.475 Linebaugh for black bear.

[doghawg]

I managed to draw a Wisconsin bear tag this year and am currently baiting three different spots. One spot has the possibility of a longer shot so I'll be using a .338/06 Imp there with a 225 Hornady spire point. The other two stands are in denser cover where a 50 yard shot will be about it.
My 6 1/2" BFR has an Ultradot on it and has accounted for a couple deer at over 50 yards. I have a very accurate load with the 325 gr. Lee GC running at 1125 fps and am confident with it doing the job on a 200 lb. bear or on a whitetail.
But....a large boar I'd guess at well over 300 lb. has been showing up on the camera and while I like the big wide meplat on the Lee I'm wondering if the 400 RCBS (which I also cast) might be a better choice for making two holes in the chest cavity of a large bear.
I welcome any opinions. Thanks

[Three44s]

You have dandy rifle and handgun cartridges!

I would run that RCBS 400 gr in a reasonably stiff load for your .475L and I think you are spot on with your .338-06 Imp.

Good luck and enjoy!

Three44s

[DougGuy]

I doubt the 325 will be recovered from a 300+lb bear, just sayin'

I know a 340gr TC in 45 Colt that ain't moving anywhere near 1125fps will go clean through 42" of hardwood longways.

[DougGuy]

I respectfully call bull

Do I need to post a photo of the recovered boolit? I still have the boolit.

Calling your bull, bull.. Recovered on the ground after passing through 42" of oak firewood. 45 Colt 340gr SSK TC ovre 22.5gr W296 fired from a 4 5/8" Vaquero. Numerous boolits penetrated the stack of wood behind the stack this one went through, some were recovered on the ground between the two stacks, I saved this one.

Nope cause i still wont believe it. You sure it was hardwood

I'm not even going to respond to this. The boolit is right there in the pic, the description is accurate, I could care less what you think. Welcome to my ignore list.

doghawg, a 300lb bear wouldn't have stopped this boolit, and it won't stop your 325 moving 1125 either. You shoot whatever you are comfortable with.

[quilbilly]

I have been hunting with a 50 cal muzzleloader for over 30 years. You will be just fine with a 325 gr boolit at that mv if you keep the range under 75 yards and a bear 450# or less ( any bigger and you should start looking for the perfect shot).

[Ramjet-SS]

I have had one Johns handguns way before they were popular. I had a Number 1 Ruger reamed out with one of Johns reeders he let me borrow. 325 grain WFN at 1100 FPS was by far my favorite load in the 475 Linebaugh. I can without question tell you that boolit will run clean through bear at 75 yards or under. I had big baloney Doe facing me at 75 yards I shot her right in the center of the chest under her chin, the boolit Traversed he lengthwise came out her hind quarter and went into the snow and dirt. I don’t care if it’s a 600 lb boar you have enough gun and your load is fantastic. Somewhere in cyberspace I have an article called triple PPP rifle talks about penetration tests I did. Trust me you have good combination and it will the job if you do yours...good luck.

[45stomp]

The 325 at 1100 will kill any black bear that walks. Put it in the right place and get out your skinning knife.

Stomp

[444ttd]

The 325 at 1100 will kill any black bear that walks. Put it in the right place and get out your skinning knife.

Stomp

yep, i agree.


i use a 500 linebaugh in tc encore with a 23" MGM barrel. i haven't gotten a bear, but when i do, a 450gr lfn gc going 1235fps (hs-6) will surely get the bear's attention.

[Norske]

A 300gr cast bullet from a 44Magnum will break down any black bear. If anything, you could be over gunned (nope, no such thing with toothy critters). I'd shoot for the front leg on a broadside bear and let the bullet and bone fragments take out the lungs which are behind the leg in a bear.

