338 solids for bears

[snake]

Have a newly built .338 Edge for big game hunting and long range fun. I was considering NOT using the typical round nose sytle solids but using a better ballistic coeffiecent bullet like the Lehigh/Boretech 245gr Solid.

Or should I just stay with the 300gr SMK that the gun is setup for anyways?

thanks for any help

Mike

 

[jmden]

Stay with the 300SMK.

 

[J E Custom]

Have a newly built .338 Edge for big game hunting and long range fun. I was considering NOT using the typical round nose sytle solids but using a better ballistic coeffiecent bullet like the Lehigh/Boretech 245gr Solid.

Or should I just stay with the 300gr SMK that the gun is setup for anyways?

thanks for any help

Mike

Bears are not thick skin-ed but are tough to kill so I would recommend a bonded core bullet
like the Accubond so it would expand and transfer more energy to the game.

I would use something in the 225 to 250grain range.

Solids are made for extremely tough skin-ed game that tend to stop regular hunting bullets
and they will penetrate much deeper (4 to 6 feet ) before spending all of there energy, and
on thin skin-ed animals they will pass through without expending very much energy and
may not drop him .

J E CUSTOM

 

[jmden]

I shot a 225 lb. black at 445 yds with the 300SMK this year through the vitals and blew out the offside shoulder. Acted just like it did in elk and deer--dropped immediately. That's probably a bit bigger than the average blackie--she was well fed--and the bone structure no where near as big as an elk. Vast majority of elk are much bigger than a black bear and the 300SMK works just fine for that. I've had the 300SMK take out the big leg bone on the way into a bull elks vitals this year, thrash the vitals and still demolish the offside shoulder--immediate drop from 430 something. JMHO, but unless you are hunting grizzlies or brown bears close up, I think the 300SMK will handle north american bears just fine.

 

[snake]

thanks for the input guys.I didn't think the bear family of animals was considered thick skinned but hoped to find some feedback. I think i'll stick with the 300smk. Maybe when I build my african rifle in .375 Cheytac,then it will be a solid shooting thick skinned game killer.

 

[aauya]

did you consider the 250gr swift A-frame,?? its hard to beat up here in alaska on bears ,,, or moose

 

[J E Custom]

thanks for the input guys.I didn't think the bear family of animals was considered thick skinned but hoped to find some feedback. I think i'll stick with the 300smk. Maybe when I build my african rifle in .375 Cheytac,then it will be a solid shooting thick skinned game killer.

The problem with any match bullet is the consistency on game . there is no doubt they will hit
there mark but shot to shot on game the results vary to much for me because you can't always
have the perfect broad side shot and that is where the match kings do OK.

Also long range shots where the 300gr MKs shine are far and few between when hunting moose
and bears. so that's why I recommended the 250 bullets like the Accubond and as aauya
recommended the Swift A Frame or the Partition.

J E CUSTOM

 

[killdeer]

Hints that the SMK's performance can't be relied upon along with the suggestions for the use of traditional hunting bullets is good advice.

I would go Scenar before SMK, but for your hunt, no question it would be the 210 TSX.

If it's black bear you're after, a 7mm and X is plenty.

 

[jmden]

Hints that the SMK's performance can't be relied upon along with the suggestions for the use of traditional hunting bullets is good advice.

I would go Scenar before SMK, but for your hunt, no question it would be the 210 TSX.

If it's black bear you're after, a 7mm and X is plenty.

The 300SMK has long been the goto .338 bullet for lrh. It doesn't take very long on this forum to see that.

Scenar's, after over 7 years on this forum and having seen testing and reports here about them, have not been the chosen bullet as they tend to not expand. The 300SMK, of all the SMKs, enjoys a pretty good reputation overall here for lrh purposes. I've seen numerous pictures on this forum over the years of perfectly expanded 300SMK's. AND, there's more than one way for a bullet to act and still kill very well. Look at the pics of Berger Hunting bullets (oh my, another match bullet) in a recent post by Eric Stecker to see how Berger bullets are working--much different than the typical hunting bullet. And, they enjoy a pretty good reputation overall. No bullet works well in all situations. We have to know the bullet and what it's appropriate for. In short we have to 'know our limitations' and that of our gear. Ourselves and our gear all have severe limitations and compromises. Bullets in particular.

A 300g, .338 bullet will has so much inertia and will do so much damage, that the type of concerns one might have with the terminal performance of a smaller bullet may not apply to the same degree as the .338. I've followed the performance of the 300 SMK for years on this forum and finally decided to have a .338 Lapua Imp. built for use with the 300SMK and 300 Berger. Berger Ballistician Bryan Litz, more or less told me, not quite word for word, but close, what I said about the 300g .338 bullets above regarding terminal performance. The 300 SMK is used for hunting big game by a great number of folks on this board, some of those are the most well known with long proven track records on this board. This hunting with SMKs discussion is like beating a dead horse, it's been had so many times.

To be tremendously concerned that the 300SMK may not be suitable for killing black bears, that are typically not very big, much smaller than an elk typically, especially at long range, is absurd.

 

[snake]

Guys,this is a topic i've been trying to research form some time. I think I might purchase some solids to do a test in similar or equal conditions. I've tried to find hunting data from solids but I actually have a hard time finding any. Data meaning results on game that is. Pictures of damage to flesh,bone,etc.

It is hard to do a 300gr smk vs. say 245gr GS custom solid due to weight differences and velocity. I don't have the twist for a 300gr solid in my 338 edge for distance but maybe 100-200 yards possibly. Having the rifle custom taylored for a 300smk is fine. I have no issues and am gald its that way. Im just like alot of others around here who want to explore and hope to improve on what they are already doing.

BTW,I think the only close weighted solid projectile might be a 295gr GS custom bullet to compare to the 300gr smk. Its well over 2" I believe and would need something like a 1.8 twist for long range accuracy. I do not have that tight of a twist for that! Truely is a topic to play with but so many variables!