Hey guys,
Looks like a Wyoming bear hunt is in the cards for September. Will be hunting over bait and I plan to take a .44 mag. I have taken several whitetail deer with a handgun but this will be my first go with the bears. I have used the Hornandy XTP more than any other bullet and have been pleased with them. My question is stay with this bullet (300 gr.)or go with a heavy hard cast SWC or maybe a Partition? Some real life experiences would be nice.
Thanks, -Nimrod 308

The 300 gr XTP or heavy partition would both be great. I would not use a semi wadcutter, prefering a truncated cone like the 320 gr LBT WLNGC or the WFNGC. By the way, all of these are also the best for deer. (Or elk, moose, etc.)
The most accurate loads for these are; 300 XTP, 20.5 gr's of 296. 320 LBT's, 21.5 gr's of 296. Use the Federal 150 primer. Yes, yes, try it before jumping on me.

I seem to remember that the 300 grain XTP was designed for black bear. There was a member here that had a hand in designing it. IIRC.

Also do a search on "XTP black bear" for more info.

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
The 300 gr XTP or heavy partition would both be great. I would not use a semi wadcutter, prefering a truncated cone like the 320 gr LBT WLNGC or the WFNGC. By the way, all of these are also the best for deer. (Or elk, moose, etc.)
The most accurate loads for these are; 300 XTP, 20.5 gr's of 296. 320 LBT's, 21.5 gr's of 296. Use the Federal 150 primer. Yes, yes, try it before jumping on me.

Can't go wrong with the LBT's............

Considering black bears are "thin skinned" game, and the shots should be close range, a heavy expanding bullet would be ideal. I love the 300gr XTP in my 45. It shoots very accurately and it hits very hard. Penetration on a black bear won't be an issue with 300's. The 260gr Partitions probably wouldn't be either. I'm personally not a fan of using LBT style bullets on thin skinned game. For heavy, huge beasts, they can't be beat, but for average thin skinned game, you'll be VERY hard pressed to beat the 300gr XTP.

I am going on a Black Bear Hunt in September.
I am going to use a Buffalo Bore 340 gr +P.
You have to have a good pistol to shoot them.
Check out there web site.

.44 340gr +P

I went for spring black bear in Alaska 2 months ago. Used my FA 454 with 7 1/2" brl topped with a Leupold 2.5-7X. My handload was a Nosler 300gr
flat point partition over 32.0grs of H-110 with a Rem. 7 1/2 primer in new Starline brass for
1600+ fps. Took a real pretty 6'4" bear from about 35yds.He quartered toward me and the Nosler hit him in the left shoulder and exited the rear right rib cage. At the shot he hit the ground and never moved.The exit was an almost 2" hole along with two ribs. Pretty impressive!!
Hope this is of some help. Good hunting,James

curious as to why you wouldnt use a swc. Ive killed game as big as bison with them and theyve preformed great in every instance. They do as well as lfns in penetration testing and fly as good as a lfn and better then any wfn. My experience with Turnacute nosed bullets are that the fly great put tend to dive and not follow a straight path when penetrating heavy bone.

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
The 300 gr XTP or heavy partition would both be great. I would not use a semi wadcutter, prefering a truncated cone like the 320 gr LBT WLNGC or the WFNGC. By the way, all of these are also the best for deer. (Or elk, moose, etc.)
The most accurate loads for these are; 300 XTP, 20.5 gr's of 296. 320 LBT's, 21.5 gr's of 296. Use the Federal 150 primer. Yes, yes, try it before jumping on me.

If you can get a hard cast bullet to shoot to the same place as the 300gr XTP then you could have one or two XTP's up first, then follow them with the hard cast bullets.
If you shoot a bear I would load up with hardcast bullets for the followup.
Try the Federal 300 gr Cast Core, or Garrets Hammerheads.

Nothing wrong with the killing effect of the semi wadcutter. The problem is that there are so many variations of the boolit that it is hard to get an accurate one without buying a bunch of moulds to try all of them. Some are great and some stink. Each gun seems to like a different one too.

I've taken all of one black bear with the 44 mag. I used a 300 gr. Nosler softpoint and it performed very well.

Nimrod308,

Keep shooting those 300XTPs. The one bear I shot with 300XTPs @ 1200fps (5"S&W M29) entered high through the left scapula, down through the spine, and exited the right armpit. I figured she weighed about 250lbs, fat on fall salmon, and dropped to the shot. In my youth and inexperience, I finished her by getting right in front and shooting again. According to my notes, the first slug penetrated 12" and exited and the second was traced for 44" and was lost in the rump fat.

Since then, I've killed two decent boars with a .44 with my own hardcast flatpoints and it's amazing how fast they expired to the high heart shots they received.

Unless the bears are spooky, take your time shooting, put the bullet where it belongs and you'll have yourself a bear!

Good Luck!