.45 cal for black bear

[rawhide]

Ok it's probably been beat into the ground but still have to know... I have a traditions deer Hunter in .45 cal. 26 inch barrel 1&66 twist. Would this be enough for black bear? Say with a load of 70-80 of FFg and a .440 ball say out to 50 yards? Most of the bear here are under 300 lbs.

 

[curator]

I have killed two black bear with .45 caliber patched round balls. Obviously, bullet placement is important, but the .45 round ball is a very efficient hunting projectile inside 75 yards. Both my bears went down where they stood with high-center front-on shots.

 

[necchi]

Yes.
I could complicate the thread more by arguing with the "magnumitis" guy's but it's not worth my time.
Prior to my experience harvesting Minnesota black bear I attended a state sanctioned seminar.
My question to the two men allowed by the state to provide the seminar was;
"Will my 54 cap lock be enough to make a proper harvest?"
The man grinned as he replied "perfect" and then told that his first Black Bear harvest was with a 45 flint lock,,

"Magnumitis" be damned,, accuracy and placement of the shot is key to any large game harvest.

Your 45 can be a perfect tool for the job.

 

[russellshaffer]

A black bear's lungs tend to turn to jelly with a good broadside double lung hit. All bets are off if he's shot in the butt. Actually, then I would bet on the bear.

 

[azmntman]

:shocked2: :metoo: :surrender:

 

[M. De Land]

Wow, and with a patched ball! I killed my sixth last fall. Four with a .338 Mag, one with a .270 and last falls with a .44 mag and not one of them dropped in his tracks although the second hit last fall smashed his spine and that folded him up at about 4 feet from closing with my hunting pard.
You must be hitting them just right as I've never seen a brown or black go down with anything but a spine or head shot. They are unbelievably tough unless you cut their wiring.

He came in on us while we were gutting my caribou in back of me and we left our rifles across the river in camp.
He squared right at six feet and I'm guessing he weighed nearly 400lbs as he was fat as a butter ball and we couldn't budge him from where the picture was taken.
His head is nearly as wide as my hips in the picture. If you click on the picture then hit the spy glass icon the picture will enlarge.

 

[M. De Land]

If your bating then probably be fine as you usually can get a killing shot before they get the adrenaline going and you will be close.
If it were me I think I would use a heavy conical though in the short barrel for lots of penetration.
A .45 shooting a 130 grain ball out of a 26 inch barrel will probably develop 1600- 1700fps or so with 3F but in the short barrel a conical will be more effective as the weight makes the powder burn more efficiently and the conical can be depended upon for smashing up bones better.
1 in 66 is slow twist for a conical but I bet if you keep the shots to the 50 yards stated they will stay in the kill zone.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have never killed a black bear. But hunted them for years unsuccessfuly. I do a lot of reading about bears. And before this thread would never have considered anything under a .54 prb for use on them. What I read said (now proven wrong) was that a small .45 prb could not penetrate the thick fur, hide and muscle to reach vital organs. This is all very interesting. The voices of experience trump what the slick magazine writers advised. :thumbsup:

 

[curator]

Hunting from a tree stand at 50 feet or less helps in bullet placement. Both of my "muzzle loading season" bears didn't know what hit them. The round balls were recovered just under the far-side skin. They looked like cupped half-dollars. Big, angry bears are another story.

 

[stubshaft]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[hanshi]

While I have no desire to kill a bear, I am a dedicated .45 prb fan. As long as it's not a grizzly or a moose, a .45 prb is all one (IMHO) needs in the bush.

 

[Don Steele]

Rawhide,
Please don't take this response wrong. I'm not trying to be some kind of smart-aleck.
I've been blessed to have hunted quite a bit both here in the States, and on 4 trips to Africa, encountering an enormous variety of game over the years of all sizes and "attitudes" from Prairie Dogs to Elephant and Cape Buffalo. In that time I've observed a lot of hunters taking a VERY wide variety of firearms into the woods/bush. On the general topic of "is (blank) enough..??"(whatever caliber they're asking about for whatever game). I've come to the conclusion that if someone is asking that question, then it probably isn't "enough" for THEM.
It comes down to skill and confidence. Generally speaking someone with excellent skills and complete confidence in their rifle, along with an understanding of it's limitations will be able to make humane kills with much less "gun" than someone not so equipped.
Sounds like you're on the right track already....if you are willing to pass shots that exceed the limitations of your equipment.
Work hard with your 45 caliber rifle in the off season. Build that confidence and study the anatomy of a bear so that when the time comes... you will know where to aim and put that .440 ball where it needs to go and you'll do fine. :thumbsup:

 

[nkbj]

Brings to mind "loaded for bear".

