I was hunting deer in California when I came across this guy.



I was shooting a Winchester Pre-64 M70 in .270 with the 130 grain Nosler Partitions at a chronographed 3,125 fps.

He was on all fours about 75 yards away and facing me at a slight angle (he was a bit down hill). I hit him in the chest and the bullet exited by his groin. He went a bit crazy and turned broadside to me and I placed another bullets through both lungs. He dropped at the 2nd shot and didn't move more than 10 feet in total from where he was on my first shot.

I wasn't planning on taking a bear (I always buy the CA resident tag for +$20) but I found out that the .270 with 130 grain Nosler Partitions was definitely up to the job.

Tim

There are several nice, premium, controlled-expansion bullets that will serve you well. But let me paraphrase Captain Crossman's statement about the .30/'06 cartridge "It is every freeborn American citizen's right to choose a bullet other than the Nosler Partition Jacket. But it is no great tribute to his intelligence if he does so!"

Yankee's, I believe you're overthinking bullet selection. Black bears aren't all that tough and any decent bullet will do the trick. The bear I shot last spring took a 180 Hornady from an 06' through both shoulders at 225 yards... at the shot it did a cartwheel and landed dead.

In the 340 WBY I doubt you could do better than a 250 NP though a 250 Hornady would be fine.

Shumba, that's a nice looking bruin... where in the state did you take him?

Nice Bear
That is the good thing about a Nosler Partition, they give good expansion even on longish shots on game like deer and antelope, yet have the penetration for bigger game, and bad angle shots if you bump into something up close.
A Nosler Partition in the proper bore diameter and weight is never a bad choice.

Brad,

I was hunting in Tehachapi, CA. I think it is about 100 miles North of Los Angeles. It was opening day of deer season and I had only seen a couple of doe in the morning. I headed out on a hike in the late afternoon and ran across this bear. The CA Game Warden said he would weigh over 350 lbs., but I did not weigh him. The letter I received from Fish & Game said he was 5 years old. Luckily, he was not too far from an old road that I was able to drive to in my 4x4 Jeep.

Tim