6.5 Swede Factory Loads for Bear

[mopar411]

Hello!

I picked up a Swedish m41b a few weeks ago, and I am looking into potentially taking it out for black bear. There is only a limited amount of rounds available for this cartridge, and I don't reload. I'm a very new hunter, so I'm not sure what loads would be adequate or not for bear. The loads I'm looking at are below:

139 PPU Soft Point ~ $1
140 S&B Soft Point ~ $1.22
140 Nosler Accubond ~ $2.45
155 Lapua Mega Soft Point ~ $2.5

Would the 140 grain soft points be adequate for black bears under 300 yards? I've been trying to reserach as much as I can for black bear bullets, but haven't found concrete evidence that basic soft points are good enough. I'd really love to not shell out for the Nosler ammo so I can spend more money on gas.

Thanks!

[Dan-o]

Welcome to the forum.

I think that 140 grain softpoint would do just fine out of your Swede.
It's not particularly fast, which I think would work in your favor with that soft point.
I don't doubt that someone will disagree, but with proper placement I think you're good.

Be sure to post pics of your bear.

[wadu1]

Anyone of the one's listed are good. I would use the one your rifle likes the best. The 6.5 Sweed and the 6.5 Creed are about the same, factory loads are less than 100 FPS different. The 140gr are proven Moose getters. 

[mopar411]

Welcome to the forum.

I think that 140 grain softpoint would do just fine out of your Swede.
It's not particularly fast, which I think would work in your favor with that soft point.
I don't doubt that someone will disagree, but with proper placement I think you're good.

Be sure to post pics of your bear.

Ok sweet! The ballistics from S&B for that 140 grain SP is:

0 yards.      109 yards     218 yards.    328 yards.     437 yards
2110 ft/lbs  1763 ft/lbs   1464  ft/lbs   1205  ft/lbs    983  ft/lbs
2601 ft/s     2378 ft/s      2168 ft/s      1965 ft/s       1774 ft/s

[dmoua]

Welcome to the forum.

I think that 140 grain softpoint would do just fine out of your Swede.
It's not particularly fast, which I think would work in your favor with that soft point.
I don't doubt that someone will disagree, but with proper placement I think you're good.

Be sure to post pics of your bear.

Ok sweet! The ballistics from S&B for that 140 grain SP is:

0 yards.      109 yards     218 yards.    328 yards.     437 yards
2110 ft/lbs  1763 ft/lbs   1464  ft/lbs   1205  ft/lbs    983  ft/lbs
2601 ft/s     2378 ft/s      2168 ft/s      1965 ft/s       1774 ft/s

Those numbers mean nothing to you so I wouldn’t even bother looking at them. I shot a bear at 390 yards with my 6.5 Creed using 140gr Berger VLDH bullets and it died within 20 yards. Shot placement is key. Buy one box of each and see what your rifle likes then buy a bunch of the same lot number since you don’t reload.

[mopar411]

Welcome to the forum.

I think that 140 grain softpoint would do just fine out of your Swede.
It's not particularly fast, which I think would work in your favor with that soft point.
I don't doubt that someone will disagree, but with proper placement I think you're good.

Be sure to post pics of your bear.

Ok sweet! The ballistics from S&B for that 140 grain SP is:

0 yards.      109 yards     218 yards.    328 yards.     437 yards
2110 ft/lbs  1763 ft/lbs   1464  ft/lbs   1205  ft/lbs    983  ft/lbs
2601 ft/s     2378 ft/s      2168 ft/s      1965 ft/s       1774 ft/s

Those numbers mean nothing to you so I wouldn’t even bother looking at them. I shot a bear at 390 yards with my 6.5 Creed using 140gr Berger VLDH bullets and it died within 20 yards. Shot placement is key. Buy one box of each and see what your rifle likes then buy a bunch of the same lot number since you don’t reload.

Well thats great to hear! I've been studying shot placement like crazy and I'm looking to make a nice broadside double lung shot. Lots of anatomy study. I'm doing a little more testing but the S&B and PPU hover around 1 moa and it's cheap haha. Thanks for the advice!

[JWBINX]

Anyone of the one's listed are good. I would use the one your rifle likes the best. The 6.5 Sweed and the 6.5 Creed are about the same, factory loads are less than 100 FPS different. The 140gr are proven Moose getters. 

