Black Bear hunting with a 243win?

[bighorn1]

Its more about proper shot placement than caliber or bullet construction and yes i have shot a black bear with a 243 and it was a bang flop.

[mulecrazy]

100 grain core lokt out of my wifes 243 and the bear made it 30 yards before piling up. I waiting until I had quartering towards angle and tucked it behind the shoulder. no exit hole to sew up that way

[Pathfinder76]

Originally Posted by BCBoy98

I killed a BC book bear last week at 170 yards with 100gr blue box. He only went 40-50 yards, .243 is fine. MY advice to you would be avoid the SST's though unless it's a bit of a further shot and you can avoid bone. I've seen SST's blow up at close range out of a .243.
Here's my bear with the .243;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Immjr4b3blg&t=358s

And you were so confident in it that you went home for the night?

[alta270]

As others have said, it's all about shot placement. I too would look at a different bullet, and am partial to Noslers.

[boonedocks]

I've killed a couple black bears with a .243, but only used it because it was the only gun within reach. It's not the optimum caliber, that's for sure, and I would most definitely change out the SSTs for something like a partition or TSX.