dqtommy

Taking my .30-06 bear hunting this year in Mn and wondering which bullet you guys recommend. I'm hunting over bait and my shot will be somewhere most likely between 20 and 50 yards. Out of these three bullets which would you guys recommend. And i don't want to hear all of them..... Hornady interlock 180gr, Winchester super x pp 180gr, and Federal trophy bonded tip 180gr,..... I know the trophy bonded tip is the premium ammo, but i've heard that it isn't a good load on thin skinned game like deer because it doesn't expand shooting through such thin skin and that it's made for thicker skinned game like elk and moose... Not sure if that's true or not because on a side note i just bought 200 rounds of it for white tail.... so hopefully i didn't waste my money. Thanks for the help

HatchieLuvr

With 200 rds of it I'd say there is no reason to shoot anything else on your bear hunt! The Trophy Bonded is simply a copy which was then "taken a step further" of the Nosler Partition. I'm of course a died in the wool Barnes X man, but before they were so commerically available over the counter I often sought out other premium rounds and for one pet rifle (700CustomShop 280) I bought a couple of boxes of Trophy Bondeds and they never failed me.

As for not expanding on thin game, I'd rather have a solid/steel jacket bullet than I had a typical hollowpoint or anyother rapidly expanding bullet. It never made sense to me that for large/dangerous game you want deep penetration. And for bowhunting ANY big game animal, regardless of size, you wanted penetration. Yet for some reason when it came to deer/black bears someone came up with the idea that you needed rapid expansion? Hmmmmmmmm the nearly 200 big game animals I've killed in my life with many different bows and guns revealed to me that PENETRATION IS KEY!!!

If speed and expansion were the utmost in importance then the .223 would make a better better buffalo gun than the 45/70!!!


HL

dqtommy

Thanks for the knowledge! Appreciate the help

nsdemit

first. on thick skinned game, i'm a huge fan on interlocks!!! like, times 10! but there are many other good bullets. however, i don't believe the other two bullets will be ideal choices. the tipped bullets expand very fast and i have witness them being torn into fragments inside larger game.

having hunted them, and seen them hunted before. i'd just stay away from the ballistic tips on bears, they're great for deer though!

i use a barnes x hollow point. the tough alloy works great on big stuff. 165 grains is more than enough (probably better than 180)

the heavier your bullet, the slower velocities you get. speed is pretty important, the flatter you shoot, the more likely you are to hit your target in the field.

BarnesX.308

I shot my only bear with Trophy Bonded Bear Claws from my 30-06. 180 grain slugs. The bear was only about 150lbs and it was a black bear. No problems with the bullets not expanding.

However, I have since switched to Barnes X and have been using them exclusively since 1997. Only on deer and one ram so far, but they are excellent.