Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada 6.5x55 vs. Grizzly

I am no Grizzly expert and can only speak and advise from my actual field experiences...the Grizzly was photographed in 2007 near Willow Lake BC as we were on a Moose hunt...the outfitter had no non resident tags so this fella walked into the BC bush...quite the bear...I was using a 30-06 with 200 BBC for Moose and had a tag been available perhaps I could tell what this combo would have done...I estimate him to be pushing 10 feet..as far as my field experience for Grizzly..I have shot 11 ...(9 with 375 and 1 each with 300 Weatherby and 340 Weatherby)... along with 3 Kodiak Bears, 2 Polar Bears and 3 Black Bears...I have decided that for Grizzly, Kodiak and Polar the ideal caliber is a 375..taking 14 bears with 18 shots.... all 3 of my Black Bears have been shot with 30-06 using 200 BBC...I have hunted Grizzly in Alaska, Yukon and in various parts of BC...all my Brown bears have been Kodiak Island...the closest Grizzly I ever shot was a 600 pound charging 20 year old sow at 20 feet in 2000 in Knights Inlet on a salmon stream..I was glad to have had my 375 loaded with 275 BBCs...

I do not think a 6.5 is an adaquate Grizzly caliber...nor do I think a 270 or 7 mag is..regardless of SD, paper ballistics and etc...I can only speak of my actual field experiences...in my opinion the calibers for Grizzly begin with 30-06 loaded with 200-220 Nosler Partitions at full throttle...ie...2700 fps + or the 300 Weatherby loaded with the same bullets...for the 338/340 I would recommend the 250 Nosler Partitions...that is my recommendations regarding Grizzly hunting based on my actual field experiences...it is up to the reader to agree or disagree...and that is one's choice..