Read this post very late in the session and enjoyed it greatly. Spent many enjoyable years in Alaska, never deliberately hunted /grizzly with my 270, but was forced to l kill an interior , smallish boar, grizzly on a sheep hunt. One frontal shot at probably 10 or less yards, with 130 grain nosler, hand loaded with 62 grains surplus 4831 did the trick, though followed it up with a couple of insurance hits. We didn ‘t do an autopsy on him but none of the hit’s exited. Became very good friends withEd Stevenson a legendary bear guide ,modern day mountain man, who many on the site, including Phil S, know well, Ed gravitated to large bore lever guns for his back up including marlin 1895’s in 45/70, rechambered Winchester model 86’s and 71, and 95’s. He collaborated at great length with the other legendary Alaskan and gunsmith Bill Fuller of coopers landing on some of Fuller’s great stopping calibers. If I remember right Ed finally narrowed his choice down to the great marlin 1895 in 45/70 stoked with his favorite 400 grain load. I visited Ed several times at both his sheep river camps and gravina river guide areas, though never actually hunted with him had many a enjoyable hours sharing his stories. Ed loved to impress me with his prowess with the lever gun, I believe he could run a lever gun like no man alive. Last I talked to Ed was several years ago , after I retired in 98 , and moved back to Wyoming, after we exchange a couple of good natured insults Ed mentioned he let another bear get ahold of him(as he always put it) . As he related a smallish brown chose to charge him , knocked him down and wrestled him around for awhile then took off unscathed. This scrimish didn’t require hospitalization contrary to another encounter he had years earlier, where the big brown not only chewed him a lot but damn near downed him in the gravina river until his client killed him . That encounter put him in the hospital for a few days and as he told me later “ you know Don that took a little while to get out of my head” typical Ed’s matter of fact way of relating significant events a normal man would consider a life altering event , Regrettably Ed passed a few years ago and with him a tremendous amount of Alaskan lore. RIP my friend
