[groomez]

Greetings all,
I am new to reloading, and trying to do some research. I currently own an 1895SBL, 18.5 barrel. I use the gun primarily for bear defense. Both Grizz's and black. I am curious what grain bullet you guys recommend for this purpose, as well as the powder. I likely wont be shooting if the creature is more than 100 yds away.

The secondary use of this amazing gun will be for hunting feral pig. Do you suggest a different grain and powder?

Thanks for your patience as I am new to this, but your feedback would be great!

 

[Jonny V]

Best thing you can do is go spend $25 on a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and read from cover to cover.

Bears generally mean a bullet of at least 430 grains, pigs and deer can be had plenty with a 350 grainer....go with the WNFP (wide nose flat point) profile.

Lots of good reading on here covering this subject. Look up HSM Bear Loads and buy a few boxes, best possible starting point for bear loads...

 

[groomez]

Just picked up one not 2 hours ago. Thanks for the response!

 

[Bugsmasher]

Hey groomez,
Good, accurate, heavy load without heavy recoil... WW cases, 42 grains RL-7, CCI200 primers, Beartooth 525 Pile Driver bullets. They chrono at 1600 fps MV from my guide gun. Heavy medicine for anything on the planet. :biggrin:

 

[Big Poppa Pump]

From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide For Handgunners, Table of Contents - Fryxell/Applegate

This is free and has good info. The upper left hand corner of the page has a tab so you can download it in PDF.

 

[Axelwik]

Make sure that whatever load you choose, it cycles through the gun without a hitch. With bears follow-up shots are important.

 

[Crusty Deary Ol Coot]

Some good info above!

The boolit Bugsmasher shows is the design and profile your looking for!!!!!!!!!!!

As was said, make sure it cycles in your action.

I use a WFN which looks a great lot like the one Bugsmasher shows, except it is 465gr. Velocity from my 22" barrel is right at 1650fps.

I use H335 behind the 465gr WFN, and it will simply take anything alive in North American and in most cases give through and through penertration.

Over the top impressive on deer and elk and the WFN boolit profile is as good or better then eveything good you may read or hear about them.

It was hard for this old high velocity "J" bullet hunter to believe it until I had been there and seen that.

4 deer and 2 elk at this point!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

 

[mister 270]

I am going to agree with the people above a 400 + wfn (wide flat nose) cast is the way to go. and a gas check would probably be the best for what you are asking

 

[kingstrider]

I would probably load for the heaviest critter you will encounter, in this case bear. Those loads are probably overkill on anything else but it won't matter. No sense in having 2-3 loads.

 

[Crusty Deary Ol Coot]

No such thing a too dead, and the smart folk chose the optimum bullet/boolit weight/style and stick with it!

Plus a bunch to Mister 270 and Kingstrider!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

 

[papajohn]

I would probably load for the heaviest critter you will encounter, in this case bear. Those loads are probably overkill on anything else but it won't matter. No sense in having 2-3 loads.

Well said! Develop one good load, shoot it every chance you get, and soon enough you'll know where it hits all all the distances you shoot at. Pigs can take a lot of killing depending on the angle of the shot, I'd rather have too much power than just enough.

If this is your designated bear gun the reliability can't be over-stressed. Practice shooting rapid fire, and make sure it likes what you feed it.

 

[mister 270]

I like heavy cast but i am hearing some good things about the 350 jacketed hornady if you can get it i still think heavy cast ( over 400 gr ) is best look for a WFN (wide flat nose) just my opinion

tom

 

[katch1]

Bout any good hardcast cast bullet driven to marlin velocities will kill any bear on earth given good shot placement. Reliability and secondly accuracy would be more important i think. 3" groups would probably be fine long as they are driven fairly fast and cycle 100%

 

[mister 270]

i usually like 2 inch or a little better at a 100 yrds but would not mind hunting with a 2 1/2 inch load but if its what you feel comfortable with .just my opinion most marlins will do better than 3 inch

 

[Crusty Deary Ol Coot]

Mister270,

Would agree with the 2" or better.

When I started with the 355gr LBT WFN boolit, really new to 45/70 and cast boolit rifle hunting, I just couldn't get that boolit to group consistantly and and provide groups in what I felt was a reasonable size.

Was I pushing that boolit overly fast? Could have been I suppose.

But with the 465gr WFN from Bruce - Babore - and droping back to the +/- 1600fps range everything improved. The consistancy, greatly, and the groups into the 2" or less sized groups.

Hear me here folks, I am not slamming LBT molds or Veral Smith the maker. That boolit just did not shoot for me is all I'm saying.

Well maybe not all, as the one critter I took with that boolit leaving the bore of my RUGER at a touch over 2300fps quickly showed that that level of velocity was not only NOT needed, but waaaaaay to much of a good thing.

Way more wound channel then could possibly be needed. Not talking length here, but the dia. Over the top, too much!

Having for years hunted with fast stepping "J" bullet centerfires, and striving for groups as close to an inch as possible, I needed to not only adjust my thinking as per how the 45/70 is loaded, but also as per the range I expect to use the rifle to take a critter.

400 and 500yds not being in the picture, I can do with a bit bigger 100yd groups. Not that I wouldn't be really happy if every rifle I owned would do 1/2" or less groups at that range, but reality says that at 200yds, the push to get any where close to that with my home grown cast boolits just may not be worth the effort.

I could possibly try some "J" bullets and really shrink my 45/70 groups, but the while reason behind starting down this road to begin with, was to use my home grown boolits to take game sized critters.

I'd say that 4 deer and 2 elk in the last three seasons has headed me down that road reasonably well, and to say it has been an enjoyable trip is an understatement.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot