Ordinarily, I am not much of a proponent of premium bullets. The reason for this is I simply don’t believe, under “normal” circumstances, that a premium bullet is necessary in many situations. I really don’t have any beef against premium bullets and there are certainly those that believe they are a necessity and others that like them for the “insurance policy“ aspect. I will not argue that point, as most of those individuals have used them with great success.

When using a magnum caliber (which I will arbitrarily define as a cartridge that starts pushing the limits of the 3000 feet per second category) for big game, I think there is an understandable desire for these premium bullets. Basically, when these calibers are used on game that is close, especially inside the 100 yard mark, non premium bullets tend to fragment. The idea behind the premium bullet is that it combines expansion with penetration. I tend to shoot “standard” cartridges and don’t often concern myself with these magnum rounds.

I can also foresee a circumstance where using a light for game cartridge could require the use of a premium bullet. This is a particularly touchy subject on many bulletin boards, but I really don’t have a dog in this fight either. I’ve shot whitetail deer with a .223 and while it did work on several occasions, I’m not likely to repeat the endeavor. It will work, as long as the hunter does his job properly. I also have a friend, that due to medical necessity, uses a .243 for elk. It’s under these conditions, I can understand using a premium bullet to ensure the bullet remains intact and penetrates the animal.

In light of the premium versus standard argument I tend to believe both have their merits. In extreme circumstances the premium is nearly required I would think. And, premium bullets do, in some ways provide for some insurance, under certain shots and circumstances. I also think there is a downside to premium bullets as well, besides price and a reluctance for many to practice much with these bullets, the wound channels can, in some circumstances, be smaller than hoped for. But, if a hunter is using a “standard” caliber, “reasonable” distances, with “appropriate” shot presentations, many cup and core bullets will serve admirably. Note that the words in quotes are all user defined and are certainly open for interpretation from hunter to hunter. In the interest of discussion (not argument I hope) I present the following.

On May 5th of this year, I shot my first black bear, a gorgeous cinnamon phase. It wasn’t a particularly large bear, measuring five feet one inch and being a spring bear probably was only about 150-175 pounds (average for NW Montana). The range was 28.5 yards and it was a downward angle of approximately 45 degrees. The bear was quartering away and the bullet entered the chest, behind the near side leg at the top portion of the lower third of the chest. The bullet entered the chest, took out a lung and the bottom of the heart and exited between it’s paws, through the sternum and imbedded itself in an old, closed logging road. The bear made a short run of about 15 yards, went up a tree, only to fall out and within about 60 seconds had expired. The carnage from the bullet was massive, spraying blood, lung and heart tissue everywhere. The entrance wound was caliber sized and the exit wound was approximately the size of a Kennedy half-dollar. Ten days later I went back to the site with a metal detector and recovered the bullet. We had a 4/10ths of an inch of rain that week and there was still a stain from all the blood the bear lost in the road. The road consisted mostly of gravel and dirt and had been blasted out of the rock cliff face I had been standing on.

I shot the bear with a Remington 700, chambered in .35 Whelen. The Remington has a 24” barrel and sports a white bead front sight and a Lyman 57 rear aperture sight. I hand loaded the Whelen with Remington Brass, CCI Large Rifle Primers, IMR 4064 powder and a 250 grain Speer Hot-Cor bullet. From my barrel, with my load I obtain a muzzle velocity just shy of 2450 feet per second.

It was easy enough to find the bullet. When the metal detector sang out, there was an obvious 2” wide shallow divot in the road. Using a small pack shovel (I was two miles back behind a locked gate, on foot when I shot the bear) I dug down approximately two inches and turned the shovel over. Lying on top of the overturned pile was a stack of lead and copper. Since the bullet was stacked in the dirt, one atop the other, I can only assume that the two pieces separated after the impact with the hard road and rocks. The lead core was pealed all the way back as was the copper cup. After cleaning all the dirt that I could off of them, the pieces weighed 125 grains on my RCBS scale.

