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338 win mag bear bullet
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<blockquote data-quote="johnlittletree" data-source="post: 1557902" data-attributes="member: 105653"><p>It is if you do not load something idiotic like a VLD bullet designed for target shooting with slightly harder lead alloy and repacked as a Hunting bullet. In fact a 30-06 would do the job with a 220 grain round nose. I do not get Brown Bear in my area just Black Bear. People have been using 45-70 and even 44 Mag hand guns in a pinch. It takes the right bullet something tough and as always good shot placement. The Black bear in my area are taken with bow, shotguns, 30-06SPR, 270 Win, and I think I even know a guy that shot one with a 243 Win....I had a friend stationed at Kodiac Island so I know that our little Black Bear are nothing compared to what you have roaming around Alsaka. </p><p></p><p>You want bullets like the Swift A-Frame 250-275gr., 250gr. Nosler Partition, Barnes TSX 250gr.-285gr., Speer GrandSlam 250gr.. Bear are not that hard to bring down if you get a good shot at their vitals the dreaded thing is the charging bear and making sure you can penetrate the skull. Bear are built really solid they have tons of muscle, fat and a lot of heavy tendons, ligaments and fascia. You have to have penetration above all else as a bear get's larger and larger. It has to have enough mass and weight retention and a heavy jacket so it will keep penetrating even if it hits bone. I am assuming you are not hunting bear at 1200m so ballistics is not the real issue it is bullet construction for penetration. </p><p></p><p>The reason a 300 WM or even a 30-06 can out perform a lot of 338WM Ammo at the ranges we hunt big bear at is that a 30Cal 220gr. round nose bullet is more likely to penetrate deeply than a 200gr.-250gr. in a .338 caliber bullet. At close range the difference in muzzle velocity is not an issue. If you have too much velocity at close range and a thin jacket on the bullet and hit bone good chance the bullet will fragment and stop penetrating. Most of the factory loaded ammo for .338 WM is what I call Elk and Moose Ammo especially the 200gr.-225gr. stuff with ballistic tips and and other fairly weak jackets. That said if shot placement is good even that stuff should get the job done. On a bear it is how thick they are and how fast they can run for a short distance making it hard to get a clean second shot if your in heavy brush or woods. The fur is so heavy that if you do not get a through and through you might not get a blood trail either. Quartering shots on a Brown Bear can be problematic again that is a lot of fatty meat and a lot of connective tissue to have to get through. I used one for years and I sold it to my Father in law and he took it to Afrika 3 times as he thin skinned game gun and harvested insane numbers of animals.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://gundigest.com/gear-ammo/reloading/greatest-cartridges-338-winchester-magnum-the-original-alaskan" target="_blank">https://gundigest.com/gear-ammo/reloading/greatest-cartridges-338-winchester-magnum-the-original-alaskan</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="johnlittletree, post: 1557902, member: 105653"] It is if you do not load something idiotic like a VLD bullet designed for target shooting with slightly harder lead alloy and repacked as a Hunting bullet. In fact a 30-06 would do the job with a 220 grain round nose. I do not get Brown Bear in my area just Black Bear. People have been using 45-70 and even 44 Mag hand guns in a pinch. It takes the right bullet something tough and as always good shot placement. The Black bear in my area are taken with bow, shotguns, 30-06SPR, 270 Win, and I think I even know a guy that shot one with a 243 Win....I had a friend stationed at Kodiac Island so I know that our little Black Bear are nothing compared to what you have roaming around Alsaka. You want bullets like the Swift A-Frame 250-275gr., 250gr. Nosler Partition, Barnes TSX 250gr.-285gr., Speer GrandSlam 250gr.. Bear are not that hard to bring down if you get a good shot at their vitals the dreaded thing is the charging bear and making sure you can penetrate the skull. Bear are built really solid they have tons of muscle, fat and a lot of heavy tendons, ligaments and fascia. You have to have penetration above all else as a bear get's larger and larger. It has to have enough mass and weight retention and a heavy jacket so it will keep penetrating even if it hits bone. I am assuming you are not hunting bear at 1200m so ballistics is not the real issue it is bullet construction for penetration. The reason a 300 WM or even a 30-06 can out perform a lot of 338WM Ammo at the ranges we hunt big bear at is that a 30Cal 220gr. round nose bullet is more likely to penetrate deeply than a 200gr.-250gr. in a .338 caliber bullet. At close range the difference in muzzle velocity is not an issue. If you have too much velocity at close range and a thin jacket on the bullet and hit bone good chance the bullet will fragment and stop penetrating. Most of the factory loaded ammo for .338 WM is what I call Elk and Moose Ammo especially the 200gr.-225gr. stuff with ballistic tips and and other fairly weak jackets. That said if shot placement is good even that stuff should get the job done. On a bear it is how thick they are and how fast they can run for a short distance making it hard to get a clean second shot if your in heavy brush or woods. The fur is so heavy that if you do not get a through and through you might not get a blood trail either. Quartering shots on a Brown Bear can be problematic again that is a lot of fatty meat and a lot of connective tissue to have to get through. I used one for years and I sold it to my Father in law and he took it to Afrika 3 times as he thin skinned game gun and harvested insane numbers of animals. [URL]https://gundigest.com/gear-ammo/reloading/greatest-cartridges-338-winchester-magnum-the-original-alaskan[/URL] [/QUOTE]
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