Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Best gun for black bear and????

As I posted above I had never imagined or conceived of those kinds of hunting conditions and I�ve always hunted areas far more remote than you, (and it would also be easy to take cheap shots at someone using African cartridges on black bear), but I would never say that as it�s not my place to piddle on anyone�s parade.

Does it make you feel big to belittle someone?

Where�s the fun in owning rifles if you can�t go out and use them. I�d much rather see someone be over gunned (as long as the marksmanship doesn�t suffer) than the �How low can you go� threads we often see on this forum.

I think you�re spot on in your thoughts of a .388 Federal (or a .338-06) for black bear. It�s a good balanced of power and trajectory with an excellent selection of bullets.

I can vouge for what moosemike describes. That's they way it is here. I wish we could spot and stalk!

That is the problem - marksmanship often starts to suffer when folks start using rifles generating somewhere around 20 ft. lbs. of recoil.

After a shoulder injury and surgerys I was feeling the kick from my Marlin 444s. To avoid developing a flinch as well as provide some relief for my shoulder I switched to an Encore with a flex tech stock. It didn't hurt that I like single shot rifles either. Anyway, that stock made all the difference to my bad shoulder and makes me think that new technology should allow hunters to use much more powerful rifles than they would with a stealer butt plate. No sence in letting all those breakthroughs go to waste.

True. But we don't notice it as much here in PA as most of our bear are killed within 30 yards. You usually can't see past that in the laurel. I once was putting on a drive through laurel higher than my head which you had to pick your way through and at times crawl. I heard what sounded like a tractor trailer mowing down the laurel right back in my direction. I realized instantly it was a huge bear that was used to being driven and was breaking back through the drive (gutsy move but it works). I had another driver 20 yards to my right and the bear split the difference between us. 10 yards away from me and I never saw it but one brief flash of black. The other driver said that he couldn't see it at all and it got back through the drive without a shot fired. 10 yards away and I never got a good look at him!
As I mentioned before the bear I did shoot was at 20 yards and I also passed one up (boy did that make the guys mad. Don't ever pass a bear up when people are working their butts off to get you a shot) because it was too small and that was at 25 yards. At these ranges it just doesn't take a Sub MOA rifle with a marksmen behind it and guys usually get away with overgunning themselves.
I might also add that in the last ten years the .45-70 has been taking over for this type of hunting.

I believe you both of you fully. Moose Mike did a good job describing the conditions you are up against and a good justification for calibers under those conditions.

I just don�t get it when forum members feel the need to come off highhanded and belittle fellow posters.

Quote from a previous post.
�North America is a big chunk of real estate and I think posters on this forum sometimes forget that fellow posters may have a very different reality�.

The black bears shot with the .375 HH & the .458 Lott were water under the bridge and I didn�t see any need to comment.

The focus of my post was really to encourage his pursuit of the .338 Federal he was considering as I think of the three calibers mentioned it is the most appropriate for black bears (and depending on the rifle and bullet weight the recoil is approximate 22 ft-lbs).

People can give me a hard time for my love of bore rifles. But consider Terry Wieland's thoughts on the Lott:

.458 Lott. An oddball, I agree, but with bullets available in every configuration, in weights from 300 to 600 grains, it is a handloader�s dream cartridge when teamed with H4198. In a pinch, you can shoot factory .458 Winchester ammunition. If I wanted to hunt the world and own only one rifle, this would be it.



Read more: http://www.rifleshootermag.com/2011/01/04/ammunition_battery_1125/#ixzz2KiLOa6Qw

Sorry... "love of LARGE bore rifles."

Some people have NO IDEA of what an Eastern laurel/rhododendron thicket is like. As moosemike mentioned, oftentimes it requires hands and knees to get through and sometimes even then you cannot penetrate it. Old locals in the Southern Appalachains used to call them "laurel hells". Seeing 10 yards through it is, well, "optomistic".

Always amazes me how quickly game animals can run through them. That would be the one scenario where I would possibly choose a slug gun.

But this is slightly off topic to the OP. My apologies.

It was never my intent to give you a hard time on your choice of calibers. I�m certain you have fond memories of those hunts and I wouldn�t want to diminish them in any way.

I posted earlier on this thread that a small number on here come across high and heavy handed and that we should show enough respect not to piddle on each other�s parade.

............The only two words in your above post, which imo should exclude the 270 in lieu of better cartridge choices are,,,,"maybe grizzly."

Other than grizzly, your 270 is fine for the rest of the game you mention. Not that a 270 cannot kill a big bear with the right bullet and placement. But for big dangerous bears, there are better choices to use.

No magic cartridge for all you mention? Well I wouldn`t exactly agree with that.

A 7mm Rem/Wby Mag. Any of the faster 30 caliber mags like the 300 WSM, 300 Win, 300 Wby, 300 RUM and even a couple of the more powerful 338s would all do the trick for what you are looking to do. And some would even say, that the good `ol 30-06 is all that you would need.

Yep! Imo, there are a few rounds out there that can well handle all of your needs.

this has been very interesting. I see there are as many good calibers, ans there are opinions about those calibers. If I decide to buy another rifle, I am thinking about a 338. It seems to be an all around good caliber for lots of the bigger game.
Thanks for all the help guys. Now, its time to start getting ready for the hunt.
Thanks again, Jeff

Some bears are bigger than some deer. Some deer are bigger than some bears.

Whatever you hunt deer with, with a decent bullet wouldn't leave me worrying at all.

That being said I tend to gear up for longer shots and at bad angles if need be, especially on hunts that I don't do all the time...

I'm not trying to dissuade folks from using a larger bored rifle for black bear. I totally agree that, like a lot of hunting, the situation in question may call for a different rifle. Next time I head to SE AK for a black bear, I will be packing my 338-06.

My last post was simply saying that a large percentage of folks have a difficult time with the larger rifles. In my experience, around 2 to 3 out of 10 hunters are really proficient with 300 Mags.

Same in many parts of Canada, that's why a good brush cutter is required.

You realize tests have shown that a high velocity spitzer does as good, or better than a slow round nose in "brush cutting"?

Could be but I know a 300 grain bullet from a .375 will not deflect much if any, that I know from many dead creatures that were hiding behind many trees.

I shot a nice black bear on the Gaspe Peninsula in 1995 with a 270 and 150 gr Partition. Range was about 40 yards and the bear was lying in a depression facing me. Shot him at the base of the neck and the bullet went through him end to end. Never moved. The quarters and hide weighed 92 kg when I came back across the border. Live weight was about 270 lbs. I think it's enough gun..