bear bullet advice

[blacktailcody]

I am shooting core lokt.
I want to get a round i can shoot a little further with though.

[h20hunter]

How far you looking to shoot? I'd bet those rounds would be plenty good.

[blacktailcody]

400 yards ish.

[Curly]

I hope changes were made to them from the late 80's and early 90's..Those bullets were horrendous..I saw many of those bullets EXPLODE on bone! to where u couldnt find a piece bigger than end of a ball point pen.

 

I can't say what CoreLokt does at .308 velocity, but at 30-06 velocity I can attest to them blowing up.  I shot a buck in the early 90's with a 150 gr corelokt out of a 30-06 at about 150 yards.  It was a running shot, quartering away and the bullet exploded when hitting a rib on the way in.  It made jello out of the lungs and heart, so it was a quick kill, but there was lead fragments all over the chest cavity.  I haven't used them since.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I hope changes were made to them from the late 80's and early 90's..Those bullets were horrendous..I saw many of those bullets EXPLODE on bone! to where u couldnt find a piece bigger than end of a ball point pen.

 

I can't say what CoreLokt does at .308 velocity, but at 30-06 velocity I can attest to them blowing up.  I shot a buck in the early 90's with a 150 gr corelokt out of a 30-06 at about 150 yards.  It was a running shot, quartering away and the bullet exploded when hitting a rib on the way in.  It made jello out of the lungs and heart, so it was a quick kill, but there was lead fragments all over the chest cavity.  I haven't used them since.

Yeah they do in a .270 too ...130 corelokt sinks in a .270 ! But the heavier cal. seem to be fine ..

[Fishaholic]

I use 180 gr.  Havent shot any animal with it that didnt drop.  Its a good bullet. Some say its to heavy but I rather have knockdown power then a straigher shooting bullet.

[Curly]

Midsouth has 2 types in stock that should be pretty good.  Barnes 150gr TTSX and Nosler Custom 168 gr.

Granted you don't really need either of those for killing black bears, but they should work well...........plus I looked at Midway and Midsouth and both have very few choices in stock.

[acnewman55]

sorry if this seems like a repeated post, but i spent about two hours reading through previous posts on the subject and didn't find what i was looking for. 

i'm gonna try to hunt me up some black bear in the east-cascades his year.  i will be shooting my .308

i'm wondering, in non-super-technical terms (i'm an ammo buyer, not reloader) what would be your brand/bullet weight of choice for black bear, keeping in mind that i will only be taking broadside shots under 100 yards.

thanks much.

What do you currently shoot?  It will probably work just fine.

Well right now I'm having plenty of trouble finding any .308 at all, but I am sitting on 40 rounds of Federal Premium Fusion 180 grains that I reckon will do the trick.  Just haven't shot them yet to see what my groups are like.  I've been shooting some ther federal 180 grans and groups are great so I assume the Fusions will shoot similar but at slightly higher velocity.

From reviews I've read, the Fusion will knock down a bear easily enough.  Especially at 180 grains - since I'm not planning on taking shots longer than 150 yards I'll probably stick with the 180s.

[WSU]

I would just shoot the bullets you have.  They will work fine.

[h20hunter]

Yep.....if they shoot at least decent.....you are good to go.

[fastdam]

Most all bullets will kill the bear, my main consideration when bear hunting is to get a good exit wound for tracking purposes. With no hooves and having soft feet, a wounded bear is not fun to track. Its very easy to lose a bear if you dont have a blood trail. My bear loads are accubonds and barnes tsx bullets, but i shoot magnums.  Wih the. 270 i would go with accubonds or partitions.   Barnes bullets are a little hard for anything operating under 3000 fps in my opinion.

[RadSav]

Well right now I'm having plenty of trouble finding any .308 at all, but I am sitting on 40 rounds of Federal Premium Fusion 180 grains that I reckon will do the trick.  Just haven't shot them yet to see what my groups are like.  I've been shooting some ther federal 180 grans and groups are great so I assume the Fusions will shoot similar but at slightly higher velocity.

From reviews I've read, the Fusion will knock down a bear easily enough.  Especially at 180 grains - since I'm not planning on taking shots longer than 150 yards I'll probably stick with the 180s.

I've got a few used 150 Fusions sitting on my desk.  For a bonded bullet out of the 308 velocities they look pretty impressive.  And the accuracy out of a 22" barrel was equally impressive.

I hear ya about finding 308 ammo.  Last trip to Canada taking the 308 I couldn't find any ammo and wanted more than two clips for the trip.  All I could find was Hornady SST which my gun doesn't particularly like.  Bought five boxes anyway just to have some.

[carpsniperg2]

Pretty much any solid bullet will work for you. Stay away from bullets like the sst and btips they expand way to much to quick for bigger game like bears. I would look at the accubonds or etips. I have killed bears with both and they have not let me down.

[duckmen1]

Ive shot three bears with a 270 with 150 gr fusions and all three went thirty yards or less. Really good bullets for bear in my opinion. Cant beat it for factory loads. I hand load now and still wish i could hand load those bullets. Shot many critters over the years with them and love them.

[JackOfAllTrades]

Factory ammo for bear?   Remington CoreLokt or Bronze Tip 180gn. 
 
-Steve