Black Bear hunt turns to predator removal

[ChrisG]

So.. I have been out trying to call a black bear in this year. After several unsuccessful attempts for the early bear season here in the Adirondacks, I called this little bugger in today and though "I should cut my losses and take him" so I popped him at about 20 yards with the 12 Bore Schrifle I made (Here's the thread to that project: https://www.africahunting.com/threads/12-bore-schrifle-project.47865/). Anyway, After I fired and he reared up like a horse, while at the same time rag dolling back over sideways, I thought "Oooh he has a beautiful hide.. I'm gonna have quite a nice hat for the winter!"... Well It was all for nothing, because, as it turns out... Hitting a 35 pound canine with one of these:

at 1,100 fps, punches huge holes in the hide and rips it to pieces on the way out (yeah... imagine that, I got a pass through). Anyway It was exciting to have a coyote so close and get a chance to finally take something with the schrifle (I guess its more of a carbine schrifle)... I removed one song dog from the hillside, so maybe a fawn will live to grow into a big buck in 2 years! I didn't want to take a picture from any other angles, as it was a little graphic (hence the very deliberate placement of the chest/neck, I shot him when he was facing me and you can see the exit behind his front leg.)

 

[Scrumbag]

Nice simple set up and bet the red dot makes it handy?

Scrummy

 

[ChrisG]

Nice simple set up and bet the red dot makes it handy?

Scrummy

It does! And since its effective range is able 125 yards, it doesnt really put you at a disadvantage. Plus its small ans unobtrusive. Still managed to hit the coyote. It has an iron front post on it but i haven't installed the rear blade yet so that I'll have a backup. I was gonna look at skinner sights to see if they made one

 

[Ridgewalker]

I’ll take a coyote at any opportunity! Good job with your “hammer of Thor toy”!

 

[Scrumbag]

It does! And since its effective range is able 125 yards, it doesnt really put you at a disadvantage. Plus its small ans unobtrusive. Still managed to hit the coyote. It has an iron front post on it but i haven't installed the rear blade yet so that I'll have a backup. I was gonna look at skinner sights to see if they made one

Love slinging slugs. Have a red dot on my supernova. Shot it in a turning target competition this weekend. What a hoot!

 

[ChrisG]

Love slinging slugs. Have a red dot on my supernova. Shot it in a turning target competition this weekend. What a hoot!

If you have a rifled barrel and arent afraid to load your own, accurate molds makes .732" molds up to 1400 grains. I settled on 775 for this one because it didnt want it to have a trajectory like a .38 short. Now to get a black bear to walk in front of it...

 

[Scrumbag]

If you have a rifled barrel and arent afraid to load your own, accurate molds makes .732" molds up to 1400 grains. I settled on 775 for this one because it didnt want it to have a trajectory like a .38 short. Now to get a black bear to walk in front of it...

Sadly rifled barrels on pumps and semi-autos are generally prohibited in the UK and getting what would be a 12 bore rifle in a bolt action, single shot or a double seems more licensing and expense hassle than it is worth.

I do wonder about casting though. Some of those Russian Svarog things seem quite interesting and apparently fairly accurate.

I have some Rottweil Brenneke slugs I have used for hunting and usually use S&B "Sport" slugs for targets.

Scrummy

 

[ChrisG]

Sadly rifled barrels on pumps and semi-autos are generally prohibited in the UK and getting what would be a 12 bore rifle in a bolt action, single shot or a double seems more licensing and expense hassle than it is worth.

I do wonder about casting though. Some of those Russian Svarog things seem quite interesting and apparently fairly accurate.

I have some Rottweil Brenneke slugs I have used for hunting and usually use S&B "Sport" slugs for targets.

Scrummy

Just got back to this thread after a while. I think you should absolutely get into casting! I love it... I think... "I need some bullets to load today... well I should go make some" and boom! you have 200 bullets after casting for an hour or so. I am just getting into swaging for my Air rifle as well. I may end up getting a swaging press in the future so that I can make bonded jacketed rifle bullets from copper plumbing caps.

 

[Scrumbag]

Bonded jackets sounds fun but a bit much effort

 

[ChrisG]

Bonded jackets sounds fun but a bit much effort

its not too bad, form the jacket cylinders, drop in your lead cores with a little liquid flux, Then head them all up in a small kiln to 700F, let them cool, then form the tip. It really is one extra step in swaging them and would make for good hunting bullets. But if I am going to do it, it is going to be to swage bullets that are really expensive and hard to find anyway... so I am going to start with a round nose soft point .458 bullet. But I need a swaging press first.

 

[Scrumbag]

its not too bad, form the jacket cylinders, drop in your lead cores with a little liquid flux, Then head them all up in a small kiln to 700F, let them cool, then form the tip. It really is one extra step in swaging them and would make for good hunting bullets. But if I am going to do it, it is going to be to swage bullets that are really expensive and hard to find anyway... so I am going to start with a round nose soft point .458 bullet. But I need a swaging press first.

I have wondered about swaging commercially available .429 cast bullets down to .423 for cheap .404 Jeffery shooting...

 

[ChrisG]

I have wondered about swaging commercially available .429 cast bullets down to .423 for cheap .404 Jeffery shooting...

I don't even think you would need to swage them, roll them around in case sizing lube and run them through a .423 cast bullet sizing die. squishing them down 0.006" isn't a whole lot.

Here is a .424". A little oversize but I don't think you will be loading them to max so .001" should pose no problem. Or you can have someone cut one for you that fits into your press.

.424

All of our custom sizing dies are precsion made on our CNC lathe in house. Made to fit your RCBS and Lyman Lubrisizers. If you want a size you don't see please ask.

www.buffaloarms.com

 

[WAB]

Have you studied bear calling? They need the same technique as cats, continuous. Dogs come to intermittent calling.

 

[Scrumbag]

I don't even think you would need to swage them, roll them around in case sizing lube and run them through a .423 cast bullet sizing die. squishing them down 0.006" isn't a whole lot.

Here is a .424". A little oversize but I don't think you will be loading them to max so .001" should pose no problem. Or you can have someone cut one for you that fits into your press.

.424

All of our custom sizing dies are precsion made on our CNC lathe in house. Made to fit your RCBS and Lyman Lubrisizers. If you want a size you don't see please ask.

www.buffaloarms.com

Very interesting and more to think on.

There is a company that does supply 300gr locally (in the UK) that might do the trick...

 

[ChrisG]

Have you studied bear calling? They need the same technique as cats, continuous. Dogs come to intermittent calling.

Yes I have. I used to call with a mouth call until I had a bear come up from my 8 o'clock beelining right for me at about 20 yards. I heard him trudge through a bunch of leaves, and he got a 340 grain woodleigh from a .416 Ruger at about 18 yards.

I use a electronic remote call now and I just let it run. Still had the coyote come in to it. I wasn't super disappointed until I skinned him and saw the destroyed hide. I still have his tail though. It makes a good duster. I am not sure that the calling frequency makes a huge difference with bears, or at least Adirondack bears... In fact the first two I got, I didnt know what I was doing and called in short bursts every half hour or so. They still came in to it and I got them.

 

[Lead]

I bet that packed some punch for the both of you!