The Best Calibers for Bear Hunting

For new and aspiring hunters, however, bears can seem invincible. Even though they’re generally smaller and lighter than elk, all that fur and fat makes them look like formidable opponents.

If that’s you, or you’ve simply wondered which rifle cartridges are best for bruins, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll cover everything you need to know about selecting the right cartridge for your hunt–from bullet choice to shot placement to hunting distance to whether you need a bigger bullet for bigger bears. Picking the right caliber won’t turn you into Clay Newcomb overnight, but it’s a fine place to start.

Jump to: The Bear Cartridges We Use

What Kind of Bullet Is Best for Bears?

Before we dive into what makes a good bear hunting cartridge, we should cover something even more basic: what makes a good bear hunting bullet?

One of the most important lessons for any novice hunter is that bullets will act differently inside an animal based on their construction. Cup-and-core bullets won’t react the same as a Nosler partition which won’t react quite like a monolithic copper bullet. Some bullets are designed to essentially explode on impact while others are designed to hold together and penetrate as deeply as possible. (For a full rundown of the most common hunting bullets, click here.)

Harvesting a bear doesn’t require any super special type of bullet. Most bullets designed for hunting will get the job done. However, to maximize your chance of success, pick a bullet that is designed to perform in your anticipated hunting scenario.

For example, if you’re hunting over bait in the backwoods of Arkansas, you want a bullet that will expand and hold together at high velocities. Avoid cup-and-core designs that can fragment at high speeds and go with a partition, monolithic, or bonded bullet, as Sig Sauer uses in its Platinum Hunter line. On the other hand, if you’re spot-and-stalk hunting and you anticipate a longer-range shot, accuracy is a bigger consideration and you need to ensure the bullet is designed to expand at any reasonable hunting distance. If you don’t know the velocity range for optimal bullet performance, get in touch with the manufacturer and be sure you know your bullet velocity at different distances.

Ultimately, Clay Newcomb recommends prioritizing penetration over bullet expansion. This is because, in Clay’s experience, a bear’s fur absorbs blood, which makes it difficult to follow a trail. Poking an entry and exit wound in the animal will produce more blood and make your tracking job easier.

Close Range?

Especially in the eastern and southern U.S., black bears are shot at close range either over bait or with the help of hounds. Hunting at close range opens up a greater selection of cartridges because the bullet doesn’t have to retain energy and velocity at distances beyond 100 yards. This allows hunters to use classic lever-gun cartridges like the .30-30 Win., .45-70 Govt., or .35 Remington. The short, stubby bullets launched by these cartridges have trouble at longer ranges, but they’re devastating at 50 to 100 yards.

This is why even though some of these cartridges are considered classic bear killers, none of them made our list. They can 100% kill black bears, but they need to be used in those close-range scenarios. Our list features do-it-all bear rounds, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention these tried-and-true short-range options.

Jump to: A Note on Shot Placement

The best calibers for bear hunting

A Note on Shot Placement

In some ways, shooting a bear is no different than shooting other big game animals. Broadside shots are best because they give you more room for error, and double-lung shots ensure a relatively quick kill.

However, a bear’s frame and fur present unique challenges that will be unfamiliar to deer and elk hunters. For one thing, a bear can contort its frame to a much greater extent than a deer. Its fur can also obscure the relative location of its shoulders, back, and belly. Add to that the typical challenges with quartering towards or away, or shooting from an elevated position, and you’ve got a recipe for a long night on the blood trail.

To account for these errors, Clay recommends patience. "Bears seem to always be moving, especially when you’re hunting them over bait," he said. "Perhaps it’s a predatory instinct in humans, but seeing our prey move makes us feel like we have to act quickly. The impulse to rush the shot is probably the biggest mistake a bear hunter can make."

Instead, wait for that broadside shot. This is more important for archery hunters than rifle hunters, but it’s still important. Clay likes to aim 4 to 5 inches back from the shoulder on a broadside bear to get a double-lung passthrough. He also reminds hunters that bears have a thick layer of fat and fur on their bellies, so you’ll need to aim higher to hit the chest cavity.

For a complete breakdown, check out Clay’s full article here.

Bigger Bear = Bigger Bullet?

The bigger the animal, the bigger the bullet, right? Not exactly. Black bears can range in size from 150 pounds to upwards of 600 pounds, which means most of what you’ll have a chance to shoot lands somewhere around the 275-pound mark. Any cartridge that can take down a 275-pound bruin will also be able to handle something twice as heavy, so I wouldn’t worry about stumbling upon a black bear that’s too big for your .308 Win., .30-06, or .270 Win.

Of course, black bears aren’t the only game in town. If you’re fortunate enough to chase a grizzly bear, you will want a big bore or magnum cartridge. And that’s not just for ensuring a quick, clean kill. While all bears can be dangerous, grizzlies can be especially aggressive. You want to be packing a cartridge that gives you a great chance of killing the bear in one shot to avoid the potentially dangerous scenario of stumbling upon a wounded grizz. The .30-06 has taken its fair share of grizzlies, but I’d go with something larger like the .300 Win. Mag., .338 Win. Mag., or .300 PRC.

Field notes from the MeatEater Crew