Black bear hunting with a .30 cal boolit?

[jr86]

I'm going bear hunting for my first time ever this year. I thought it would be cool to use a cast boolit if it's doable. I'm planning on using a .303brit. Even if cast won't cut it, I ll use J-words. I have a 314299 mold on the way. Thoughts?

Jeremy

[quilbilly]

Don't know why not unless you are shooting across the canyon. Seriously, if you keep your shots under 150 yards, your muzzle velocity over about 1900, and your boolits over 170 gr., no problem if you hit them where it counts. Consider that a lot of handgun hunters have been very successful with traditional calibers.

[Idaho Mule]

I think that if you can be 100 yds. or less, launch your 314299 at 1800 to 2100 fps and place it through front shoulder BONE and lung/heart area, that you will soon be packin' out bear meat. JW

[nagantguy]

Every bear killed with a fire arm until 70 years or so was killed with a lead boolit, 170-200 grains in the pump house still killed critters dead with full length has check or not.

[jr86]

I don't have a chrony so any good ways to test bullet on target? Effective penetration/expansion? I'm using 200gr gas check with 20gr of 800x. Seems like most guys who big game hunt with cast use larger than 30 cal. That's why I ask.

[triggerhappy243]

Without a real chronograph, you would be guessing the velocity. I had a chronograph long before i got a progressive press. It is even more important than a powder dumper in my book. Beg... Borrow... Or steal one.... If you have to.

But then again, the way i see it... If you cannot hit where you aim...........

[jr86]

Well, I consistently hit a 12" steel plate at 150 yards off hand with my enfield. So I d say my accuracy is good enough. I just don't own a chrony lol I'm thinking if I true my ballistics app with bullet drop data out to 300-400 yards it should give me a pretty close FPS

[DLCTEX]

acww in boiler room will do the deed.

[quilbilly]

My chrony has shown the velocities in both the Sierra book for jacketed and the Lyman book for cast are pretty close to reality and more than adequate for bear hunting so you don't have to run right out and buy one. It would be different for serious paper punching or tiny targets like ground squirrels at 200 yards.

[1Shirt]

Find an accurate for you 200-220 grainer, doing at least 1800 fps, with a med hard blt, and you ought to do just fine to 100 or so yds.
1Shirt!

[triggerhappy243]

Not saying jr should drop whatever he is doing. Im just saying if he wants to be absolutely sure of the velocity of those cast boolits............. Chrono will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But hey, what do i know?

[krag35]

Personally, I have been throwing Lyman's 311284's out at 1800 - 2200 FPS and killing Elk with regularity from either a Krag or my '06. So, I think the OP should do well on bear. As to chronographs and their necessity, I have been shooting the same jacketed load out of my '06 for 25+ years. The "book" says it should be doing 2900 FPS, but a chronograph told me it is only doing 2725 FPS. Nothing I ever shot seemed to argue with the discrepancy. It's all about bullet/Boolit placement.

[triggerhappy243]

My point. If you relied on nothing more than the advertised velocity and used a trajectory chart, your shots would hit low.

[Wolfer]

For the first 20 years or so that I hunted with my old 760 pump I used a very dependable load.
After I got my first crony imagine my disappointment to find my favorite loads were 300 fps slower than the book said they would be.

I burnt a lot of powder and time trying to get an accurate load at book velocity. I finally realized that my gun was most accurate with reduced loads. The truck load of deer that I had shot did not seem to be aware that I was using inferior loads.

Thank goodness I discovered cast boolits. Now me and my old 760 are both happy and just as deadly as we ever were.

[SSGOldfart]

Were are you hunting black bear? I took a small one 20 years ago with a 357mag 158gr RN with one shot at about 20 feet she was moving fast too,but she was very very good eating.

[taco650]

The 314299 has a great reputation as does the 303 British, especially in Canada. Look at book loads and find something that shoots good in your rifle. My #1Mk3 shoots 1" groups at 50yds with boolits from a custom 316299 that drops about 224 gr from 50/50 alloy in front of 16.0 gr of Longshot. That's with the battle sights too.

[jr86]

I had kind of forgot that people hunt bear with handguns (not legal in Canada). I'm still working on accuracy with these guns. My best groups so far have been about the size of my hand because I don't have a large enough boolit yet. I'm going to work the load out for accuracy, then figure out access to a chrony and bump it up from there if I have to. 202gr GC .314 in front of 20gr of 800x is my starting plan for a load. I have a .308 lee enfield that responds very well to that load.

Also thanks for the condescending advice triggerhappy243. But I ll listen to people who can help me without being rude about it.

[tdoyka]

when i go with my 30-40 krag, i use a .311" 165gr ranch dog(175gr +/-). i also want to use it for deer. at 100 yards, its a real dead bear!

[jr86]

Yeah I doubt I ll be making shots past 150 yards. So something that can handle that is what I'm looking for. Obviously commercial hunting ammunition is more powerful than it needs to be for most hunting applications.

[Hickory]

My mother-in-law was born & raised near Sandpoint, ID on a ranch. She told me this story after I became a family member, (I married her daughter) When she was 11 years old she said that one of the ranch hands said that there were several black bears roaming around the ranch house.
So, the procedure was first to be aware of your surroundings and carry a gun.
A few days later, just before going to bed she needed to use the outhouse. She got the lantern and the handgun by the back door. She said that she had not taken 3 or 4 steps from the the steps and there was a bear not three feet from her. These are her words, "I just brought her up and let her bang and ran back into the house."
I asked what caliber the gun was, but she had no idea.
As it turned out, she said it was a 350-400 lb black bear. She said the shot went through the bears snout and into it's chest and dead where she shot it.