165 gn SST for Bear

[oneshotkill]

I am going to be bear hunting in August and have been reloading with a 165 grain hornady SST for a little while. Do you think that this will be enough bullet for a black bear? thanks

[Intruder]

SST is pretty light jacketed in my experience.  I've never shot the 165 grn (I'm guessing 30 cal?) but in the 139 grn 7mm I've had them pretty much turn into grenades.  You may wanna try the Interbond.  It should shoot similarly to the SST and perform much better on bone and for overall penetration.

[MichaelJ]

Not familiar with the bullet, I ended up shooting my bear in '05 with a 30-06 Federial Seria GameKing in 165 grains at about 250 yards...
Entered behind the shoulder, through the lungs, broke offside shoulder and logded right underneath the skin on far shoulder (he was quartering away and moving).  Bullet mushroomed perfectly and the insides were severly trauma'd. Not bad considering the skull went 18 7/8" and the hide squared 6'9"... never got a weight on him but we'd estimated him at 325 lbs or so (actually bigger but you know how that story goes).

Michael

[coyotemadness]

YES its enough. Its all about shot placement. (Like always)

[billythekidrock]

YES its enough. Its all about shot placement. (Like always)

+1

[bucklucky]

definately shot pacement , but I would agree with Intruder upgrade to the interbond. I did and hold up great.

[MountainWalk]

the weight is there, but i would get a different bullet. what good is proper placement if the bullet breaks up and fails?

[ICEMAN]

 A shattered bullet is just as deadly on a lung shot. Nobody is talking capehorn here...

[DOUBLELUNG]

Depends on how dead you want it.  Just dead, really dead, poleaxed or blown to smithereens.  Any modern expanding bullet with a terminal velocity of at least 1800fps, and at least .24 caliber, properly placed will make any black bear on the planet at least just dead.  Your bullet selection might be marginal for really dead, and is inadequate for poleaxed.  For the last option you will need either a mortar, rocket launcher, or call in an airstrike. 

Last year I was hunting bear with a .30/06 loaded with 165 grain Federal Premium Trophy Bonded Bear Claw bullets.  I passed on a 30 yard shot in the dogwoods at an indeterminate 12" patch of black hair.  For that opportunity, a .460 Weatherby wasn't enough gun.

 

[MountainWalk]

why not hunt elk with 223's? arent they accurate enough to hit the lungs of an elk?

[bucklucky]