Thanks for the replies. For the most part, your replies confirmed my thoughts on the matter. My thinking is that if I were hunting anything up to and including brown bears, I could take the .35 Whelen/9.3x62 (whichever caliber I end up with) and have a rifle capable of taking any game I was after as well as one that would be adequate for defending against a brownie. (I differentiate between hunting and defending against brown bears as the latter is tougher). For non-hunting outdoor activities, I believe a .45-70 would be both a bit handier and have more than enough power (if that’s the right word) to take care of an encounter with a brownie.
Originally Posted by rost495
If specifically after big bears, I am likely to carry a larger round. Always wanted a 416 Rem and a 458 Lott for whatever reasons.
I’ve wanted a .416 Rigby for quite some time. From what I’ve read and seen (I watched several mixed bag safari’s where the .416 Rigby was used) and I was impressed with the round’s effectiveness.
Originally Posted by Dre
Originally Posted by elkhunternm
If I was going to be facing Brown bears it would be with a .375 H&H or bigger.
45/70 lever for me
Although I believe either would be effective, for non-hunting defense, the .45-70 would be my choice as well.
Originally Posted by Sitka deer
When guiding brown bears hunters my back-up rifle most of the time was a 300WM. Phil Shoemaker has plenty of pictures of very big bears he had to follow-up where he used a 30-06 to do it.
Back in the old days the 30-06 was considered the big stopper...
If not a cns shot all animals die the same way, a loss of blood big enough to drop blood pressure low enough to starve the brain and muscles of oxygen. An extra is breaking down running gear to make locating them easier.
Shock does not kill. The energy carried by the bullet was just handled comfortably at the shoulder and a lot was lost between the shoulder and the critter.
A bigger bullet means a bigger hole and a deeper hole means more tissue was disrupted and more blood is leaking. A leak on both sides means the blood pressure will drop faster. The exit wound is usually larger and the disrupted tissue points that way allowing more blood loss faster than the entrance.
All of this a drawn out explanation of why a single hole in the right place is critical. Taking the aorta off the top of the heart and leaving most of the rest of it alone will bleed an animal out in just seven heart beats. Destroying the heart muscle itself stops the positive side of the pump and the suction side. It strands a bunch of blood around the muscles leaving enough oxygen available for the critter to go amazing distances.
Simple answer is the bullet location is far more important... CNS shots are going to be pretty much same:same with any reasonable cartridge.
Sitka deer: Thanks for your well-reasoned explanation; which confirms my thoughts that shot placement coupled with penetration is all important.
l told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Make your life go here. Here's where the peoples is. Mother Gue, I says, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world, and by God, I was right. - Del Gue
