[kaizer]

Hey guys,

Need some help. What would be the minimum that would be acceptable for a GA Black bear? Would 7.62 x 39 with 154 g be enough? I have other options, but would love to take the SKS out. Thanks for the help.

[birddog]

You're going to hear "shot placement is key" and that's true. And 7.62 certainly has the lethality to kill almost anything with perfect shot placement. I've killed 4 bears and am here to tell you that they are NOT like deer. They're tougher, stronger and very capable of inflicting damage on YOU if you insufficiently inflict damage upon them. I would recommend .308 as a minimum (good 180gr bullet) and (my preference) .30-06 as the ideal cartridge. .300 WSM would not be overkill, either. I'm just suggesting that while you may very well cleanly kill a bear with the 7.62...you also might not. You'll hear bear hunters tell you that bears are notoriously hard to judge in size. True. What's also true, though less talked about, is that their fur varies wildly in length and thickness and precise shot placement against that shadowy black target is much more difficult than it is on a deer. I would suggest selecting something with more OOMPH. Save the SKS for another application. Not only for your own safety, but to ensure a clean kill on a superb game animal who is worthy of our respect.

[kaizer]

Thanks birddog,

I was pretty much leaning that way, but it would be great to take one with the SKS. I will look at using another weapon, or maybe take the SKS with me one trip and if I get a perfect shot giving it a go. I have never taken a bear, mostly because I have passed on shots that I am not absolutely certain of. I do want one this year so I will make sure I have an appropriate weapon, probably my .06.

[birddog]

That's not a bad idea. I've taken two with the '06, one with the .308 and one with an arrow. I'm hoping next year to get one with my .44 mag revolver.

No matter the weapon, each and every time it's been a heart pounding experience. Have fun! And good luck to you.

[mustanger98]

There's only two or three parts of GA that have black bear... up here where I am and a small pocket or two down in south GA.

If it was me, I'd put the 170gr CoreLokts in my old .30-30; place 'em right and it'll do it. But what'd be even better is a heavy loaded .44magnum... 300grain Hornady HP/XTP over H110... in a Win. '94AE Trapper. You do want to do all the damage you can where it counts. Or, if I had one, a 405gr softpoint in a .45-70 levergun. Any of those would be the ticket, IMO. But now, I'm not a bear hunter. I deer hunt with a .30-30 and if a bear takes to me, I'll have to defend myself with what I have.

[22-rimfire]

I'd choose something a bit more lethal than the 7.62x39. As mentioned, bears are really tough critters. You don't want the wrong gun if you have the opportunity for a good shot. My suggestion is 270 win or larger caliber. The 30-06 is a better choice than the SKS.

What other choices do you have?

[goldminer]

No, that cartridge is not designed for hunting and harvesting animals. It is a military cartridge engineered for use in an entirely different application.

Any rifle cartridge/bullet combination normally used to harvest white tail deer is suitable for black bear because they are thin-skinned...provided the bullet is properly placed in the heart/lung vitals area, or into the spine (not recommended).

I do not include 22 caliber cartridges as suitable for white tail deer (in the hands of most hunters) so don't use a 22 caliber cartridge on black bear.

[mustanger98]

goldminer, Where did you get the idea the OP was thinking of a .22caliber cartridge? He said 7.62x39 which is a communist bloc .30caliber of intermediate power. There are commercial loads available with softpoint spitzer bullets which are suitable for deer and those loads are legal in Georgia. (Not that I'd go for it, but it's an option.) Nowhere did anyone mention a .22caliber cartridge until you did.

[JKimball]

I've never hunted bear, but I can see why you might want 9 rounds backing up your first and having them available semi-automatically! :) Don't suppose you have a Garand?

[mustanger98]

This topic deals with hunting in Georgia. Under Georgia's game laws, semi-automatic, as well as pump action, rifles are restricted to 5rds and the magazines must not be readily capable of holding more. SKS holds 10rds so it's out.

The Garand... it'd have to be used with the 2rd or 5rd clips. 8's illegal. Being that's what the Garand was designed for, whether it'd get a pass seems to depend on the opinion of which game warden you ask.

[olhippie]

...I agree the 7.62X39 will kill bear, but it is far from an ideal cartridge for bear hunting! Good judgement, it seems to me, would recomend something that delivers greater energy than the little russian round can muster. I'd stay with medium game rounds from the 7mm level on up. In Georgia long range shots are very uncommon, particularly on black bear, so the old 30/30 or even better the .35 Remington in a lever gun would do a great job out to around 150 yards or so..Really there are lots of good choices, but the 7.62X39 would not be high on the list of them.

