Jevyod,
Experiment a bit for your own personal enjoyment. The savage rifle is perfect for your contemplations: Cheap barrels that can be swapped out at home without need of a gunsmith.
Because of the bore size and faster burn rates of powders commonly used in the 338-06 and 35 whelen, you'll find that the medium bores need less barrel length for sufficient velocity.
20.5" barrels using reloader 15 or mr-2000 makes for a compact and efficient package shooting 220-250 grain bullets.
Slower powders and heavy for caliber 30-06 bullets might be better in a 22" barrel.
With your 358 Winchester, reloader 10x makes one heck of a short barreled powder. AK_lance/Luke took a 50+ inch racked moose using 10x in a 16 inch barreled kimber 358. His chronograph showed a negligible velocity loss compared to my 20" barreled 358's.
I hear yah about those east coast black bears. My mother was a registered guide up in northern Maine. She recalls a couple black bears bigger than what I see in barren ground grizz up here in Alaska.
Last edited by mainer_in_ak; 01/27/20.