[jaydub in wi]

Doghawg,
Congrats on drawing a tag. I only have 2 points as I had a tag a few years ago. I did take my 1st bear last year in Michigan.
If you are still doubting your load, then you should read the post grizzly with a revolver! written by member rugerfan.
After seeing his results with a cast 41 wfn on grizzly, I wouldn't hesitate to use your load on any black bear. Good luck

[white eagle]

I have no doubt the either of the cals you choose will do just fine on black bear
I have been on numerous bb hunts here in Wisconsin my first bb was shot with a 300 wm
at 7 yds (430#) hit him again at 12 yds
bb are no tougher than whitetails to kill put a boolit where its supposed to be and make sausage
my turn will be next year 11 points now I will use almost he exact set up as 444 a MGM 500 L with a 400 gr Keith with 27 gr 2400
best of luck on your hunt have fun

[doghawg]

Thanks for the replies! From what I'm seeing here it looks like the 325 WFN is going to do the job if I do mine. I'm in my seventies and don't really enjoy the full house .475 loads as much lately. Even my .338/06 is tamed down a bit from days of old.

[white eagle]

where you from dog
I am near Sun Prairie shot my bear in Winter,WI.up in Rusk co.

[doghawg]

where you from dog
I am near Sun Prairie shot my bear in Winter,WI.up in Rusk co.

I'm north of Green Bay and will be up in Forest county near Armstrong creek.

[Tripplebeards]

I’m south, close to the MN boarder. I shot one in Winter and one in Rib lake. Both with my 300 RUM. I shot my biggest bear in Canada with an Arrow. It’s was 7’ 6” with 19 3/16” skull. The only bear that didn’t run after the shot was my smallest in WI. I shot it out of a tree using dogs. It was 249 pounds. Like said above bear aren’t any harder to kill than deer but their fat clogs the entry and exit holes. If it were me I’d cast soft so you get some expansion for a good size exit hole for blood trailing if needed. The last bear I shot in rib lake was 7’2” and weighed 350 pounds. Shot it with a 200 grain Nosler Partition I loaded for my 300 RUM around 3000 FPS. It was about a 35 yard shot. I drilled the bear broadside in the lungs. It did a summersault got up and ran a good 45 yards into the brush. It let out 7 or 8 loud blood curdling roars. It was the last minute of shooting light when I shot it. I waited 15 minutes and went to look for it on the dark with a flash light crawling through brush on my hand an knees. It will give you the “heebie jeebies”. even with that gun and bullet choice I had very little blood to follow. I had pencil eraser size drop of blood every two two three feet. The fat clogged the Quarter sized entry and exit holes in the Hyde. When I skinned it there were dinner plate sized holes on both sides of the ribs! The last time I checked the average WI black bear harvested is under 165 pounds so your bullet choice is overkill just like mine was .lol. I use to run dogs with a group of guys 20 years ago. I watched them harvest 13 black bear one year. Every bear ran after being shot accept for my buddies bear and mine. We both were shooting 300 RUMs. I don’t believe it was the caliber choice but the shot placement. We both shot our bear high in the shoulders. The other shooters were shooting their bear in the neck and behind the shoulders. The bear would all drop out of tree they were shot in, get up and ran. Most went 15 to 40 yards at the most and dropped...or were Swiss cheezed with bullets when running away. I have about 10 points now but need to find a place to hunt In WI before I put on for a kill tag again. Make sure to post pics!

[doghawg]

Interesting post Tripplebeards. This will be my first bear. I spent my pre-retirement years working long hours and didn't have the time or energy to bait. From what I've heard from the people with coolers and meat cutting service the majority of bears they see are under 200lbs...some well under so that 165 lb figure is probably spot on. I hope to get one a little bigger.
The last game shot the .338/06 AI was a 5X4 bull elk at 45 yards. I used the 225 Hornady over a full dose of H414 and found the bullet perfectly mushroomed under the hide on the offside. I also shot my best ever whitetail with this rifle which was custom built in 1986. I still had a box of those Hornady's so backed off a bit with about 2500fps worth of H4895 which I hope to chronograph later this week.
The .475 nailed my best handgun whitetail so both these guns seemed like the right choices for what will certainly be the last dance as a bear hunter for me. Took 11 years to get the tag and I'm 72. I'm sitting here with 3 choices of boolits for the revolver....325 Lee, 380 LBT LFN, and 400 RCBS. All are cast between 12 and 13 BHN so expansion might be iffy and that's the reason the big flat nose of the Lee is appealing. The Lee recoil is mild (might kick up the velocity just a bit) and I can stay inside 2" @ 50 yards from a rest with the Ultradot.
I may be overthinking this whole thing but that's half the fun of hunting. There have been some interesting replies to this post thus far and I'm appreciating the input.

