Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What's the perfect spot and stalk black bear cartridge?

.338 or .270 depending on how you roll.

I used a 300 Winchester Mag on a bear on Vancouver Island. It might have been a bit much for the shot I got at 10 yards, but it worked.

358 Win
338 win
35 whelen
338 Fed

My WW Mod. 70 Featherweight in, of course, 7x57

Marlin 1895 in 45-70 with a 405 grain hard cast bullet and some Reloader 7 or H4198. Vaquero 45 Colt backup with 255 grain cast and a charge of Trail Boss.

I think either Kimberman or the shootist has is figured out.

Well, it should be the one in the "perfect" rifle of course ....:

Say.... that looks just like mine! They are a pretty near ideal rifle for the topic at hand. And, as it turns out ( and I hate this part) I have to sell mine so there you go! Problem solved

You are killing me!

Damn Mark, sorry to hear you have to sell yours ...That sucks!!

7-08

From what I've seen with bears shot by my friends, I'd categorize elk as being tougher. It seems like the fat of the bear seems to pucker up bullet holes and limits blood trails. So, I'd use a light for caliber monolithic like a 150gr Barnes TTSX pushed fast from a 30-06 or 300 Win Mag. Leaves a big hole that won't pucker up and would break any bone you wanted to.

270 or 30-06 will handle the task.

A short barreled 308 seems to work fine...

Only saw one suggestion before mine. 358 Norma. Of course all the other vanilla flavors from 257 Roberts on up to 416 Rigby would fit the "need" as you wish.

A lightweight 338-06 is a pretty decent fit.

Good looking bears there EdM. Congrats.

If you want a little less penetration, and a little more expansion, consider the 260 gr Nosler Accubond. It's MOA accurate or better, expands well, and hangs together. I've put 'em in three bears now from 320 yards down to about 10 feet and did manage to recover this one. When they exit, they tend to leave a big ol' hole and a lot of blood. I was a little surprised to recover this one:



Regards, Guy

This^

.338 and .358 bullets are made for bear IMHO. They hit harder and leave a big enough hole so fat doesn't plug it. I had used a 30-06,7Rm, and a 300win for years, about 5 years ago I found the .338 fed and the 358 win. They are perfect for bear. My shots are 10-75 yards 95% of the time, with the remote possibility of one crossing a logging road ahead of me possibly 200 yards distant at most. Your opportunities come at a longer distance, so maybe the long action variety would be better

.30-06 and a 200 grain Partition moving at 2500 fps stopped this one in it's tracks at 200 yards, spot and stalk in SE Alaska. Center punched the shoulders and the bear never took a step. I could of used a lighter bullet with the same results but I had a bunch of 200 grain bullets on the bench and thought they would do the job.