trophy bonded bear claw

DaRoosta

My father bought 5 boxes of Federal Safari-grade Trophy Bonded Bear Claw's in 180-grain for me through a factory sale for my 300 Ultra Mag. I was wondering if anyone knew how these performed compared to Nosler Partitions. I've never shot them before. The box says they'll retain 95%. I'm not sure if that's good or bad for elk hunting and other big game. Any thoughts?

---

JWhite2399@cs.com Southern Oregon

Rembrandt

A good friend used them in a 300 WinMag while hunting Alaskan Brown bear. He had a mixture of Nosler partitions and a couple of bear claw rounds in the gun. Was nearly killed by the bear...put four shots into it before it finally dropped. Only small fragments of the Noslers were found, the Bear Claws were still intact.....he swears by them.

cpermd

Very good bullets

wilmamae

They may be a bit too hard for elk unless you hit a bone. When a client shows up for a brown bear hunt with a 300 we ALWAYS have a bad time.

varmit hunter

Wilmamae,What do you recomend for bear? You might know I just bought a 300 win mag.

DaRoosta

I'm not sure I understand. It sounds like Rembrandt's friend had good luck against the bear. Wilmamae is saying they're too hard for elk unless you hit a bone. The difference in the vitals seems negligible between a bear and elk to me, but maybe I'm overlooking something. I don't want to go out there thinking I have to wound it, find it again and then finish it. I was thinking I had a great bullet for elk here, but now I'm not so sure.

varmit hunter

roosta me to .Im not going after elk,But I have a certan 400lb bore hog in mind.Hope we get more info.

Rembrandt

My friends bear is now fully mounted standing 9' tall with outstretched paws, the bearclaw bullets and a samll plaque are displayed at the base. They expanded in the classic mushroom shape, look like something from a bullet advertisement. The Nosler bullets hit the shoulder area, probably bone. Not exactly sure where the bear claw bullets hit, but one was in the chest area, and the other was at the base of the neck, (both frontal shots). The bear was charging my friend and coming at him on his two hind legs. It dropped less than 25 feet from the shooter. In hind sight he feels the 300 Win Mag was not enough gun. Wish I had time to tell you whole story as he told it. Just gave me goose pimples hearing it.

DaRoosta

Wow! What a story. I wish you had time to tell the whole thing. I guess that answers my question that the bear claws are a good bullet. I always think of a .300 Win Mag being enough gun for any big game. That was a really big bear, though. I'm impressed. Even more importantly, I'm glad your friend came out of the situation and was able to tell the story afterwards.

jager22

great bullet...from about the middle to the bottom of the bullet is solid coper not lead unlike the nosler which has a lead core from top to bottom except for the coper partitian in the middle.....i think this will make the bear claw a bit more solid in large dangerous game....ps the alaska dept of fish and game reccomends a .338 or bigger on brownies,, so do the hunters

wilmamae

Most shots at bears are right around 50-75 yards. Maybe a bit more in the spring. High velocity is the last thing you need. The 338 is ok with 250 grain slugs, 375 and up is much more effective. The average size for brown/ griz.( the state of Alaska lumps them together) is right around seven and one half foot square. We try to take 8' and up but very seldom do you knock any bear down unless a leg/shoulder is broken. Most trouble with the 300's lies in poor bullet selection and poor shot placement.