Help develop a Black Bear load

[SituationNormal]

So if the three rifles that you had to choose from were a 308, 7mm Rem Mag, and a 270, what load would you use for Black Bear? I'm going after one this year for the first time, but don't really know what is needed in a load. Like, too fast and the bullet will pass right through with little expansion. Too fast bullet mixed with the heavy fat content of a Black Bear creates a pass through wound that seals itself back up. So far I have been considering using either the 308 or 7mm Rem Mag with 175 grain Nolser Partitions for the whole "knock down" factor.

One of the guys that I work with was out with his son last year when his son shot a bear. The son is a Marine and a pretty good shot from what I hear, although I have never been shooting with him. They claim to have placed the shot near the vitals but the bear still took off. There was a blood trail that they were tracking for a while but soon that disappeared, and they never did find that bear. I'm trying to avoid that. Now I don't know what caliber he was using, I just know that whatever it was didn't do enough damage.

With all that said...

1) What do you think of the Nosler Partitions compared to things like the Bonded Bear Claws or others?
2) I know that 3000+ energy at the muzzle is easy to achieve, but is it really necessary/recommended?
3) Any thoughts on powders?
So for the Black Bear hunters/re-loaders out there... What would you do?

[h20hunter]

I'd be happy to give you some feedback on my experience. I'm limited to .270 since that is what I shoot. I would consider the Barnes Triple Shock, 130gr/150/gr or the Barnes TSC as a good all copper tough bear bullet. I think it would have good penetration, weight retention, as well as good expansion for internal damage. The only exp I have with the Nosler Partition is my fathers mulie last fall. He was shooting a .270 130 gr partition. He made a very good shot on an animal 130 yards out that was quartering away hard. It entered just between the last two ribs and took out a big chunk of liver, both lungs, the lover third of the heart and exited out the far shoulder. Now, the exit was a perfect little circle with minimal blood loss on that side. Now, since the heart was blown away and the back pressure blew a third of the liver out the entry side I wouldn't expect much blood if any on the exit wound. I understand that the partition is designed to fully expand and come apart leaving most if not all of its enengy in the animal. If there is more to be done the base is a solid that continues on. The expansion is done but the base will exit and help with bloodloss. My point in the story is that on a bear, being I'd say a notch tougher than a mulie, may need a bit more of an exit to facilitate bleeding out. With a all copper fully expanding bulled that is designed to retain near 100% of mass you should get a larger exit wound. Maybe also something to think about is a hight weight retention may do more damage to bone on the far side of the entry and make tracking easiser.

So...my vote is .270 simply because I like it. My vote on bullets would be a Barnes or similiar.

[JimmyHoffa]

I would choose based on most likely shots to be taken.  If it is a long shot over open stuff, I'd probably choose the 7mm with a bullet that has minimal wind drift and decent expansion.  But if anticipating a close shot I'd take the .308 and use a reload of 200-220 grains with fast expansion.  220 is about the highest I seem to find for cal .308.

[True Sportsman]

I shoot a 7mm mag. Its the only big game rifle Ive ever owned. Ive killed a bunch of deer, and elk, and 3 bears with it. I started shooting everything with 175 partitions. They grouped extremely well and killed quickly. I was handloading with RL-22 and getting around 2900 fps.

I got a wild hair up you know where and I decided to load 120 Barnes TSX. With RL-22 they were moving around 3450 fps. Meat damage was ridiculous and the bullets would turn meat into jelly. I killed a couple deer, an elk, and two bear with this load.

I now shoot a 160 nosler accubond (reduced load at 2900 fps) and am really happy with the performance. I killed a bear and a deer with it last fall.

I guess my point is, you can kill with almost any bullet. Pick one that groups well and shoot it a lot. Almost any Partition, Accubond, or TSX would be outstanding.

Also, it is tough to blame the bullet for a possible bad shot. Who knows what happened with shot on the bear. That stuff happens... If I owned a 308 I would probably love it too. I'd shoot the same bullets in it as my 7mm.

I'd worry less about bloodloss and energy and pick a great bullet, put a 100 rounds through your rifle before fall, and go hunting.

[Ripper]

160 gr Nosler Partitions are deadly out of my 7mm. They will kill anything that walks in this state. Good luck.

[SituationNormal]

Thanks for the replies. Your answers are definately helping.

It's never been really a matter of killing the bear... I shoot often enough to know that I can place a round where I want it to go. It's more of a matter of wanting to do so while doing as little damage to the meat and hide as possible.

So now I'm still considering a bullet in the 175 grain range, but now I'm opening up to a few differnet types. The groupings will end up being the deciding factor between them.

True Sportsman... What do you think of the RL-22? I recently tried IMR brand IMR4350 in a 270 load and had the worst luck with it. Not the groups, but with the repeatability through the powder measurer. Every throw was differnet, and I'm not just little. Every round needed to be weighed.

[True Sportsman]

I actually had some meat damage with the 175 Partitions, but only when I hit bone. I guess thats expected though. I havent shot heavy TSX's either (150-175). That might be something to try. Dont know about meat damage on those.

To tell you the truth, Reloader 22 is the only powder Ive ever reloaded. I found it extremely accurate in my rifle for 175 Partitions, 120 TSX, and 160 Accubond at a wide range of velocities. I love it.

When I was reloading with my dad, we tried 4350 quite a bit. It always seemed like a pain in the ass and not consistent. Just personal opinion, I'm sure some guys swear by it...

I weigh each charge individually, though. I adjust the powder measure to throw a little light and then add a couple grains at a time until exact on the scale. It is time consuming, but its how Ive always done it...

[brew]

160 gr Nosler Partitions are deadly out of my 7mm. They will kill anything that walks in this state. Good luck.

i shoot exclusively 160 gr Nosler partitions out of my 7mm Mag....if you cant hit a softball at 300 yards then throw it away....doesn't matter if you shoot a 270, 7 mm mag, 308 , 416 rigby or 50 cal .  as far as the 3000+ energy at the muzzle unless you are shooting an animal at point blank range the muzzle energy is not a factor.  basically you need around 1000 ft/lbs of energy to kill a big game animal and any rifle with a decent constructed bullet will do the job.  my thoughts on powders are if you're handloading magnum charges use a slower burning powder (IMR 4831) to maixmize powder burn

[SituationNormal]

Thanks for the powder suggestions. I'll try them both and see how it shoots with them.

Reloading for the 7mm Rem Mag is new to me. So far I've only reloaded for the 308 and 270. 

[D-Rock425]

All 3 of those rounds are fine for black bear.  I've killed 4 bears with my 7MM-08 using 140 grain core  loks.  I've shot core loks because when I got the rifle from my Grandpa it came with like 6 boxes.   I recently got a 7mm mag that I will try this year.

[D-Rock425]

I think you need to shoot whatever gun you can shoot the best.  All of those rounds are fine with a good bullet.  It all comes down to shot placement and knowing the limits of your gun and your shooting ability.  A bad shot with a big rifle is way worst then a good shot with a smaller rifle.

[SituationNormal]

I'm comfortable shooting all three rifles and after zeroed... I hit where I aim (even softball size at 300 yards). But the wrong round with too much velocity will disintegrate before taking out the internals.