[jmr40]

Mustanger98, Shotguns in Georgia must be limited to 5 rounds but rifles are not discussed at all. This question came up at a hunter education class I was teaching a few years ago and the DNR officer confirmed that there was no restriction on magazine capacity on rifles. It is not addressed in the current hunting reg's and unless something has changed in the last couple of years there is no limit on mag capacity. Silencers, however, are illegal.

That said, bears vary greatly in size in Georgia. Game wardens tell me that around 185 lbs is the average size they see killed each year. There have been several taken in Georgia that weighed more than 500 lbs. I saw a 516lb bear at the check station on Blue Ridge WMA several years ago that was the state record for several years. I believe it is 3rd now.

There are several 400 lb bears taken here almost every year. I would want something a little more potent. I took a 260 lb bear several years ago and it took 2 rounds of 165 grain 30-06 for him to realize he was dead.

[Clipper]

I love the 'A 30-30 would be better' answers...the 7.62X39 ballistically IS a 30-30! Get a 5-round magazine and go for it. I'm not wild about the x39 personally, as I have more effective platforms, but I'm gonna take my AK deer hunting this fall. Why? Because I can...

[Kimber1911_06238]

Go with the biggest bullet you have available, a 405 grain .45-70 would be my choice. the X39 will definitely kill a bear, but probably not as quickly as an '06, .45-70 or other choices that you may have

[Jim Watson]

I remember when rifles and cartridges were described by the target. The .30-30 was the "deer and black bear" round that anything else was compared to.

Maybe bears are tougher now.

SKS has paper ballistics comparable to .30-30 but are our friends who used to be our enemies delivering ammo with game bullets comparable to the 170 gr .30-30 with 100+ years of development and woods experience?

[Byron Quick]

There's only two or three parts of GA that have black bear... up here where I am and a small pocket or two down in south GA.

There's bears in other parts of Georgia. Northeast Georgia and around the Okefenokee Swamp are where there are populations sufficient to sustain hunting. Here in Burke County in eastern central Georgia, I've been in the woods since I was five or six, I've never seen a bear here or even a track in the woods. But a yearling wandered into town a few years ago and wreaked havoc on the garbage cans. A friend had something trying to get at his goats. Had some tracks he couldn't identify around the pen. I went out and couldn't identify them either. So we pulled down a book a friend had on animal tracks...it was bear tracks.

[mustanger98]

Union County is borderline Northeast Georgia... we have bears up here. Okeefenokee is one of the other places I understood had a population that would sustain hunting. I'm having a time remembering what the other place was.

[Pigspitter]

If your near middle GA we got some pockets of black bear up north of bolingbrook but they are pretty tough. I would be sure you've got some extra shots in that rifle which I'm pretty sure you do.

[Pigspitter]

Byron Quick, you mean there are people in Waynesboro? We played Edmund Burke a couple years back and I assumed Waynesboro was a pine stand and some soybean fields.

[jmr40]

Bear season is open in 24 north Gerogia counties, pretty much the northern 1/3 of the state, as well as 5 counties in south Georgia. There are a lot more of them out there than most people realize.

[Byron Quick]

29 counties sounds as if it encompassess a very large portion of a state until one considers that Georgia has 159 counties. So the flip side of 29 counties with a sustainable hunting population of black bear is 130 counties without such a population.

[olhippie]

...While it is true that the little 7.62X39 ,because of it's spitzer bullets can match the 30/30 energy's and trajectory,it can not match the quality of bullet construction in the mass of available loadings. Even in the best of today's available loadings the sectional density of the common projectiles used in these two rounds augers in favor of the 30/30 . Most 7.62X39 rounds feature 123 grain bullets, the 30/30 150's and even better 170 grain bullets. Cor-Bon makes available a 'souped up' 150 grain loading available for the 7.62X39 but it is not easily found by most ammo buyers, and it's pressure levels are hard on auto loaders. I have a CZ 527 carbine in 7.62X39, which with high quality 123 grain softpoint loadings by S&B, I use on an occasional deer hunt. It has performed well for me, and is a joy to carry and extremely accurate. The little CZ 527, a mini-Mauser bolt design,can safely use ammo rolled up with 10,000psi more pressure than the SKS or AK want to live with (50-55000psi, while 40-45K is the safe max the auto loaders deal with). Such loads are a hand loading only for now , but do take the little Russian round up a notch for bear..

......Hey a 22RF will kill a bear, but common sense chooses not on what "can kill", but on what kills quickly with a margin of safety for the hunter. It has long ago been found that it is better to nibble on bear hams, than for the bear to nibble on yours!

[Clipper]

I imagine Winchester would argue with you about your 'lack of quality' of bullet construction arguement, and 125 grain (and lighter) bullets have killed lots of bears.