 
With good shot placement you will be fine. Some good advice has been shared here.
I would be more comfortable with what your doing than hunting Bull Elk with a 243 Win!

[jrebel]

Been covered pretty well and yes any of those would work.  I’m partial to a nice bonded bullet and love accubonds, so if they shot well in the rifle that would be my first choice.   

As for shot placement…….don’t shoot to far back.  Lots of very bad information on the internet about shooting half way back…..you’re asking for a gut shot.   Treat it like any other animal and put it behind or on the shoulder half way up and you will kill a bear.   I say half way up because their hair can be long and quite often people shoot for the pocket (heart) and do nothing but give it a hair cut.   Good luck hunting….bear have become one of my favorite animals to pursue. 

[okie john]

I picked up a Swedish m41b a few weeks ago... SNIP

What kind of sights do you have on this rifle? What zero do you have in mind?


Okie John

[boneaddict]

I've killed several bear with my 25.06 shooting 117 Nozlers.   No issues   

[bkaech]

Any of those bullets can kill a bear. I personally would prefer a heavier bullet going faster, but I don't want to de-rail the conversation, those can get the job done. My advice is to make sure your gun likes the ammo, and practice in different locations/positions, knowing where to shot an animal and executing in the moment is two different things.

One other thing that bothers me a bit that I commonly see from hunters is trying to save money on the bullet. The bullet is the only thing in your hunting set-up that actually touches the animal. I would rather save money with the rifle, or optics, or anything else before I skimped on the bullet. The bullet is the actual thing doing the actual job you need. Get the best bullet you can! At least that is my opinion.  ....I should qualify that, the best bullet that shots well out of your gun, every gun is different.

[mopar411]

I picked up a Swedish m41b a few weeks ago... SNIP

What kind of sights do you have on this rifle? What zero do you have in mind?


Okie John

Rifle has iron sights and a 4x Weaver K4-60B. The plan was to use this as my delusional back up hunting rifle, but the stock and scope on my 30-06 Ruger American just broke sooooo that's fun haha.

I'm planning to trek around berry patches in the highway 2 area, so I'd be extremely shocked to see a shot more than 300 yards. (either way I'm limiting myself to sub 300 yard shots). For zero, I'm thinking of having my scope set to 200 yard zero, and iron sights to set to 100. The scope is old school sniper mount so you just move your head down to use the irons.

[mopar411]

Any of those bullets can kill a bear. I personally would prefer a heavier bullet going faster, but I don't want to de-rail the conversation, those can get the job done. My advice is to make sure your gun likes the ammo, and practice in different locations/positions, knowing where to shot an animal and executing in the moment is two different things.

One other thing that bothers me a bit that I commonly see from hunters is trying to save money on the bullet. The bullet is the only thing in your hunting set-up that actually touches the animal. I would rather save money with the rifle, or optics, or anything else before I skimped on the bullet. The bullet is the actual thing doing the actual job you need. Get the best bullet you can! At least that is my opinion.  ....I should qualify that, the best bullet that shots well out of your gun, every gun is different.

My main plan is to take out my Ruger American 30-06, however the scope and stock just broke on it. Not expecting to have it fixed for 2-3 weeks (vortex shipping time). I'm a milsurp collector so the swede is my delusional hunting rifle that I was planning as backup / 2nd bear (if i get that lucky).

I'm checking out highway 2 ish berry patches so I'm not too worried about optics since I'm not expecting to not have a shot more than 200 yards. If the prime area I find is less than 150 yard shots, then I might just bring out the .308 garand to play it safe. Much better bullet selection at higher grains. I'm also testing out all these rounds soon so hopefully the Nosler is less than 1.5 moa

[BKMFR]

I have taken numerous Bears with Nosler 140 gr Accubond-factory loads. Sako 6.5 Swede Stainless laminated stock with 3.5x10 Leupold, just a nice accurate gun, very capable Black bear gun.

[mopar411]

I have taken numerous Bears with Nosler 140 gr Accubond-factory loads. Sako 6.5 Swede Stainless laminated stock with 3.5x10 Leupold, just a nice accurate gun, very capable Black bear gun.

Perfect! That's great to hear. I just picked up another box of that. Now to wield a 10 pound 29 inch barrel rifle in the woods...