243 for black bear

[bknilvr00]

Alright, before you all jump down my craw about using such a small round for a bear and calling me names and such, here's the situation. This will be my wife's first year hunting. We got her a Savage Lady Hunter chambered in 243 last year on clearance. She's excited for deer and has shown interest in bear. Is 243 even with heavy loads, too anemic to consider? I've got a 30-30, but she struggles with iron sights. Largely I just need to know if I'll have to carry my 30-30 for heavy work, or if her gun will suffice and I can carry my AR for doing coyotes, maybe a bobcat. 

[headshot5]

Use good bullets.  Nosler partitions or accubonds etc. and you should be fine... Also make sure she has practiced shooting a bunch.  If she puts it in the right spot it'll kill a bear every time. 

Have her look over this thread...  http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,28214.0.html

Most of all have fun.

[D-Rock425]

My 7mm08 is not much bigger and I've killed a couple bears with it.  A good bullet and shots less than 200yds it should be just fine.  On the other hand bigger is always better and yes she said that.

[justyhntr]

My wife shot her 10 year old 300+ lbs. bear last year with a 243 at about 150 yards . Took 4 steps and dropped . Shot placement gets it done . With that said , the fat plugged the holes immediately and it bled internally , if it had been a poor shot , we would of had a tough time finding a blood trail . This year she picked up a 7mm-08 Lady hunter . 

[WAcoyotehunter]

.243 is just fine for bears.  Shoot it until it's down or out of sight(just like with any caliber).

[biggfish]

I'd try for that quartering away shot, you'd probably lose too much energy trying to punch the shoulder. As long as you slip the ribs and miss that shoulder I'd bet it would put one down.

[HvyHorn338]

As long as she is comfortable and consistent shooting the 243  it'll be just fine.  Just be reasonable with your distances and judge each situation as its handed to you. 

[jasnt]

I took this bear with my 243.it went 40 yards and done with a 105 Berger  I will use it again this year

[eliandsky]

I took this bear with my 243.it went 40 yards and done with a 105 Berger  I will use it again this year

You got lucky. Bergers disintegrate on impact on bears. My experiance any way. Since bears don't bleed like other game animals it's risky in my opinion.

Best of luck.


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[bknilvr00]

Right on! Thanks guys   

[BULLBLASTER]

I took this bear with my 243.it went 40 yards and done with a 105 Berger  I will use it again this year

You got lucky. Bergers disintegrate on impact on bears. My experiance any way. Since bears don't bleed like other game animals it's risky in my opinion.

Best of luck.


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[HvyHorn338]

 

[jasnt]

My bullet went threw and threw. You could have run following the blood trail, if it weren't for the thick hawthornes.  Begers have taken a ton of game for me and I will continue to use them. Most folks I've heard say that about bergers tend to be more shoulder buster kinda folks but I'm more a heart and lung shooter. To each his own.

[deerhunter_98520]

Partitions and don't look back 

[h20hunter]

Use a good boolit that she can hit with. She will do the rest im sure.

[demontang]

With a good heavy bullet it should get it done. After my experience with a bear I'll stick to something with a bigger dia.

[mountainman]

Of bears I have harvested, 13 of them were put down with my old M70 in 243. None required more then one shot....all under 100 yards..

[dune]

6mm and 243 are the same round just a little more powder behind the 6mm I have shot deer with 7mm and 243. the 243 dropped them faster almost every time.

[grade-creek-rd]

We primarily hunt with 2 calibers in our house...my youngest shoots a .243 (100 grn Nosler Partition loaded with 40 grains of IMR4350) and myself and my oldest each shoot a 7mm-08 (139 grn Hornady GMX loaded with 45.5 grains of IMR4350)...your just fine with the .243 and if you don't reload then just get some Federal Premium's in 100 grn Nosler Partition.

That's my opinion anyway!

Grade

[jrebel]

First things first.....GREAT RIFLE!!!  My wife has two lady hunters, one in .243 and the other in 7mm-08.  I hand load and the .243 loves 100 grain partitions pushed by 42 grains of H4831.  Though my wife likes the 7-08 better at this point, the .243 would definitely do the job  in my opinion.  Make sure to post pics of the luck wife when she tips over a bear.   

[jasnt]

........Make sure to post pics of the luck wife when she tips over a bear.   

[JakeLand]

Accuracy and placement = dead bear

[Mxracer532]

I killed my spring wenaha bear with my 243, handloaded 95gn Berger VLDs. If my memory serves me correctly it was right at 300 yards or so and first shot was back of lungs and it passed through. Shot it again quartered to me right through the front shoulder and it dropped like a sack of taters!

[JoeE]

I killed a bear with a 243 shooting 100 grain corelokts. Didn't take a step.

[dmoua]

My gf shoots a .243 and the plan is to let her use that instead of my .308 but after seeing a bear close to 300 lbs it made me think twice.

[WAnoob]

Some bears are weird, I dropped a black bear with my 30-06 180gr partitions while my dads black blear took 5 lung shots to bring down with a 35 Whelen with 200gr partitions