Yes,I, of all people hate to admit,but to much power is what may have happened on my Brown Bear last week! After 6 days of passing up bears,I found a Gorgeous Blonde/tutone 8 1/2 footer(wish he was bigger,cant have it all!) and 170yds which was a tad far for the Grizzinator 500 Jeffery,but I made a good hit in the rump facing away before he faded into the alders and the 570Barnes X hit its mark and went completly through him and out his chest and that lil sob headed for the alders!He left gallons of blood on the trail,heck Ray Charles could have followed him!..I then found him looking at me and then hit him again with the 50/110 BFR at 20 yds and he went right to sleep!...My point,a 338 may have done just as good,or maybe I need to slow it down some?!...Good to be home in one piece and another trip of good memories!

Where are the pics?!?!?

Next time just go with the 50-110 bfr...

e-mail me and I will post the pics for you if you want.

SAFARIKID -- congratulations on the bear. Now that you see how ineffective that .500 Jeff. is, just send it to me. I would hate for you to be subjected to such an injustice again!!

Good job, man! Let's see the photos!!

Congratulations Tom!!!

Here is the happy camper...

Totaly jealous!

Too Much power- It's like Horsepower. There is no way a man can ever have too much!-Rob

I wonder if a lead core bullet like a North Fork or a Woodleigh would have done better. Sometimes an X will not open up a lot and leave a relatively small wound channel.

rememebr the old jet boaters adage... "there is no replacement for displacement"... meaning a 455 olds out-torques a 350... and the 50-110 definitely out-torques a measley .338

me thinks that Barnes done a terrific job! that kind of "bleed-out" is ideal, any better would have been a CNS shot. Nice bear and a fine caliber to boot.

perhaps next yr. a bigger one?

Thanks Guys....I have a 10'8" bear under my belt(29 5/16 skull!) and he was #11 in 96,but I would love to get a 11' one next year?!,but will probably go after Grizz instead..Also,with one of my big handguns fer sure!

quote:

Originally posted by 500grains:
I wonder if a lead core bullet like a North Fork or a Woodleigh would have done better. Sometimes an X will not open up a lot and leave a relatively small wound channel.

I wish Norh Fork made them in .510 (or bigger!)..I may step down to the Woodleigh 525grs for Bear,faster,flatter and probably more effective on the soft skin stuff!

Very nice bear.....!

Great job Tom.

Best Regards,
Dave

I didn't know Sammy Hagar hunted?

Hey awesome bear!

You do resemble the Red Rocker though.

Great looking bear!

And there is no such thing as too much gun. Some bear are smarter than others. This one just didn't know he was dead.

You should have used a 45-70 with Garret magic bullets. The bear would have been vaporized. All kidding aside, very nice.

Dave

Nice bear there Safari.... Naw, not too much power... Next time get a little closer and use your 4 bore double ...

Ken....

You could have used a 338, the bear would have ran just as far, and you might not have had the same blood trail to follow. Nice looking bear though. Congratulations on the bear and the 500 Jeffie.

John

SAFARIKID,

quote:

Thanks Guys....I have a 10'8" bear under my belt(29 5/16 skull!) and he was #11 in 96,

What did you use on that bear back in '96?

Nice browny by the way. Sounds like typical Barnes performance to me.

SAFARIKID- I don't know which I'd be more afraid of, the grizzly or the recoil of that bad boy. I assumed you had it scoped to make a shot at 170 yards, if not, good shooting.

Everyone here is probably right in saying there is no such thing as too much power when it comes to grizzlies. However, I have read accounts form J.A. Hunter and Taylor claiming that bullets that are too heavy (e.g. 565 grain of 500 nitro express) are no good for lion or leapord b/c they'll simply slide through them like hot butter, not transferring any of the bullet's kinetic energy to the animal. I'd suggest softer, heavier, slower bullets (I guess they really don't need to be any heavier than those behemoths you're using now).

Great bear pics, but give us one of just the Jeffery, or if you've posted one on AR before, let us know where it is. Thanks.

I used a 338win back then(40 yds-3 shots,but only 2 really needed) before I got the BIG Bore Fever!!

quote:

Originally posted by ScottS:
SAFARIKID,

quote:

Thanks Guys....I have a 10'8" bear under my belt(29 5/16 skull!) and he was #11 in 96,

What did you use on that bear back in '96?

Nice browny by the way. Sounds like typical Barnes performance to me.

quote:

Originally posted by maddenwh:
SAFARIKID- I don't know which I'd be more afraid of, the grizzly or the recoil of that bad boy. I assumed you had it scoped to make a shot at 170 yards, if not, good shooting.

