Black Bear: Nosler Partition or Trophy Bonded?

Hello,

I will be hunting black bear this year with a 30-.06. Does anyone have examples or thoughts on whether I should use the 180 grain Nosler Partition, or the 180 grain trophy bonded?

My personal thoughts are that the Nosler will do more internal damage, but will not have as much penetration as the trophy bonded. Given the choice, I think I would consider slightly deeper penetration (in case I hit a shoulder, etc) instead of better expansion.

Any thoughts, comments, or advice would be appreciated.

Yeah...Don't sweat it. Black bear really aren't that hard to kill...a Remington Core-Lokt will work just fine.

Either will work well. It's a black bear, not a grizzly. I suspect the Nosler would work just fine, in all likelihood penetrating clear through. How much more penetration than that will you need?

Every time that I've been black bear hunting (3 times) the guides have all instructed me to hit the shoulder to put the bear down.

And either of the two bullets you have described will work fine. Black bear are not rated as a hard animal to penetrate.

albuck

I have a pretty high opinion of plain old Remington Express ammo and Core-Lokt bullets. I can shoot quite a few at $0.50 a round to tune up my eye and rifle before hunting season, then take the very same load into the hills.

The only place I have seen a core-lokt bullet fragment was a shoulder shot on a mulie at near point blank range from my .30-06 with a 165 grain bullet. The deer still died, but the bullet messed up quite a bit of meat. As long as a core-lokt bullet hits at 2500 fps or less, it holds together just fine.

The place where premium bullets like the Swift A-frame and Nosler partition really shine is if you are planning on hitting game at 3000 fps or more. Shooting 180 grain, that takes one of the hot magnums on the market, and if you are shooting one of them, $25 a box for ammo is not a big deal. I'm not sure a premium bullet at high velocity will ruin much less meat than a bonded bullet. The higher your velocity, the more dog food you end up with.