Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Deer hunting in Brown Bear country with a 338-06

Based on my actual experience of killing and seeing killed a bunch of brown bears I say use a quality 250 (NP, TSX of AF) at 2400-2500. They open plenty wide, and just as (or perhaps even more importantly) they will penetrate much better than any varmint weight bullet. This is of particular importance when you consider a defensive shooting will require a frontal shot through bone and muscle. Even if such a bullet is a 3 MOA performer out off your rifle, use it. You'll still have a genuine 200 yard deer gun and for woods/muskeg hunting that's plenty.

Thanks pabucktail, do you have any experience with either the 250 Sierra or 250 Hornady RN?

I was fortunate enough to spend 3 years on Active Duty with the Coast Guard in Kodiak. MUCH of that time was spent afield in various pursuits. From picking Salmon Berries to jump shooting ducks on creeks and ponds to deer hunting high and low to bear hunting to hiking to mountain biking to bank and wade fishing. At first I didn't go anywhere without my Redhawk 5 1/2 inch 44 magnum on my hip. Over time, I came to realize two things that shaped my behavior. Bear don't get to live when they have close encounters with humans (unless they are in a National Park where they are highly protected) so they are going to see or smell you well ahead of time and stay away. Second, unless you are an ace, most of the places you would encounter one, you are not coming from holster to target in time to make any difference.

I ended up ditching carrying any gun for my fishing trips and my casual hikes. If I was going after ducks, I took my shotgun and that was it. If I was going after deer, I took whichever rifle I wanted to take. 243, 257 Roberts, 30-06, 35 Whelen and 45-70. In some cases I chose stout bullets. In some cases the rifles showed a decided preference for a non-premium deer bullet. That's what I used.

The threat of brown bears is overblown, Romanticized even. I get that but, I don't think they warrant much worry at all. That's not to say you should do what I did, but rather just do what you are going to do, and don't sweat the minutiae. If you were really concerned, the best preparation you could make would be to practice snap shooting. I saw very few bear while plying the wilds in the three years I was there. The overwhelming majority were at or near the dump.

Have fun! Post pics.

Paul ,thanks for the info. I've been to that Coast Guard station before. Was salmon fishing along the roadway on Kodiak. I would have loved to have been stationed there. I'm retired Navy, so I went on base and used their MWR cooler to store my salmon.

I've been deer hunting up there on other occasions on another island in SE Alaska. I've seen brown bear sign, poop and prints, and that's all it takes for me to carry a big enough gun. Just makes sense. Most of the guys I hunt with bring 338 Win Mags. What I'm looking for is a bullet that will kill a brown bear, (if need be), and also not blow up too much deer meat. Curious about the 250 gr Sierra and Hornady experiences especially. Just fishing for ideas/suggestions from fellow hunters. We do carry loaded guns to the outhouse at night. Not a bad habit when we have 5 or 6 deer hanging from the meat pole just a few yards away.

I don't, as I've never found a .338 of any flavor I just couldn't live without. Regardless of caliber, for your purposes I wouldn't bother messing around with lesser designs when such better ones are available so easily. I used a .375 H&H for years with 300 gr partitions before switching to the 9.3x62 with 286 gr partitions eight years ago. Meat destruction with both on deer, even on raking shots, was much less than I experienced with the .270, '06, .300 mags, or .243, and performance on brown bears has been outstanding. Make up a practice load with the Sierra or Hornady if you want, but for hunting anywhere you might get in a bear fight please remember this isn't 1950 anymore and use a great bullet.

What about Nosler Partition bullets? That’s what I’d like in bear county.

Partitions work great. Here's a selection of 300gr .375s and 286gr 9.3s pulled from various brown bears, mountain goats, and moose. Deer have yet to stop one. Ranges for the bullets pictured vary from 12 to just over 300 yards.

A Bear Claw bullet would be good too, if you could find some.

Nice looking bullets pabucktail.

Hanko, 250 grain Partitions aren't exactly growing on trees either.

My wife and I both hunted Afognac island three or four times.. I carried my .375 H &H with 260 grain partitions and she carried a .308 Win loaded with 180 partitions.

No shots fired at bears. As you would expect both the ..375 & .308 worked fine on deer.


I did kill a Brown bear years ago with the .375 and 300 gr. partitions.

One shot at close range and it ran 15 feet and died.


Lefty C

I was thinking 210 grainers. Most every thing is hard to find.

I've got 210 Partitions. I maxed out at 2650 with RL 15. I didn't test much more with them after that. Accuracy was OK, was just hoping for more velocity.
I think I'll work on the 210 TTSXs some more. I got some astonishing velocities with 760, (2850 or so avg), with 2" groups. I'd settle for 2750 with decent accuracy. I think I'll play along with seating depth and see what I can get. Hopefully I hit pay dirt before I run out of bullets. I believe a 210 TTSX would handle just about anything in North America.

There is 210 Partitions for sale in classifieds right now. Three boxes.

Thanks, hanko.

If I were going to use a bullet in that weight-range .338 for brown bear protection I'd prefer a monolithic. The 210 Partition is a fine bullet, but have seen one stop in an average-size whitetail buck on a rear-quartering shot.

In Partitions, the 250 would be my choice over either the 210 or 225.

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Yeah, I'd use a 4 moa rifle and rock on. Ha ha. Take that and amplify that by quite a bit when shooting offhand and you may have a 12 moa rifle/load. Thats exactly what I'd want if confronted by a big brown bear.. How much do you stupid fu cks actually shoot? Charlie...

No gun writer but the 185 TSX’s of the ones you mention or also 250-gr No’s Part’s..I’ve only stopped a couple TTSX’s, TSX’s out of about twenty game animals.

That's real nice collection. I bet there are some great memories wrapped up in those slugs.

Cheers,
Rex

Your courteous reply adds so much to this discussion, thanks! Please go take a nap, then have a nice snack so you can tell us of the experiences by which you came to these conclusions.