Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles favorite cartridge for black bear.

I've taken 2 bears over bait in canada with a .35 Whelen. It's about perfect. If I didn't have the Whelen, I'd use a .30-06 with heavy (180 or bigger)bullets.

358 win!

That one.

Thats pretty funny about the distance and doughnuts, I got a good chuckle outta that one. I"ll vouch for the .358 Winnie in a Savage 99F or the Colonels cartridge in the pump or bolt

I've only killed one and used a 45-70 Guide Gun with a 405gr Cast Performance hardcast bullet at 1,800 fps. He jumped about 6 feet in the air and landed dead.

It looks like the majority are recommending something over a .338 caliber. I already own a couple 30-06's and 308's so this is not something I need for black bear just something I want.

My go to hunting rifles are M70's but in this case I'm leaning towards a Ruger No1, what do you think? Also how much more recoil from a 35 whelen, or a "hot" loaded 45/70 compared to a typical 30-06?

Thanks

If something over 338 is "needed" for a black bear, I wonder what you need for an Alaskan Brown weighing 2-3 times more?

Bears do elicit funny reactions from gun hunters.

Hey go start your own thread.

No experience with a 45/70 but, for me, a hot loaded whelen (250 grain) is closer to a 300 mag than a 30-06, recoil wise. Had one that weighed about 8lbs ready to go, and it was a bit of a handful. (operative word is "had")
I've shot black bear with a 280, 270 and a 300 Win mag. Same results, none of the three went over about 2 yards.

Sweet Jesus, you surely don't need over 338 to kill a black bear. I've killed a few with a Whelen and watched a few more killed with them and it surely does work, but no better than a lot of smaller cartridges. As always use a decent bullet

If a man can shoot it doesn't matter much what you use, avoiding the extremes, and if you can't shoot it don't matter much either.


250 Savage AI, I didn't tell the bear it weren't a 338...

Favorite cartridge for black bear -- 30-06
Favorite cartridge for deer -- 30-06
Favorite cartridge for moose -- 30-06
Favorite cartridge for timber wolves -- 30-06

I have killed a few sharptail grouse with a -- 30-06

Seein' a pattern here.

If i had to pick one cartridge for black bear it would be the 308 Win with a 165 or 180 gr Nosler Partition

I always love this picture and knew it would making an apperance.

To the OP's question on a hot loaded 45-70, you will know when you pull the trigger

Took one last spring with a 6mm Rem and 85 grain slug. The rifle shoots exactly where I point it though. I'd like the next one to fall to a 45-90.

Boy I didn't think it would happen from this site, but you guys might have talked me out of building the perfect short range black bear rifle.

I guess I will just have to make do with my 243, or one of my 308's or 30-06's for bear.

Being practical sucks, now what do I build?

My bear rifle is a TC encore in.444marlin. Love it

As stated, black bears die easy. What shiny new rifle do you want?

A lot more, probably 75%+ more for a 45-70 according to the recoil calculators. Of course you don't have to load it hot, mine was because I was also hunting moose. I didn't mean to imply that one needs a big bore like a 45-70 for black bear, anything used for whitetails will suffice. For me though, the 45-70 Guide Gun was perfect because it is such a compact little rifle to use when hunting over bait and the shots where I was hunting were only 25-30 yards at the most.

Gord if you have a 30/06 you already have one of the best black bear rifles you can get....but you knew that

Having a decent use for a current rifle should have no bearing whatsoever on whether or not to buy a new rifle!