After 55 years of hunting in Alaska, I know and have talked to many people who have shot big bears. In almost all of the big grizzly/brown bear shooting, the first shot was taken at well under 200 yards with a variety of calibers and bullets. The bullets used were the old and discontinued Remington Core-Lokts that were a tough bullet, the proven Nosler Partition and the Barnes X of some flavor and in the last 10 yeas the Nosler Accubond showed up with those .35 Whelen shooters I know. Most of the guys I know use the old .270 Win. and 150 grain Partitions or 140 Barnes X bullets, the 30-06, the .300 WSM and the .300 is usually a 200 grain partition or 180 grain Barnes X and the .338 Win. is a 225 TTSX. A couple of them have a .375 H&H that is saved for the brown bears on Kodiak or the Alaska Peninsula, so are rarely used and one friend uses a .458 Win.
What ever rifle they use is their "bear rifle" since that is what they hunt moose and caribou with. I'm not knocking big bores for big bears, I'm just saying most don't kill critters with them and the other calibers I mentioned have a history of reliably killing big bears. We live in the age of the "super bullets" and it all pretty much stated with the Nosler Partition and then the Barnes X bullets and bonded bullets and like Glock style triggers, others jumped in with their variation.
I personally like a deep penetrating, high weight retaining expanding bullet that maintains a long shank and does not roll back like a pumpkin ball and limiting penetration and give me and exit hole also. I'm not saying other bullets won't kill, or that a pass through is the only thing that kills, I'm just stating mine and most others I know preference on bullets for Alaskan critters. Another thing is, I don't think I know any one that loads up different bullet weights and types for their rifle, I know I don't, each rifle gets one load for hunting from me.
All of my critter killing has been done with a 30-06 and a .338 Winny. Like many other Alaskans I have a Marlin 45-70 stuffed with a heavy jacketed 350 or 400 grain bonded bullet from Alaska Bullet Works. One of those big slugs at around 1,800-2,000 fps mv will reliably kill any thing in North America. We usually don't hunt with them, but they are an easy carrying comfort for many of our out door activities, fishing salmon streams and hiking, camping, ATV riding, etc. Marlin hit a home run with that 1895 in 45-70.
When the gunsmith is done turning my Mirkoru Mod. 71 Winchester into the Ackley Improved version I am hoping to toss 250 grain bonded Kodiak Bullets at around 2,500 fps mv. If shots are no further then 200 yards I should have similar results to the ones my .338 Winny has given me for over 30 years and my friends .35 Whelen results. History has shown what a 250 grain medium bore slug at moderate velocity can do to big critters.
There is nothing I will be able to do with the .348 Ackley Improved I can't do with my old Marlin 45-70 and the Kodiak bullets. The 450 Alaskan, 45-90 and 50-110 are good examples of a real big bear "stopping" lever action rifle, hell, what cant they stop?
Last edited by 1Akshooter; 05/10/20.