[jmr40]

Many people compare the 30 Russian to the 30-30 and say they are ballistic twins. While I do not agree with that I also do not think a typical whitetail deer would ever know the difference. If I were hunting some of those 400 lb monster deer in Canada and parts of the Northeast I would prefer the 30-30 because the 170 grain 30-30 has earned a reputation for penetrating well. Much better than any 125 grain 30 caliber bullet.
As I stated earlier bears vary greatly in size. If I knew I was going to be shooting a 150 lb. bear the 7.62X39 would be more than adequate. What if one of those 500+ lb. bears walks by your stand? Remember that even a 200 lb. bear will have a tougher hide, thicker bones and a more muscular frame than a 200 lb. deer.

A lever rifle in 30-30 or .44 mag would be fine, with the .35 Remington about perfect for woods hunting for bears. While I love lever rifles and own more than a dozen Marlin and Winchester rifles my prefered bear hunting rifle is a Tikka t-3 in 30-06. The Tikka is more accurate and is lighter with a scope on it than any of my levers are without a scope.

[Sunray]

"...the 7.62X39 ballistically IS a 30-30..." Except for the fact that the 7.62 x 39 normally uses a 123 or 125 grain bullet. Not the 150 to 170 a .30-30 uses. They ain't the same.
A 154 grain bullet will be too long for an SKS. It won't feed properly.
100 and 105 grain 6mm bullets are used for black bears, up here, in the .243 or 6mm Rem, regularly. Yogi can get very big up here too.

[olhippie]

...When choosing a 30 caliber projectile for bear hunting, I'd think it common sense to go with bullets of enough weight to insure a sectional density that will provide adequate penetration EVEN IF HEAVY BONE IS STRUCK. The 7.62X39 is marginal at best when such consideration is factored in. When using light for game cartridges, like the 243 for medium game like whitetail deer, it is WISE to use the heavier bullets with better sectional density (100 gr for example rather than the lighter 243 weight bullets). This applies to the use of the 7.62X39 for black bear, and the better constructed, heavier bullets just aren't there. AGAIN it will certainly kill a bear, but there are MANY better, and wiser, choices. It is legal and the odds are in your favor over the bear when you are in the possession of a 7.62X39, but then when gambling one's own nether parts, moving up to more punch is only wise insurance against mishaps and bad memories.

[kaizer]

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies. I decided I would take another one of my rifles for the hunt. For those wondering, we do in fact have some decent bear hunting here in N.Georgia. If you look at a map of the state, find Gainesville and go North. Pretty much bear country, density depends though. I have run in to quite a few near Dahlonega and Blue Ridge, I am sure there are plenty in between.

Also, in reply to an earlier post. We are limited to five rounds, my SKS has detachable mags so I do have a Tapco 5 rounder should i ever decide to hunt something with it. I usually take the SKS with me when I go out calling coyotes with my buddy. I normally call and he shoots, take the SKS as bear medicine just in case. I normally take my norinco which is a handy little riffle and as all my other heavier caliber rifles have scopes.

[olhippie]

Kaizer, Good fortune to you! If you bag your bear, don't forget to report back to us! The Georgia biologists say the bear will be at higher altitudes this year because of the drought conditions, and more importantly, the late frost last winter/spring damaged the acorn crop at lower elevations. They say find a good white oak stand above 1500 feet, or a bit more, and you'll have a good chance at seeing bear or boar..

[mustanger98]

kaizer, See my location in the sidebar; I'm up here in bear country. Cooper Creek WMA has bear-proof garbage cans in the campground. I expect Rock Creek WMA has 'em too. I hear there's bear along Old HWY 76... that's private property along there and folks have told of black bears following them as they walked the roads. There's bear back through Gum Log and again, that's private property... folks over there tell how bears destroy their corn crops. The bears just go in, wallow a patch down and sit there tearin' the ears off the corn and eating it. And bird feeders... forget the squirrels; the bears tear 'em up around here.

[jmr40]

kaizer, there is no limit on magazine capacity in Georgia for rifles. It is not in the hunting regulations nor on the DNR website. Just to be sure I just got off the phone with my local game warden. He tells me the confusion comes from a couple of sources

#1 The regulations do specifically state that shotguns are limited to 5 rounds for hunting deer, bear, and feral hogs. 3 rounds for everything else. Many people assume this applies to rifles as well but it does not.

#2 He also tells me that he encounters lots of hunters using SKS rifles who are using FMJ ammo and are ticketed. Georgia law requires softpoint or expanding ammo when hunting big game. Apparently this as led many to think they are being ticketed because of the rifle.

When talking to some of my hunting buddies about this over the last few days it does appear that some game wardens are not clear on the law. Apparently some have been ticketed for having more than 5 rounds in their rifles. At least one took his case to court and the case was dismissed when the Judge could find no such law on the books.

[yesit'sloaded]

Winchester makes a 7.62x39 load in CXP2 that seems to be good on deer.