This, to me, is about as extreme of bullet testing in real world application that a person can get for standard calibers. The bullet obviously penetrated well, did not expand until inside the animal slightly (and became more pronounced, probably upon exit when encountering the sternum) and then smashing into a rock/hard pack logging road (keep in mind it had been blasted from the face of a cliff). When I shot the bear the spray of blood and tissue was immediate and apparent. I have shot a lot of deer and I have never seen such an amount of immediate blood loss before.

In my mind, this bullet performed admirably, especially at such close range. It entered, expanded and exited, encountered a hard flat surface and still retained 50% of it’s weight. I prefer medium to large caliber weapons, with normal to heavy for caliber bullets at “standard” for cartridge velocities. (This particular load is a bit hotter than I tend to load, and falls in the upper end of most load data. It actually exceeds by a grain or two some data and falls a grain or two below max in others, while others say it is right at the top end. In my rifle it shows no pressure signs with the primer, the bolt lifts easily and accuracy is superb.)

I’d be interested to see what other’s take is on this bullet and it’s performance. I have included a picture of the bullet and what remains of it. On the left is the copper cup (interior base view of where the core was seated) and on the right is the lead core (base view where it would have mated with the copper cup). (Keep in mind that when recovered these two were more or less mated, and fell in two pieces when I extracted them from the ground. They had just a slight bit of dirt between them on the edges, but not in the center between them. Again, I believe it did not separate until impact with the ground.)

In the end, this bullet did what I wanted. It killed the animal, fully penetrated, and left a sizeable exit wound to bleed out of for blood trailing, while leaving relatively little blood shot meat. But, because I enjoy debates and I’m always interested what other hunters/shooters opinions are, I’m curious. How would you view this bullet’s performance?



.358” 250 Grain Speer Hot-Cor


Bear 5’ 1” Long

Nice bear and excellent post.

I agree with all ypu have stated here. I am of the school of thought that 100% weight retention is not necessarily desireable in most cases. I do want the bullet to expend most energy inside the animal yet still leave an exit wound for trailing. For larger and dangerous anaimals I want maximum penetration and damage.

With this bias I would say that your bullet performed exactly as designed.

For larger game requiring deeper penetration I use premium bullets such as the Nosler partition and am now experimenting with the Accubonds. In my 350 Rem Mag that I use for bear I use Swift A-Frames mostly because I can load them to the COL required for a short magazine. I had almost the exact experience as you described with these on a black bear in Idaho last year.

For lighter skined, smaller animals such as whitetail, antelope, etc. a faster expanding non-premium bullet is more than adequate.

Lupus:
To me, a bullet must shoot accurately, penetrate sufficiently, and expand properly.

Your .35 Whelen's bullet did all anyone could have asked, and you have a beautiful bear to prove it!

IMHO, ANY of the bullets made by the major manufacturers will do the job, when matched to the game.(Do we have to say "don't use varmint bullets for large animals.")?

Premium bullets are marketed, hinting that, if you don't use them, some unnamed "inferior" bullet may bounce off, or worse, loose your well-hit animal. OH, POPPYCOCK! Which bullet are they talking about? Truth is, it is hard to buy a bad bullet nowadays.

What the gun scribes call "consumer grade" bullets (when did that become a negative term?) Will do the job, if you are not using a varmint bullet for big game. And they cost mint$ le$$, and shoot as well.

The latest offerings of premium bullets are marvelous, and have extended the usefulness of any caliber they are used in, but standard Speer, Sierra, or Hornady offerings will provide all the accuracy and killing power anyone can use, except in extreme, pushing- the- envelope situations, where they also do quite well. But DAMN, those red tips on Hornady SSTs look cool!

excellant job man. I too agree with the above posts. Unless I'm going for elk, moose etc, I use a lot of Rem pspcl's . Have no problems with them. For all other game as mentioned, I use nosler bt and nodler parts.Dave