610 smith

[joshua 35 whelen]

I picked up a model 610 with box. papers, and moon clips off auctionarms for 500.00 this is with shipping included.  I bought it to hunt black bear with.  If my shots are 25 to 50yds will the 200grn black talons do well.   I hear the 10mm is between the 357 magnum and the 41 magnum, is this true?

[HappyHunter]

joshua 35 whelen,

I have this gun is a 5 inch barrel...I would not recommend it for bear in a hunting mode.  Perhaps if you where in a stand over bait it might be ok.

It is not as "hot" as a 41 mag that is hand loaded.  A good heavy load in
a 41 mag is using a 250 grain plus hardcast bullet and is loaded fast.  There is no load that will compete with this in a 10 MM 610.  

A minimal cartridge for black bear for me would be 44 mag with 300gr hardcast bullets, but I feel that a 454 Casual or the new 460 would be a far better choice.  

There are far better sources on this topic than me, but I strongly feel that the 10mm is too small for a black bear.

hth,

Fred

[jakes10mm]

I'm in agreement that I would not want to hunt for bear on foot with the 610.  You are running boarderline on maxing the cartridge's potential.  Regarding your bullet choice, I am not a fan of expanding pistol bullets for hunting.  Give me plain old hard cast.  Rationale, the expanding bullets are made for "human" depth.  You want more penetration on a thick animal to hit the vitals.  I now hunt with a 45 Colt.  I'm trying out the Penn Bullet 270gr Thunderheads this year.  They are basically very long wadcutters...my intended game is deer, not bear.  I would recommend a nice 200gr hard cast bullet in the truncated cone design, loaded to the "original" Norma specs.