Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Survey : Grizzly Guns

I would like to know what you would use for hunting grizzlies. If possible I would like to limit this survey to those who have actually hunted for them. Please include the following items: Are you a resident hunter or a non resident. What have you used or would you use for the bigger coastal bears including Brown Bears. What would you use for interior bears. Please include details on how many bears you have taken ,bullets used, and if you were satisfied with your gun/bullet choice.

In the past I have used 300 win mag 180gr Nosler Partiton, 9.3x62 with 286gr partition, 338 RUM 250gr partition gold, 375 H&H with 260gr accubond and 270gr hornady RN. My current rifle I used this fall was a 325 WSM with 220gr Power points. Bears are always a side species for me, I have not yet went out specifically for bear but they are always an option if I run across one. There are only two bear kills I have been witness to, one a 300 win 180gr partition, bear was hit several times and still covered a bit of ground. The other was 210 partition out of a 340 weatherby. One shot broke the shoulders and then one more to finish it off.

Any cartridge from 7mm mag to 458 Lott will do the job with decent bullets and shot placement. The extra horsepower is nice for those that can handle it but first and foremost is shot placement.


I turned down a decent griz two years ago because I only had my 300 win and didn't really like the shot angle, it would have been a different story if I had been carrying a bigger rifle with me a the time.

I took my first brown bear with a 375 and both a 300 A-Frame and a 300 GameKing. Both bored without difficulty, broadside through the shoulder area. 124 yards.

A second browny was taken with a 358 Winchester and 250 Hornady SPs. 100 +/- yards.

The most recent with a 350 NorthFork in 45-70. 246 yards.


I would/will use a 220 Partition in a 30-06 without hesitation.

I have not taken a brown or a grizzly but hunted the upper reaches of the Kuskokwim in SE AK one year for caribou and black bear with possibly the opportunity to take a grizzly/brown bear.

For that reason and even if I intended to take a reindeer and black bear only I took my 340 with 250-gr partitions because we were told we'd have the big guys around us all week. And we did.

I did not take one as I mentioned above declining at the last minute but saw somewhere between eight and fifteen through the week; I say that because we surely saw some more than once but weren't always sure which or how many times we saw them. They seemed to be either a beautiful blond with dark legs or all chocolate.

Our guide and the outfitter (brothers) who are big bear hunters had identical 338s in that they both looked like they had lain in a swamp for about ten years (just to impart character) before being dredged up. They used factory 210-gr Nos ammo but I wouldn't have been surprised if they were completely rusted shut as that is how they appeared.

Were I to go again I would use that same combination for inland grizzlys but for browns I would probably use some of the 275-gr Swift A-frames just because I have them. But no doubt as with about everything else a lot of other stuff would work equally well.

Gdv

Congrats on the bear! 246 yards with a Marlin .45-70 is stretching it out a bit - you have to know your load to do it. Kudos.

Here's a picture of a grizz taken with a 350g North Fork and a Marlin .45-70 in Alaska. I sent the bullets to an Internet friend in St. Michael who did the shooting.



Of the rifles I have, that combination would be my choice.

Coyote Hunter, thats a really neat picture. I would never have thought of using an antler like that.

That bear wasn't shot....the antlers perforated it's throat, choked to death and these guys claimed it!!!

Nice pic.......

I don't have much experience. I went on one interior brown bear hunt in 2004 and didn't tag out. I carried a 300win loaded with 200gr TBBC bullets. I felt a little under gunned on that hunt, but love the rifle and still do. I'm going back soon with a Ruger Hawkeye African 375 Ruger probably loaded with 270 or 300 grain TSX or NPs, depending on what shoots the best.

I've been drawn for grizzly a couple times here in northern BC, but all I've been lucky enough to be in range of is a small boar and sows with cubs. I've chased them around with a Marlin GG in .45-70 using stiff handloads of Re7 and 350gr Hardcast bullets. My latest moose/bear basher is a Ruger M77 MkII Stainless/laminated .338WinMag with 225gr Accubond loads. I'm currently having a M70 Classic Featherweight rebarreled to .338-06 and it will likely replace the .338Mag as my primary grizz country hunting rifle. Ah...the joys of being a gun nut.

't were one of the 10 you sent me...............

That bullet performed a perfect "bam-flop" at the shot. Bear was on the ground and still after recoil, a diagonal lung traverse and offside scapula performance (with exit). I might return said spent souvenir bullet if it was easily recovered. Sans metal detector, that is a tall order. Thanks for the remarks. BTW, CH, you probably forgot my handle is different here, but I do hunt both 'places.'

I used what was easy. Picking a suitable pile of berries, (the only other thing available,) was out of the question. Pure luck, it's tundra.

Indeed I did! I tell my family back east (Iowa, Missouri and Florida) that your shot "my" bear and tell them the story. I love to tell them the name of your street, too!

They think that's a great picture, as do I!

Klikitarik, that is one nice looking bear. Here is my bear hunting experience. I have yet to shoot one for myself I am having trouble drawing a permit. I have been on some succesful hunts though and have at least put a bullet into a bear. I have carried a 308 Norma and now a 35 Whelen. I feel comforable using either gun for most bear hunting even in "normal" salmon spawning creeks but in the place I was in this fall was so thick that I felt a bit under gunned. I must be turning into one of those grizzly nuts, when I was there I was thinking what are you doing here? The whole next week all I could think about was going back. By the way my main hunting partner uses a 300 Win Mag with 220 gr Nosler partitions for interior and coastal bears. I wonder how he would have felt in that creek though. The guy I was with this fall also used a 300 Win Mag and 180 gr TSX's another friend uses a 338 Win Mag with 250 Grand Slams. I used to guide for mountain goat for an outfitter who had taken a lot of bears over the years and he was very comfortable using a 338 Win Mag and used it to stop bears under the worst circumstances. I am doing this survey because it is neat to see what others are using and would like to see if there is a difference in what local hunters use compared of non residents.