Everyone here is probably right in saying there is no such thing as too much power when it comes to grizzlies. However, I have read accounts form J.A. Hunter and Taylor claiming that bullets that are too heavy (e.g. 565 grain of 500 nitro express) are no good for lion or leapord b/c they'll simply slide through them like hot butter, not transferring any of the bullet's kinetic energy to the animal. I'd suggest softer, heavier, slower bullets (I guess they really don't need to be any heavier than those behemoths you're using now).

Great bear pics, but give us one of just the Jeffery, or if you've posted one on AR before, let us know where it is. Thanks.

Yes,it has a Leup 1-5 and it is light,long eye relief and mounted in Super Low Leup QR rings and I remove for travel or Alders,doesnt change zero at the ranges I shoot it...170 was more than I hoped for,but I had to think quick or maybe lose him...Recoil is much less than my 9 1/2pd .600OK w/o break,but the integral break on the 500 Jeffery is much more effective than we anticipated,its Not Bad at all?!?!It weighs 7 pds 6 ounces scoped/mnts and carries so well(had a 8-9 mile "jaunt" to the spike camp due to 60mph winds/sleet and the bush/float planes was grounded)I dont care for the screw on breaks due to the extra length and uglyness factor,but the do come off.
I do agree a bit,esp now that if the bullet just slices right through to fast and doesnt get a chance to expand and shed energy,it is not quite as effictive...I am also a lil skeptical about the beloved Barnes X style bullets that I have been using for 12 years now...I recovered on from a Cape Buff last month when I walked up and spined him to be safe,though he was down,but the PH insisted..anyway,I have the bullet and it DID NOT expand at all!?(Maybe a bad batch-to hard as others I am reading are also seeing this happen)Next bear hunt I will use bonded lead styles with maybe the 525softs?Well,thats it fer now...Im ready to go back already!

7 pounds 6 ounces with the scope... that blows my freaggin mind. My 458 Lott weighs 9 pounds and it will absolutely pound you off the bench. I guess that break you have on their must work some kind of magic. I wouldn't worry aout the ugliness factor because that ugly little break might be saving your ability to use your right hand in the future (I assume you're right handed). Wouldn't want to lose that function just because of "ugliness factor."

SAFARIKID,

Woodleigh SN or PPSP at 2250 to 2450 fps have ALWAYS worked extremely well for me in the 0.510" flavor.

I suspect your right, a .338 would have done as well.

I put a lot more emphisis on bullet construction and shot placement than I do on calibers.

But, bigger is better will always be with us, its a man thing with some you know!

I dunno, if there was as much blood as you say, I suspect the bruin wasn't long for this world anyway. If you did your part and the rifle did its, I'd say you had just the right amount of firepower. We can sit here and wonder all day what would have happened if you'd been using a 338, but why? The bear's dead (and a nice one, too), and you're alive to tell the tale. Plus, you got to use not one, but TWO cool-ass guns to bring him down. I say keep doing it your way!

Ray,I agree as I took a Record Bear in 96' with a 338 and he didnt go but in circles when hit!...I Really think what happened is several things here on this particular bear/shot...1)He was on all 4's facing away and my bullet may have just missed the vitals(hanging lower in the chest cavity?)on its trek through his body and out his upper chest in one microsecond..2)The damn bullet Did NOT Expand?!?...though not a giant bear,it still went through him and he did go at least 100yds to the Alders!(If I would have been in his path,it could have been very exciting!{like a Mark Sullivan Video!}..I am going back to Soft points next year on my Grizzly/Moose Hunt!I will save X's for Africa!

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I suspect your right, a .338 would have done as well.

I put a lot more emphisis on bullet construction and shot placement than I do on calibers.

But, bigger is better will always be with us, its a man thing with some you know!

Was this indeed the newest TSX .510/570-grainer?
Your short barrel does make for lower than possible velocity to encourage opening.
However, I think you push them fast enough that the latest alloy of copper used is suspect.

Another failure of the TSX to expand? Sounds like it. I have used the .510/570-grain XLC of older make (different batch of copper?) at 2405 fps and they reliably stopped under the offside hide of an 1830 pound bison on broadside chest shots. I repeated a shot post mortem to confirm at pointblank range, and recovered both XLC's, perfectly expanded.

The .510/570 GSC FN at similar velocity will zip through from tail to throat and keep on going out the other side on the same animal. I repeated a post mortem shot at point blank range and it went out the north end from a south end entry.

That "expanding" bullet of yours must not have expanded. Yep. You got that right.

Congratulations on sorting it out well.