Thanks for all the compliments fellas.

Michael and Dan, no problem, use any of the photos you want.

All of this has added so much to my hunt and I couldn't be happier.

Thank you!

Dog Man,
Congratulations on a nice bear.
Your report is excellent and detailed.
Max

Dog Man

Like all of us have said, you did a splendid job, from A to Z. Working up the load with the right bullet, testing, shooting, and preparation for your hunt. Consummation of the hunt, and all your hard work. Then a splendid follow up studying the results of your work. You should be commended, and complimented for it, it's well deserved. Too bad all don't do as much work as you have, and all are not quite as successful as you have been as well!

Thanks for the permission on the photos, they will be used to explain even further how these work.

Michael

Excellent bear and bullet performance!

How people can claim that sheared petals from heavy caliber bullets don't do any damage is beyond me. Terry Weiland made that claim in the most recent issue of one of the SCI publications (I forget whether it was the magazine or the paper.) What hogwash!

Just the secondary projectiles alone from the bullet you used (never mind the shank) would have killed your bear!

I have seen the same thing on Cape buffalo that I have shot with .509" 570 grain Barnes TSX bullets at 2,500 fps. The petals shear off and wreak secondary havoc on internal organs.

Congratulations!

.458 Only, I had the exact same experience with a good 6'6" Alberta bear.

I had 400gr Speers loaded to ~1850fps MV, and hit the bear at maybe 30 yards distance. The shot was in line with the spine and the bear dropped in his tracks; I could see it was paralyzed, as it was trying to crawl by pulling with it's front feet.
I got up close to it and put one into the neck, which was point-blank, to kill the bear.

When we did the 'autopsy', we could not find anything that recognized a bullet, yet there was a huge wound cavity, right to the spine, for both shots.

I found fragments of the jacket and what was left of that, had turned inside out.

I think that bullet needs to be kept in the 1300-1400 fps range to work as designed.

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I shot this bear with a 400gr Hornady IB, with a ZKK-602 in .416RM at 28 paces.

Hit the bear just inside the point of the right shoulder, and it went right through the heart. Blew the Bejeezus out of it...

6'9" blackie with a 20" skull.

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Dogman, that's a nice bear!

Where was your hunt? Also, how big was your bear? Length, skull size etc. if you have that info'.

Right ventricle gone.

^ Yep. The heart was destroyed. Incredibly, that bear ran about 80 yards after the shot!

But I could not find the bullet. It was raining, turning to snow, when I shot him so I just did not have the time to search the carcass long enough.



A 'decent' blood trail...



The trail on the way out, after skinning the bear and breaking camp.
This pic was taken about 5 hours after the bear pics.