Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Opinions on .243 as a grizzly cartridge

I read an article about Bella Twin several years ago. It impressed me she did it but just goes to show the value of marksmanship and knowing how to use the rifle and cartridge you have. You forgot to mention the rifle she used was an old beat up single shot! As for the 260 on bear in Alaska, not in my future. I recently got a 260 but going to Alaska I have better medcine. Last time up there I had my 308 and loaded it with 200gr bullet's. My 30-06 I never hunted with back then, to nice and was afraid of scratching it up!

Thing about the 260, while I think it would work, I think I have better option's that will work as well. But a 243? Well if that's all you have then it's all you have and I suggest you get into position and place the bullet very carefully!

So did you get a grizzly with your .308 and 200s?

No. I carried it in fishing for salmon just in case with friends. I figure the range if needed would not be that far off. If I were actually hunting grizzly I'd have taken the 30-06 with 200gr bullet's and look for a shot maybe 100yds or even less. I have to admit carrying it fishing I did get an eye opener. Out on a bar and found a bear print. It was fricking huge!

Yeah, they can get pretty big!

My first trip to Alaska around 30 years ago was for fishing on Kodiak Island. Found a set of pretty fresh tracks on the muddy shore along a river. Could place both my feet in hip boots inside one of 'em and see the edges of the track all around the boots....

This is one of the front feet of the interior Alaska grizzly I took in 2009. It was a mature boar but not exceptionally large, with a hide that squared 7-1/2 feet and a 22" skull.

This is a good and well written primer on Grizzlies, in the September/October issue of RMEF “Bugle” magazine by a knowledgeable and seasoned grizzly veteran…

i am with Gunner ! i will take a sedge hammer a 338 Win.mag. or 375 H&H and my skinner knife

I believe he used an A-Frame.

I have killed 2 interior grizzly with a 6.5x284 and 135 bergers…they worked just fine though they were incidental opportunities when sheep hunting. When deliberately after grizzly I feel better with a .30 cal of some sort but am not terribly experienced with them and am a huge .243 proponent on fairly big, non dangerous critters. Though this is an old thread and made in jest, I’d still be curious to hear from someone who has actually killed a few griz with a .243 and get their thoughts on particular bullets.

A 22 long rifle would kill a grizzly in the right circumstances. But if he kills you before he dies did you really win? Edk

Limited experience with bears myself, the few I have taken were in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

Big Bruins can be tough to kill.

That was a good honest video and I enjoyed it.

Using max-power handloads is what nearly killed them.

Yep…that was my first thought when watching the video and I’m glad they discussed it at the end. Probably the worst situation for that hunt that could happen.

Silly to not have a backup rifle too.

I could just imagine being attacked at 15yds of so and trying to bring up the rifle and hit the nose bouncing atound!

It seems silly but I’m one that when limited to 50 pounds and being flown out and dropped off in the middle of nowhere I only have my rifle and whatever handgun I’m carrying (G20 or S/W 69) but in those cases I have a partner with a rifle, usually on those trips my partner and I carry the same caliber which is usually a .338wm and often we’re sighted in using the same exact ammo. I’ve been the “victim” of my own stupidity or carelessness too many times not to plan for contingencies and I try to eliminate as many as I can anticipate but sometimes you just gotta say…”that’s good enough” and go hunting. I figure that if the good Lord calls me home when I’m hunting or fishing I’ll already be in his neighborhood and as “close” to Him as anywhere else I might be so I’ll go willingly. I’ve told the family to not worry about me at all on any of my solo fishing and hunting adventures and to know that I’m always right with my Lord so if I’m called “HOME” then that’s where I’ll be waiting for them! I don’t want to die on concrete or surrounded by concrete in some city…

I could see myself being in his situation since the 10+ pounds of an extra rifle can mean some extra comforts…it’s a crapshoot no matter what. I do not hot rod my reloads because what happened here is the type of mishap that keeps me awake at night. A “simple” problem can sure compound itself into a life or death situation and a blown primer can mean a terrible death at the hands of a wounded Brown Bear.

What I tried to imply was that his partner should have been armed.

Sure as heck will never trust my life to a Remington 700. That whole situation was a comedy of errors.

I killed the grizzly in the photo posted earlier with a Remington 700, and had to shoot rapidly a couple more times even though the first shot was fatal--going through both lungs and the top of the heart. But had used that action (a stainless "short-action magnum") for close to 1000 rounds, and it had already proven itself on a couple dozen big game animals, from above the Artic Circle to dusty Texas. Oh, and I always made sure it was well-maintained.

Might also mention that Ross Seyfried, who I got to know pretty well when he was still in the gun-writing business, used a 700 .416 Remington Magnum as PH in Africa....

I've shot my 700 fast at elk escaping in fog. It was more of an excited mistake than skill, but the rifle ran like a Singer. The trigger froze up once in freezing rain, but it was fixed in the field. I think I read the extractors rarely fail if kept clean.

I'd not choose a 243win for bears, but it does make a good read :⁠-⁠)