 

[tenngun]

So valid ! One has to know their gun and work in ranges acceptable to the gun. Should one say that “i’ll Shoot my gun out to x amount of yards,” or ”˜I’ll only take good shots”. One has to stick to those rules. Not always so easy when buck (boar) fever comes knocking. Should you say fifty yards is your max try for forty, don’t guestsmate or do an ”˜I think it will be ok’. Same on shot. Should you not get the sight picture you want don’t take the shot. Don’t take a chance. Don’t push beyond what you think your shot should be.

 

[Jimbo47]

We don't have bears in my neck of the woods, at least not since the 1800's, but a well placed shot with a .45 would be more lethal than a badly placed shot with a .54 in my opinion.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Absolutely.
If you're gonna keep the distance short why not load two balls in the rifle?

B.

 

[Elnathan]

I have never killed a black bear. But hunted them for years unsuccessfuly. I do a lot of reading about bears. And before this thread would never have considered anything under a .54 prb for use on them. What I read said (now proven wrong) was that a small .45 prb could not penetrate the thick fur, hide and muscle to reach vital organs. This is all very interesting. The voices of experience trump what the slick magazine writers advised. :thumbsup:

I've never been hunting, and so cannot speak with the voice of experience, but I've read a considerable amount about bear hunting over the years and I think you will find two schools of thought on the subject. The first says that black bears are not difficult to kill and that any rifle that will reliably kill a deer will kill a bear. Since deer can be killed with rather small charges and people have been killing bear with some very modest sized guns for centuries, why use a big gun? The second school of thought says bigger is better within reason because 1) BEAR! and 2) you want a 1 shot kill anyway.

Other factors may be size and the type of hunting one is doing. Black bear can range considerably in size. The local bear around here in Western NC average 250 pounds, I think, whereas apparently down on the Piedmont and coastal areas of NC twice that size is not unusual and have gotten up to 800 pounds.

Whether you are going to shooting over bait or hunting with hounds may also play a part. With hounds by the time you are ready to shoot the bear is already riled up, but you are also going to be shooting at close range.

I note that in my area back in 1842, one of the local gunsmiths who also hunted bears regularly opted to make himself a .54 caliber pistol as a dedicated bear gun. Apparently that gave him sufficient punch at close quarters while leaving his hands free when scrambling up slopes or wrangling dogs.

 

[crockett]

No one is speaking much of bullet placement. Davy Crockett used a .36 caliber quite a bit but shot bears in trees at close range and used head shots. If you take a broadside shot through both lungs- that's ideal. If you take a shoulder shot with a pure lead round ball- different story.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Other factors may be size and the type of hunting one is doing. Black bear can range considerably in size. The local bear around here in Western NC average 250 pounds, I think, whereas apparently down on the Piedmont and coastal areas of NC twice that size is not unusual and have gotten up to 800 pounds.

Whether you are going to shooting over bait or hunting with hounds may also play a part. With hounds by the time you are ready to shoot the bear is already riled up, but you are also going to be shooting at close range.

Very true. Arkansas bears are in that size range also. An occasional report comes out of 400 pounders being taken. At one time Arkansas was known as "The Bear State". Harvesting and selling bear by-products (hide, meat, oil) was a fairly large industry. I have read reports ('stories'?) that many of the hunters did not shoot their bears. Instead their dogs would corner the critter and the hunter would go in an kill it with a knife. :shocked2: I have a copy of a first hand report of this being done. Personally, I believe this 'report' started at a campfire while the jug was being passed around. :hmm:

 

[azmntman]

Either that or the hunt proceeded after jug had been passed around! :shocked2:

Guy we went to church with (a non drinker I am sure) was a bear hunting guide. Came in one Sunday limping bad. Appears a big ol boar decided to eat his favorite hound and he proceeded to kick the S_IT outta the bear. The bear got away, not sure about the dog and the wife was very very ******. So that mentatlity does still exist even outside AR :shake: