yeah the bear was rubbed out badly, the different colored spots are where the hair was really really thin. he'd been in alot of fights as was bleeding from a couple spots as well.

i used the federal 250 gr barnes xbp load which runs about 1600 fps or so out of the short barreled gun. used the factory irons with freedom's fiber optic front sight. it was a spot and stalk, i stalked him about 500 yards and then he started coming up the beach to me. i hid behind some vegetation and when he got about 45 yards away the wind shifted and he spun and started to leave. as he had likely never smelled a human before i kicked some rocks and he turned around jaws snapping and drooling. i really didn't want him running off and so as soon as he got sideways when he was turning again i hit him with a high shoulder shot and he crumpled, shot went thru both shoulders and the spine quit high up. he was turning as i was shooting. our guide had told us we had better hit em till they drop and better drop them on the beach, if they make the trees they likely won't be found. i'll post a pic of that stuff, it's a rain forest and just a mess. so at that point i fired off another round and realized how excited i was when it hit the rocks just under the bears chest. i settled in and pumped a round through the base of the chest traveled thru the chest cavity and up the spine into the neck settling against the base of the skull and that was that. bullets performed perfectly, opened to an inch with 4 razor sharp petals and just absolutely wrecked internals and spine. this bears spine was like that of the bull elk i've shot. much thicker than i expected. would've passed thru with a solid but i wanted as much damage as possible right then and there and i found the bullet in the hide on the opposite side so it expanded to an inch, went thru 2 shoulder bones and the spine and dropped the bear on the spot. we all did that and chose various expandables and they all worked well i've yet to be disappointed in the barnes xbp loads thus far. as they were black bear i chose a mild load. when i go for brown bear i'll use something like double taps load that'll run another 300 or so fps faster and follow it with a solid.