I also have a few Model 71s, including a 348 Ack Imp which will handle a 270 gr Hawk bullet. And a 450 AK on a pre-war Deluxe Model 71. But for coastal big brownies, its a early M-70 in 338WM-375 H&H . Backed up by a 450 Alaskan. Always a good idea to bring two rifles on a guided hunt up here.
I would prefer a 450 AK with 400 gr bullets and fast reloading of a smooth Winchester M-71 any day. Maybe even a 50-100-450 1886 Winchester if he squares over 10 ft. and is all teeth and claws- & mad.
Bolt actions are SLOW for repeat shots compared to a slick Winchester or Marlin lever action rifle.
Yeah, from reading, I get the .45+ thing. I have a .338 WM Model 70, too... but imagine the slowest person you know with a bolt-rifle... and I'm twice as slow.
If I were buying for an actual bear hunt, I'd probably look at one of the Browning M71s... and then maybe have some fun picking a cartridge to rebarrel to. But that's not gonna happen; I never really had much desire to go shoot a bear in the first place...
And my Winchester Model 71 is a family pass-down, '37 serial number, all the "DeLuxe" features, etc... so I don't want to modify it.
Are you saying the Hawk 270 would be better than the Woodleigh bonded 250, for a "bear watch" M71/.348?
-Chris
After another few nano-seconds worth of thought... and a quick glance at citations in the J.J. Donnelly manual... if I were really going to try an actual real-life bear hunt, I bet I could talk myself into a Browning M71 rechambered to .416-348. Not an AI version; just the original .348 necked up to accept 400-grain .416 bullets. LOTS of those to choose from.
I'm thinking the more original shape may better retain the original's smooth feeding, and there's at least one thread around here where somebody made up a .416-348 AI and reported afterwards that it doesn't feed as smoothly as he'd hoped... afterwards thinking the original could have been better.
So... M71 with aperture sights... maybe even a scout mount for a choice of IER scopes and/or RDS options. (I see Browning is offering an optional scout mount for their BLRs; maybe the concept could work here, too.)
Anyway, I could do a LOT to keep from learning how to run a bolt rifle very well. I've actually been practicing that recently; not good. Completely unnatural after almost 60 years of hunting and later also competing with lever rifles.