[Tripplebeards]

Imo if you see one that’s 200 pounds or over in WI I’d be shooting it. The last one I shot was a 7’2” Boar. I burnt up 9 days vacation a week prior and saw ZERO bear. I went up the following Friday night for a weekend of sitting. Since I knew I only had Saturday and Sunday to hunt I sat Saturday morning and saw nothing again. I sat the same stand Saturday night. The last couple minutes of legal light I saw something black coming through the brush to my bait. I honestly thought it was BooBoo...a young, small bear. At that moment I didn’t care and was just excited to see a bear and had an opportunity to fill my tag after the 9 year wait. Imagine how the exact opposite of ground shrinkage shock I had when I found it. I was pretty tickled because I honestly thought I shot about a 100 to 120 pound bear. My buddy never shot a bear that year. His wife was drawn the year before last and she transferred her tag to my buddies son. He never saw one bear in the same area. We had several Bear coming on all times of day to all our bait sites...until the first day of the hunt. They shut right down and stopped coming to the bait. Then once every Four to five days we would have a Bear visit in the middle of the night for the first week and a half. After that none of the baits were hit again. I have another friend in the Wausau area that between him and his his dad have been drawn three times now. They have had a HUGE bear coming to their bait all three times they were drawn and baited but it never shows during legal shooting light and always disappears once season started. I blame it on them sitting to close to the bait as well.

When I was hunting with the dog runners 20 years ago, when I drew my first WI tag, I shot the largest of 13 bear treed that year. Mine was a 249 pound sow. The others were 112 to 178 Pounds. They following year I went only once with group. They ended up with a 286 pound sow that morning.

If your planning on sitting over bait I would tell you to talk to a few no kill, no pay dog runners as a back up. After the last three bait sitting in rib lake I think it would have increased our odds if we would have sat farther away from the bait sites. Most stands were 25 to 35 yards away. I think a good 75 to a 100 yards to keep your scent off the bait. When was in Canada bear hunting I sat literally on top of the bait. I believe there are so many bear there that they just don’t care if they smell you and there is to much competition for food. Here in WI that are extremely cautious imo. The farther away you can sit from your bait the better. I’d give up deer hunting if I could bear hunt every year instead. Way more exciting and better tasing meat. I never shot a bear with cast but when I do I will cast 50/50 alloy so I get some expansion and a bigger exit hole. I can tell you even with 180 and 200 grain, loaded at 3000 to 3300 FPS expanding jacketed Ammo Blood trails are still very sparse. I’d like to try my 50/50 (ac COWW & pure) cast 35 Rem HP loaded up at at 2100 FPS on one some day. I’m sure it will make one heck of an exit for bleed out if needed.

[jaydub in wi]

Forgot to add to my 1st post... I used a 338 winchester. I was shooting 225 gr Swift A frames over a healthy dose of RL19. I was loading these for a future elk hunt so I wanted to try them out. Don't worry about small exit holes or no blood trail with these. My bear weighed 170 lbs dressed. Either of your choices should serve you well. Good luck

[Tripplebeards]

^^^my first WI Bear was shot with a factory loaded 180 grain swift scirocco out of my 300 RUM. I hit it in the shoulder. Somehow the bullet zippered the Hyde under its wrist all the way up to its chest! The 249 pound sow hit the ground DRT!

[Ramjet-SS]

I am from Lakewood if it’s Boar and it’s a good shot take it average bear is 175 lbs the only ones that hog out are well fed by bait stations...