H20Hunters 2013 Spring Bear Thread: Corned bear review

[D-Rock425]

I would like to find a bullet somewhere in between those two. 

[7mmfan]

Did you figure out what type of bullet you had?  Looks a lot different than what I shot my bear with.  That's a 140 grain hornady SST.  Opened up nice but didn't hold its weight as well as I would like.

I'm impressed it held together that well D-Rock! I've shot SST's for a while and they all absolutely exploded. All i've ever recovered was an empty copper jacket, and done that multiple times. I switched to the Interbonds last year and had excellent performace. HUGE expansion, but 85-90% weight retention. Disclaimer: I shoot a 7mag on a fairly hot load, so that might be part of it. The 7mm-08 loads I do have always exploded too though.

One thing I will say about SST's, never had an animal go more than a few feet from the shot, they are devestating.

[D-Rock425]

Has anyone used the harnady GMX bullet?

[X-Force]

I used the SST on my bear this spring. I didnt recover the bullet but it took out part of the heart and a good amount of booth lungs. I cant believe that thing went 40 yrds after it was hit.

I also didnt find any bullet fragments so i suspect the majority of the SST went clean thru.

[Bwana Bob]

I would think the good old Hornady interlocks will work good for you. Killed a lot of deer with then in NY, mostly at close range 40-100yd. They held together great. These were 140gr bullets shot from a 7x57 at about 2800fps.
Shot a 150lb or so bear with the 120gr Barnes TS from the same rifle, she ran all of 40yd with her lungs scrambled to mush. I'm sold on the Barned X bullets especially on elk.

[h20hunter]

Bwana......were you under the awning when Goldeneye had a small selection of recovered slugs from the one or two elk his buddies in camp shot?    They had perfect expansion and great weight retention. They were some of the offerings from Barnes. I still agree that I needed a few more FPS....I've emailed and sent pics to Barnes and will see if they give any feedback.

[Goldeneye]

Bwana......were you under the awning when Goldeneye had a small selection of recovered slugs from the one or two elk his buddies in camp shot?    They had perfect expansion and great weight retention. They were some of the offerings from Barnes. I still agree that I needed a few more FPS....I've emailed and sent pics to Barnes and will see if they give any feedback.

  Hey now, I am the only one in my camp that shoots those loads.  I claim the destruction they caused.  They were all separate animals.  Can only remember one bull shot with my loads that needed a 2nd shot.  As I mentioned the bullets I brought are no longer made by Barnes.  They were the original X bullets and XBT's.  I just keep shooting them because I have such high confidence in them.  When I run out of my stock I'll have to build a new load and learn to trust it.

  I'll be interested as well to hear the reply from Barnes H20.  One think about these slugs.  Even with little expansion, once they start tumbling they still do lots of damage. 

[luvmystang67]

You know, one thing in common with all of these loads and recovered projectiles... you recovered them and therefore they worked.  Very few people on here shoot far enough or challenging enough game that you need platinum covered titanium tipped raydon containing bullets to shoot a blacktail at 40 yards.

Whatever federal is making this year that isn't full metal jacket and under $20 a box I'll be shooting.  Out to 200 yards we can do a side by side "kill test" and see if my fragmenting cheap factory loads work sufficiently or not.

"But Stang, that takes the fun out of all of our conversation"

Okay, fine, recommence your valid argument.  The worlds largest blacktail with rhino skin awaits the results.

[h20hunter]

Agree with you all the way. The ones you had were textbook expansion. I'll be suprised if Barnes doesn't give me some feedback. I think mine is the TSX bullet but I can't explain why there is no X on the bottom.

[Bwana Bob]

I've shot the the old Barnes 200gr X bullets, pre Triple shock, out of my 338/08. Velocity was 2820fps. These were the same bullets that goldeneye uses. I've shot 10 large African antelope with them, 4 elk and a few reindeer. The African antelope were all elk sized. I've only recovered two bullets, one from an elk another from a blue wildebeest, tuff *censored*s. Both were classics Barnes mushrooms. I can't buy these bullets any longer but I've shot the 185's and the 210gr Barnes TS and they shoot great, < 1in. Will give these a try on elk this fall
Why some Barnes don't look that way is any bodies guess. If the bear died and it's innards's  were messed up, the bullet did its job.
I

[7mmfan]

Here is a picture of the SST vs. Interbond. Interbond was pulled from an elk last year, fully intact. The SST was pulled from a deer the year before. Once again though, both bullets did their job and put an animal on the ground, so it just depends on what you consider "good performance"

[xXLojackXx]

I took my bear down with an SST last year and the bullet completely fell apart and caused I *censored*load of damage. Probably won't be using those again.

[Rob]

thought you might find these photos interesting.  From Michael458 over on Accurate Reloading forum.

not sure of the caliber but it was big.  300 grain bullet recovered from wet newspaper.

[h20hunter]

Thanks Rob....I've seen somewhere....don't remember........a similiar photo spread for the non tipped rounds in the 2's and 3's of various sizes. All indications point to a little more steam needed.

[Rob]

and my favorite photos of the CEB non-cons in ballistics gell.  designed to fragment...