right!! The anatomy of a Bison is sometimes obscured by it's visual image.
The deep frontal area causes many hunters to shoot at "center of mass" which IS TOO HIGH!
The lower third of the chest [heart-lung] area is where the shot shot be placed.
This assures rapid demise of said bison, and lots of great eating!
Regards, Eagleye.
 
Eagleye said:
This is exactly right!! The anatomy of a Bison is sometimes obscured by it's visual image.
The deep frontal area causes many hunters to shoot at "center of mass" which IS TOO HIGH!
The lower third of the chest [heart-lung] area is where the shot shot be placed.
This assures rapid demise of said bison, and lots of great eating!
Regards, Eagleye.
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Sounds very similar to the vital anatomy of wild boar/feral pigs.
 
Brutus said:
Sounds very similar to the vital anatomy of wild boar/feral pigs.
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just a little bigger

the heart is real low on bison and with a broad side shot you need to wait for the leg to move forward to get a good hit lung shots unless you have a heavy bullet that holds together well it can be a iffy shot as your really have to drop both lungs for a quick kill

caliber dose not make up for shot placement. you can hit a deer in the guts with a .50 bmg and it will still run a good bit but hit it in the heart with a .22 hornet and it may drop right there
 
BigUglyMan said:
If I had access to an 8 bore muzzleloading rifle I might be convinced to have a go at another one.
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i have one in flintlock form in the works but most likely not to be done for a good few years it would be a smooth bored rifle though short range DG hunting but also able to shoot buckshot and birdshot the stock will be a classic english sporting rifle style

but my comments before of the BP load in the MH is in cartridge form not muzzleloading of course
 
Thanks for all the advice and offers for help with the bullets guys.
I wrangled a dozen Barnes TSX 200 and sited them in. I managed 3" high at 100 yards, bullseye at 200 and 6" low at 300, and I still have a half dozen to go. Feeling pretty confident. Season opens next weekend!
 
Strong vote for the 200gr TSX, Bison are tough. They drop like anything when hit right, but the distance a less than optimally hit Bison can travel is absurd, CO's find too may wounded Bison after the season alive long after close. We see the same here with Bison the natives wound, alive for way too long, just poor shot placement. Have fun cutting it up, it's a bit of a chore, and yep odd anatomy.
 
squish said:
Thanks for all the advice and offers for help with the bullets guys.
I wrangled a dozen Barnes TSX 200 and sited them in. I managed 3" high at 100 yards, bullseye at 200 and 6" low at 300, and I still have a half dozen to go. Feeling pretty confident. Season opens next weekend!
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If they're anything like the herds in Zama and out West of Wood Buffalo Park, they'll let you get close, so wait for that perfect shot in the "armpit" and have a blast.
 
I shot mine in the brachial plexus. He didn't like that. But he didn't go 15 yards before he turned and showed me his shoulder. A couple more behind the shoulder and he was conveniently located for dressing and loading.

Got a great video of it. Too bad the Internet is so balls slow up here. No YouTube upload for me.
 
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