Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What gun for stopping Alaska's big bears?

While I would have preferred to have been carrying my 458 -

Did you overlook this part?

It's your nose, (and ass) you pick it.

JW

Since this forum is strictly about stopping wounded bears - rather than hunting them- If I had to go after one today and I could pick any rifle I would take this one. My MkX 458 loaded with either 500gr Hornady Interbonds or 450gr Swift A-Frames

That would have been my choice but this site is .416 friendly and .458's are more common with hunters who have used .416's.

John

Did you miss this part of Phill's quote?

I have used a lot of rifles and calibers on bears and have learned that the single most important factor is the skill, knowledge and nerve of the shooter.
Calibers and bullets do make a difference but not as much as virtually everybody on the is forum seems to think.

Maybe this is not enough wound channel damage and a large bore was needed.

So if I read you correctly, there are wimpy handguns and powerful handguns, but all rifles are equal given proper "shot location".

No you did not read me correctly. How you got that impresion is beyound me. No one has even remote sugested that a 22 center fire is enough rifle. The info put forth has said that a 30-06 was enough and will stop big bears with proper shot placement. Bigger rifles do not stop with poor shot location. A bigger rifle will always make one fell better, because we have been programed all of our lives that "bigger is better" wheter it is nessecary or not.

I know. Just funnin with you. Despite the imoprtance of shot placement, there is still a 'minimum' amount of energy and penetration required.

Energy? 2 Ram running together butting heads generate over 5,000 FPE and they walk away. Energy is a poor indicator of terminal performance.

A 200 pound man running 30 feet per secound (a 10 flat hundred) has nearly 2800 FPE yet there are faster and larger men play football running together and they get up and return to the huddle

ok ok you win, a minimum amount of penetration, plus whatever jwp475 says a good bullet does to kill an animal

So what is the handgun equivalent to the 'benchmark' 30-06 220 partition combo, dealing with large thin skinned game?

A 420 grain LFN hardcast from a 475 Linebaugh and the 525 Grain WLFN from the 500 Linebaugh and the 425 grain truncated cone flat point hard cast with a 78% of bullet diameter meplat will shoot completely through both shoulders of large Mature Bison, Asisan Buffalo, etc. This I know because I have done so. I am sure that other bullets will work, but I have no experience with them. I know that when I use one of the big bore revolver they never cease to amaze me with their ability to put big animals on the ground fast. This type of performance is indeed bullet dependent and dependent on proper shot location. I have used them with bullets that gave incrediably bad performance and effectiveness even with proper shot location.
My favorite rifle calliber and one that has worked incredably well for me on very large game has been the 338 win. It has always been very effective for me. I know others that have used it and require multipule shots to get animals on the ground. There are many factors at play, I simply believe that once one has a good bulllet of sufficient wieght and calliber it will be effective with proper shot location

How about another opinion from another Master Guide in Alaska as written to my friend,Randy Garrett....Jerry Jacques on rifle/bullet choice for his sons bear hunt.





Jayco

That is truly a beautiful weapon to this hunter's eyes! (And I can appreciate the photo set-up with the weathered moose antler against a backdrop of plywood which might easily have been painted with $2/gallon paint from the mis-tint shelves over at SBS. ) Or maybe that just looks too much like something I'd see out here; it has the look of "this works".

So much for high energy figures....



GARRETT'S 45-70 HAMMERHEAD AMMO
$80 / 20 CTGS

540-GR SUPER-HARD-CAST GAS-CHECKED HAMMERHEAD AT 1550-FPS

THIS 45-70 AMMUNITION IS RECOMMENDED FOR USE ONLY IN MODERN MARLIN RIFLES WITH BALLARD BARRELS.

ENERGY: 2880 FT/LBS; TAYLOR KNOCKOUT VALUE: 55; MEPLAT: .360"; CHAMBER PRESSURE: 35,000-CUP; SECTIONAL DENSITY: .368; TRAJECTORY: +1.5" @ 50-YDS; ZERO @ 100-YDS; -6.5" @ 150-YDS


Not even close to a 416 Rem or 458 Win

Alright, I was hoping to see Ol' Ugly!

I also do not think much of energy numbers..Just as this 45-70 load of a 540 grain bullet at 1550 fps only had an energy number of 2880 FT/LBS at the muzzle; but a TAYLOR KNOCKOUT VALUE of 55, yet it penetrated both shoulders of this nice Bear and exited, ending his life in a humane and quick manner.


Jayco

There's the hammer.

A friend of mine ambushes deer with a 475 Linebaugh. IIRC he's using a mild load of W231 under a 400 grain'ish WFN type bullet. He tells me it's just "pop" and they fold like right now.

They do despite the low amount of FPE. Yes the wide Meplat is a huge part of the total equation