Which rifle cartridge for black bear?

[Skillet]

.300 Winnie and 165gr Accubonds for me, I like a little more bullet speed to weight ratio with the magnums. It's all in the bullet.

FPS for your pet load?

3340 Fast and flat! RL-22 and a Federal 215M.

That's more laser than bullet.  Good black bear medicine.
And.. "Un-hijack"

[skagitsteel]

I have the tikka t3 lite 30-06 and the tikka t3 lite 300 win mag.  The 300 win mag recoils noticeably harder, fine for hunting but I tend to twitch after eight or nine rounds from the bench, I am having brake put on it mainly so I can see my hits.  I have killed a bear with each gun  but after seeing how little the late fall bears bled last fall I definitely favor the 300 win, better chance of a good blood trail 

[bearpaw]

I always get a chuckle out of these threads, if you haven't killed a bear then your in for quite a trip. Bears are very tough critters and dont bleed for squat, if you dont break a bear down and you gotta track one through brush the recovery is gonna be difficult, unless your a Damn fine shot and and good at feild judging a bear then you need to be a hell o alot closer than 400 yards, bear need to be hit hard on the first shot, and bear are great actors to, you will find that out... many people wound bear and never have the sack to own up to it, find a good heavy round with good bone crushing knock down power

   I agree and I rate a mature bear tougher to kill than deer or elk. We have gotten many bear that have been hit pretty hard in the past and they healed up and were doing fine.

[700xcr]

What bullet do you recommend? A bonded  (Accubond or Partition) or standard cup and core bullet (standard)? Or even a bullet like the Cutting Edge bullet that the front pedestals break off and create a star type wound channel?

[jackmaster]

What bullet do you recommend? A bonded  (Accubond or Partition) or standard cup and core bullet (standard)? Or even a bullet like the Cutting Edge bullet that the front pedestals break off and create a star type wound channel?

a good 180 gr with good expantion is a good round, its the shot placement, a high shoulder shot is a good shot but a bear shoulders is real deceiving, a quarting away about 3 ribs back right through to the opposite shoulder where it hits him in the shoulder socket from the inside is your best bet, the important thing is, especially in late fall when a bear is fattened up, the bullet hole closes off alot quicker and blood is tougher to find, i havent killed a spring bear, thats when they are their leanest, but are still a tough critter to put on the deck unless hit right, i would bet there are more wounded bear every year than deer or elk, there just arent as many people huntn bear so you dont hear about it as much, if you shoot a bear and he goes right down get ready with a follow up shot, bear are sneaky buggers

[brushhunter]

300 wsm with 180 gr accubond is a great bear load!!  has put plenty of bears down for me.  you will love it...  the only rifle i use for everything

[JohnVH]

whichever you can shoot accurately.

[D-Rock425]

whichever you can shoot accurately.

that would be the short answer if he owned both guns.  I would say since he is recoil sensitive the 308 would be a better choice for him.

[troyspinetar]

I always get a chuckle out of these threads, if you haven't killed a bear then your in for quite a trip. Bears are very tough critters and dont bleed for squat, if you dont break a bear down and you gotta track one through brush the recovery is gonna be difficult, unless your a Damn fine shot and and good at feild judging a bear then you need to be a hell o alot closer than 400 yards, bear need to be hit hard on the first shot, and bear are great actors to, you will find that out... many people wound bear and never have the sack to own up to it, find a good heavy round with good bone crushing knock down power

I don't have much experience myself, but I agree with shot placement.
I have taken two bears the last two years. Both with 300 WinMag 180 grn Speer HC. The first bear I shot at 180 yds, made a mess through the kill zone.
The second bear I shot at 95 yds, the bear took off like a bat out of heck through some 12-15' reprod. I went and found no blood. After 20 mins I got enough courage to go in after it. Found the bear no more than 30 ft away. Still no sign of entry/exit hole or blood. I figured maybe I had scared it to death. After close inspection I found the entry but no exit.
Two different situations with the same rifle and same cartridge. 

[MountainWalk]

Simple. Buy a 300 -30'06 of any make you like. Then get some remington reduced loads. They are awesome for practice, with sweet gentle nudges of recoil. Ghent go hunting with any 180 gr bullet you like.

[jasnt]

You could go with te 300wm. Put a muzzle brake on it. That would help alot with recoil. Also dry fire exercise helps tremendously. 10 dry fires(simulated shot) for each round you shoot in practice. You will notice your shooting improves no matter what caliber.

My bear round is 300wm
185 gr. Berger @3050.
dropped my only bear from 60 yards right in its tracks. Was not a big bear and it was right in the boiler room on a relaxed unaware bear.

[jackmaster]

If your so concerned about recoil then buy an auto loader, they cut recoil in half no matter what caliber, problem is they will jam at the most jacked up times

[RadSav]

There was a reason I chose the 308 for my guide gun while in the business - just about anyone shoots it well and it flat out hammers bear!  And elk and deer and coyotes and bobcats...   It's performance throughout the available bullet choices is very consistant.  So just about every bullet choice works well out of that velocity...except perhaps Barnes which really perform better at a bit higher velocity.  Anything from 150 grain on up has busted shoulders and broken them down well.  Though I rarely ever approved a hunter shooting more than 250 yards on a bear.

I can only remember tracking one bear shot with the 308.  That bear was shot twice in the spine at 20 yards.  Once above the diaphragm and once just in from of the hip.  Not sure a faster 30 cal would have made much of a difference there.  Bear was recovered after I put a 45 slug in his boiler room at 20' while the dog held him down.

I've probably tracked more bear shot with the 338wm than any other gun cartridge.  Though I don't remember ever tracking a bear shot through the heart/lungs.  Most just don't handle the big magnums well.  Especially under stress.

One of the biggest problems I had with guys shooting magnum cartridges is that they always wanted to take that 400 yard shot.  Bear heart/lung is a dang small target.  And it's not where most think it is.  Guys with a bit smaller cartridge seemed more apt to take shot within their effective range (99% that's under 200 yards).  No cartridge is a bear stopper with improper bullet placement.  And they all are good bear medicine when bullets end up where they are suppose to.  Bear are easier to kill than deer when bullets strike the right spot.  And they are as tough as any elk when those bullets don't hit the right spot.

I'd happily shoot any black bear on earth with either of those cartridge choices.  They are both good medicine as long as you shoot them both well.

[trophyhunt]

I killed most my bear with a .300 win mag, 190 grn Berger.  The longest at 550, then 350 and around 300 all in the blues.  I love killing with the .300 win mag, it's topped with the huskemaw scope, otherwise I wouldn't be shooting past 3 or 400.

[BKMFR]

Been on over 450 bear kills... shoot the gun that you can handle. 30 Cal is great, I used a 350 mag as a back up gun and never needed more, but then the only "touchy" issue I was ever in I used a 44 mag revolver to stop the bear, 1st shot in jaw, second in top of head- full out charge on one of the bigger bears we ever got, just a tad over 300 lbs... stopped him at 4 yds from me.... Fun!!!!
I believe Ralph Flowers shot a .270 more than anything else- great read.
Guide in Canada, one of my best friends uses a .338 and is happy, again what can you shoot the most accurate is what I would say you should focus on....
My cousin has literally killed countless boars in CA. with 243 with 85 grain bullets (shame on him for not using enough gun) yeah, right... trying telling him that.....
Anyways, its always fun debating....