Besides the issues of no wolves on Kodiak, I too thought we were talking about "minimum" ( which is a long way from "marginal") calibers for hunting brown bears on Kodiak Island and don't know why folks with little to no experience with killing bears have to wade in to tout their favorite caliber and tell of how they are immune to it's recoil. I have heard those claims for 35 years and they usually are my first clue that I need to pack my 458.
I have known Kodiak guides who chose to carry a 270 as a backup rifle and a number of others who chose the 30-06. In fact the world record Kodiak bear was taken in 1952 with a 30-06.
Now if our big bore experts want to hunt "Kodiak" bears in some local where there might be wolves a 340 Wby would be one of the last calibers I would choose if I wanted the hide. I can also vouch from experience that the 30-06 ( with 200 gr partitions) works out well past 500 yards.
