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We have a trip booked to Glacier National Park in June and I will be taking my Glock 20 in 10mm. I recently bought a NOE 403-198 WFN mold and plan loading this bullet. Will a mix of 50/50 linotype and pure make a hard enough bullet for the very slim chance we run into a grizzly? These will be powder coated.
Absolutely!! But then I am partial to griz eating coasters.....Quote:
Originally Posted by glock3540
Joking of course - I'm betting that should be sufficient.
I'm going to edit this a bit. I've seen your alloy perform immaculately well on several game animals (including less than happy bears), and I have seen MULTITUDES of bullet constructions fail miserably. Mostly what it seems to have come down to is - can you put said bullet where it needs to be when it needs to be there?
I don't care who you are or what you have accomplished with a firearm in your life, if you chance encounter a bear with ill intent at less than 20 yards - you ain't fast enough. Period. A grizzly will close that distance in less time than you could even touch your holster. I've said before that a semiautomatic firearm becomes a single shot club if pressed against the target on firing (there are muzzle stand offs that I know are available), and a quite ineffective club against the smallest of bears. That said - I do carry heavy in the backcountry on the off chance that I will have an opportunity to draw and fire before being mauled and eaten. I have both 10mm and 44 Mag sidearms that I can choose from - I choose my Ruger SBH every time. Is it the best? Nope, but she's the gal I've danced with the most and I have the most confidence carrying and shooting.
I do bear drills with the wardens and the trappers - I feel proficient, but the last bear encounter was around a blind corner on a trail and I couldn't have even DREAMT of grabbing my gun let alone shooting with accuracy before she bluff charged and elected to pursue another path.
The drills I have done are starting at cold with my back turned and having someone dragging a basketball sized target at 20 mph behind a 4 wheeler. Yep, I can be effective - but I knew it was coming.
Also....I spend a quite significant amount of time in bear country and have close to zero encounters per visit.
If I know there is a dead cow or whatever up the trail - my mind goes to the worst possible scenario and I leave my boys at home and make noise as I am entering the "zone". You'll be in a national park - so obviously not worried about creeping up on a game animal (or retrieving one!) so pay attention to warnings of bears, listen to the park rangers and become stupidly proficient with your chosen means of defense.
I've never been there done that, and I hope you don't either but that sounds very hard, and maybe brittle. I'm thinking you could soften it a bit and add enough tin to equal the antimony and have a balanced and maybe slightly malleable bullet. I want to watch this thread to see what others who are more experienced than me have to say. Enjoy your trip!
Rick
50/50 lino/pure is hardball alloy 92:6:2 it is just as hard as the legendary Lyman #2 90:5:5 but more brittle. They figured it out 100 years ago but when you have equal parts tin/antimony you get the hardest and toughest bullets so if you add 3-4% percent tin will make it so your bullet is much less likely to fail.
If a big bear is running towards you I doubt you will not be regretting putting an extra 1/3 of a pound of tin or pewter in your 10 pounds of special grizzly alloy.
I live 40 miles south of the park. I use air cooled wheel weights. There are so damned many tourists in Glacier in the summer, you can surely run faster than one of them.
You are aware of the entry permit system being used now? Pain in the butt for locals.
Better travel early, the fires will be starting early this year, probably by the start of July, and you won't be able to see much when they do. Severe drought here.
As referenced below, to practice shooting a charging bear, throw a tennis ball at a wall and shoot it before it bounces back to you. That is the speed and accuracy you will need for a bear.
I like my cast boolits. My glock 20 is finicky. It shoots ACME boolits without leading along with green dot. If I run my group buy cast HPs I get leading. Pretty much gave up on cast in it. If it were me I'd buy some factory ammo and forget about it. I'd be more worried about what fishing gear I needed. Imo any 180 grain factory ammo will work because you have 15 chances to stop it as fast as you can pull the trigger.
Without some serious development time you won't find a good load in time. +1 on the factory loads. Double Tapp and other boutique ammo loaders have a better selection in bear specific loads.
I have drilled a lot of big game with chilled WW bullets and they don't fracture. Your mix is better than that stuff. But I would consider a FMJ Truncated Cone bullet in 200gr weight just to be sure. Actually jacketed and not heavy plate.
Just my 2 cents...
KB
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Plenty of time for load development. If air cooled, you might be fine. If water dropping out of the PC oven, you could go a bit softer IMO, maybe 3-1? I cast a sim bullet for my G20, it never shot well until I PC them.