The quest for a bear defense round.
Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 5:55 pm***Not sure these musings about ammo belongs in Bolt Action, but it's not about reloading so....
The original reason I picked up the Bushmaster wasn’t to hunt deer in Ohio. It was to find a rifle that would work for brown bear defense when camping out west and not take up a lot of space while doing it. My search initially led me to a classic guide gun like the 45-70 Govt in something like a Marlin lever action. But Marlin was going through some changes, and it was out of my price range anyways. So I settled on the Ruger Ranch in Bushmaster.
Since then I’ve learned some things.
First, I want to hunt deer in Ohio. And lots of stuff down south and out west.
Second, based on my research, bear spray is probably a better bet for an up close bear encounter. A bear can close 20 yards in 3 seconds, even through thick brush. And even after a lethal wound to the chest, an animal still has as much as 10 seconds of adrenalin before it succombs. But since I own the gun, and redundency is always a good idea, I decided I should probably have 20 rounds of “just in case” life insurance against dangerous game.
My search for the right bullet for bear defense led me to this study of terminal ballistics. http://www.rathcoombe.net/sci-tech/ball ... nding.html
In it, he joins Ron Spomer, Chuck Hawke and others in debunking the myth of knockdown power. It’s nerdy as hell, but if you look through his data he’s got the evidence to back it up. Basically, barring a perfectly placed central nervous system shot it’s all about shutting down the cardiovascular system and causing the animal’s blood pressure to fall to zero. For dangerous game with thick hide and shoulders, a big but slower-moving bullet like ours needs to dial down bullet expansion in order to maximize penetration.
This led me to this round, Buffalo Bore’s non-expanding (therefore, deeper-penetrating) 360 grain bullet.
https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l ... tail&p=540
Another bullet I considered was the Lehigh Defense Xtreme Penetrator. There are still a few boxes out there of their 245 grain bullet loaded by Underwood in 450 Bushmaster.
https://bkingsfirearms.com/shop/ammunit ... tor-20-pk/
But ultimately I decided on the tried and true heavy, hard-cast, flat-nosed Buffalo Bore round.
I only bought one box because I don’t plan on hunting brown bears and I hope I never have to kill one in self defense. But there is a special feeling that comes from having a couple rounds tucked in my buttstock ammo carrier that can stop any predator that walks the earth today. And possibly put a serious hurt on a TREX’s feelings right before he eats me.
This is an amazing gun.
The original reason I picked up the Bushmaster wasn’t to hunt deer in Ohio. It was to find a rifle that would work for brown bear defense when camping out west and not take up a lot of space while doing it. My search initially led me to a classic guide gun like the 45-70 Govt in something like a Marlin lever action. But Marlin was going through some changes, and it was out of my price range anyways. So I settled on the Ruger Ranch in Bushmaster.
Since then I’ve learned some things.
First, I want to hunt deer in Ohio. And lots of stuff down south and out west.
Second, based on my research, bear spray is probably a better bet for an up close bear encounter. A bear can close 20 yards in 3 seconds, even through thick brush. And even after a lethal wound to the chest, an animal still has as much as 10 seconds of adrenalin before it succombs. But since I own the gun, and redundency is always a good idea, I decided I should probably have 20 rounds of “just in case” life insurance against dangerous game.
My search for the right bullet for bear defense led me to this study of terminal ballistics. http://www.rathcoombe.net/sci-tech/ball ... nding.html
In it, he joins Ron Spomer, Chuck Hawke and others in debunking the myth of knockdown power. It’s nerdy as hell, but if you look through his data he’s got the evidence to back it up. Basically, barring a perfectly placed central nervous system shot it’s all about shutting down the cardiovascular system and causing the animal’s blood pressure to fall to zero. For dangerous game with thick hide and shoulders, a big but slower-moving bullet like ours needs to dial down bullet expansion in order to maximize penetration.
This led me to this round, Buffalo Bore’s non-expanding (therefore, deeper-penetrating) 360 grain bullet.
https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l ... tail&p=540
Another bullet I considered was the Lehigh Defense Xtreme Penetrator. There are still a few boxes out there of their 245 grain bullet loaded by Underwood in 450 Bushmaster.
https://bkingsfirearms.com/shop/ammunit ... tor-20-pk/
But ultimately I decided on the tried and true heavy, hard-cast, flat-nosed Buffalo Bore round.
I only bought one box because I don’t plan on hunting brown bears and I hope I never have to kill one in self defense. But there is a special feeling that comes from having a couple rounds tucked in my buttstock ammo carrier that can stop any predator that walks the earth today. And possibly put a serious hurt on a TREX’s feelings right before he eats me.
This is an amazing gun.
. 