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Another bear. This time my son's taken yesterday. Quite a day, hard pulls, steep canyons, 4 bear caught, 2 treed, one a ground-fighter and this one a culvert bear, holed up in the same culvert twice after a long first race and an escape and big loop back to the same culvert.

Shot in the back of the neck as it left the second time. Range 2 feet. Rifle Marlin 1895, .45-70. Load Remington 300 grain JHP at 2125 fps. Some might not like this performance as it represents spectacularly "shallow" penetration, but that is precisely what we want from a hound gun. High energy, heavy-ish bullet, shallow penetration. This bullet will break any bone on any Black Bear here to 300 pounds {a 300-pounder is a really true rarity}.

If more and more grizzly crowd into our area, maybe we will have to rethink this just for self protection, but for now, we really like this combination. It grants 60 more grains of bullet weight over the King .444 {the Standard} and still keeps bullets inside the bear. No question the exit particles would be extremely hazardous to any dog that might get hit, but far better than getting struck with a heavy exiting bullet. We work HARD at keeping dogs away, but on ground fights the swirling melee is impossible to manage at times and "ballistic refinement" is a very good idea. Hence the popularity of .444 Marlins.

Exit Wound of shards;

Now, the Entry complex of wounds. Bullet entered from the top as the bear busted out of the hole.

Shot from this position sitting on the culvert in the "jungle" thicket;

Neck vertebrae in a section about 5 inches long were absolutely pureed, minced to slurry constitution. Shards left here and there, with the main bullet, beautifully expanded, found just under the hide next to the exit hole which no doubt was formed by the "shotgun-type" blast of particles as we witness and have documented in our bullet tests. Such a "pattern" is formed by both bullet particles and tissue and bone particles that are energized by the impact and sent flying thru the meat, etc.

Recovered;

Bear piled up and didn't even kick.

No pics of the shot as I was covering the side from an angle with my little "PDW" which as it turns out was not needed at all.

Some further of the day;

95 in the sun, cold in the shade. Lots of tough climbs;

Riggin';

How good dogs get hurt;

Couple cut up but...Happy!

Worrying the carcass. The big hound going crazy is a wonder at bear fighting. Just an awesome dog!

Bear went about 170 lbs.

The Rug;

Long hauls;

Hot, sweaty, cut up, bruised, strained and bloody...and happy as larks!

Last week's bear and 9.3x62 bullet performance;

http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=190403&an=0&page=0#Post190403

http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat....&PHPSESSID=

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Edited by 9.3x57 (26/09/11 02:28 AM)