Bullet for a blackie...

[MOdeer]

I've never shot a bear with a muzzle loader, but after shooting a 400# blackie last fall with a 450 marlin (4 times!), my recommendation would be to shoot as heavy of bullet as you possibly can. Accuracy probably won't mean much as it will more than likely be a short range affair.

Penetration and the ability to break bone and keep on penetrating will be of key importaince.

Agree fully with what CarlV has written. I have only harvested one bear to date, a 250 lb black in CO, but it took 4 shots with a 30 06 to make it stop moving. That was with 180 grain Nosler partitions. I plan to do the same thing as you are soon, and I'll be picking a large conical to get the job done!

 

[donnyb60]

Big black Ontario bears.

Gee guys I must be pritty lucky to have all kinds of bears in my back 40.Big ones, meaduim sized ones,and babys.and I dont even have to bait for them.All you got to do is forget and leave the garbage out overnight.Why sure I had 7 bears in the yard one day,and it was a poor day for bears to.I have shot the odd one but if your not fawned of bear meat to eat and the hind cost like 400plus to have made into a rug,and a guyonly needs a couple of them then whats the point in shooting them.Well may be this fall I may have to go and try out my new to me mk85 50 cal and see how she works on Blackie.When I get sweet lips dialed in that is.Laterdonnyb60.

 

[deer655]

You will love bear hunting. I bowhunted one this past year for the first time. your adrenaline is going nuts with something that big under your stand also knowing he can climb up there if he choses.

 

[Grizz]

We used to have a good bunch of guys here in our bear hunting party. We did pretty good too for PA. In 8 seasons of hunting together, we harvested 6 bear. From a little one of 175 lbs, to the biggest one weighing in at 425 lbs. I had that particular bruin in my sights for an instant, but didn't drop the hammer on it. All I had was a hind side to shot, and waited for it to turn. It didn't,lol. But, one of our party got the sucker and he was a beauty. I am planning to hunt them again next fall with the Knight .50. My B-In-Law goes up to Potter county to hunt them and they usually get into bear a couple times a season. I will be using either the No Excuses or Bull Shops .460gr conical over 115 gr of BH209. Grouse and I ran a couple over the crony a week or so ago and the No Excuses was stepping out at a little over 1700 fps. I figure the extra bullet weight will be nice on a raking shot or encounter with a shoulder bone. What the heck, I am going to take that load Elk hunting, I may as well field test it a bit. The 250 Shockwave is shooting great for me, but I like big hunks of lead. If I were going to be using a .45, I would go with the hottest Barnes bullet load I could shoot well with to 100 yds. Then limit my shots to that distance. A wounded bear can put a bunch of real estate behind him in a very short time. They can be a real pain in the butt to track too without a good exit hole. Hit them hard,forward of where you would a deer, and bust some running gear in the process. Practice reloading without looking at what you are doing too :wink:.

 

[ShawnT]

It's been a couple of years snce i got my last bear in Maine. It went in the 425lb range. I used my MK95 50 cal with a 300 grain Swift A-Frame bullet. The Guide I use tells most gun hunters to try to break a front leg on a broadside shot and it will not only take out some of the running gear but is in the vitals too. Like others mentioned the vitals are a little more forward than on a deer. The only shot I had was a neck shot at 40 yards, and the Swift Broke it's neck so it was DRT. I perfer a premium Bonded or partition type bullet for the bone breaking ability as well as deep penatration. If I had to use an all lead bullet, I would use a heavy one of at least 300 grains and up. If I was going to use the heavy lead bullet, I would try to just miss the leg bone (not the leg) and that way it still gets into the boiler room. If I had to go with a lighter bullet I would hope to get a slightly quartering away shot to send it up into the vitals. I would also like to get a Through and Through and a nice exit hole because the Fur can hold a lot of blood and not give good trails to follow. I noticed that with some of the bears we had to track that was shot with a bow, we were finding only drops here and there, some of them were real good hits too.
Just my 2 cents.


ShawnT

 

[Lee 9]

I guess a lot of people like that neck shot ,never tried it myself, I always have hit them right over the top of the heart where the big arteries are that shot gets both lungs too and on the 11 I have taken it did not make any difference if it was a bow a rifle or a muzzle loading rifle it worked about equally well. Lee