6.5x55 for bear

A

acorn

New member
I'm going to Maine for black bear and believe I should be well armed with my swiss and 140grain rem. coreclocks Shots will be within 75 yards so I'm thinking this should be a good round, rifle is T/C single shot-- Does anyone think this is a bad choice?
 
I think you would be just fine with a fairly close shot distance. Maine has tons of thick cover so you will probably never shoot over a hundred yards or so. The Swede should have plenty of knockdown for a black bear. Good Luck!
 
The 6.5x55mm and 140 gr bullets have plenty of knockdown (shamelessly borrowing furblaster's phrase /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ) for black bear.
 
We have killed several 5-10 bears with a 6.5 x55. I think the bullets were 139gr. Norma. Norma were the only ones avaliable in those years. We were however hunting with hounds so wounded bears were not hard to find. Now the guides recommend a 30 cal or better. Most bear are shot near dark if bait hunting and the larger wound and blood trail are a great help. Shoot a bear lower on the profile than deer. There is alot of fur then a thick hide and 1-3" of fat on the back before you get to the bear. Good Luck.
 
This one had no complaints.

Sako Finnlight in 6.5x55 with a 120 gr. Nosler BT.


Mybear.jpg
 
Nice bruin, Karl. I'll be using the 120 gr Nosler BT for bear myself this year, and a 140 gr Barnes XLC for moose. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Thanks for all the advice I was thinking if a 30-30 can work for bear a 6.5x55 should do very nicely, as for the ranges I shoot they do call it hunting, makes it more interesting than just target shooting, but really areas we hunt you can NOT find the long randes you western guys are used to shooting. Hopefully I'll be able to rely my sucessful hunt stories!!! Acorn
 
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