Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer- Know of any .270 brown/grizzly kills?

Hi Mule Deer and all others. Does anyone know of any actual brown/grizzly bear kills from approximately 40-50 years ago to 2023? This is a subject of 30-06 vs .270 Win ability to kill browns and grizzly bears that has been argued for almost one hundred years. Does anyone have any stories about .270 Win kills on the BIG
bears? Jack O'Connor killed two grizzly bears if memory is correct.
Also, Charles Sheldon back around 1900 to early 1920s, killed approximately 80 grizzly and brown bears with a 160gr 6.5 manlicher schoenaur rifle. Hmmmm!

Roanmtn (Roan Mountain, TN)

You should ask Phil Shoemaker, 458Win on the Campfire, who's guided for brown bears for almost 50 years. Some of his clients have used .270s and .30-06s, which is OK with Phil.

Thanks John! Keep the great stories coming.

I shot one that weighed about 350lbs 27 years ago on the Hunt river near Ambler with a Remington 788 22-250. I ended up killing it with the first shot at about 150 yards with a neck shot. They are much smaller than the bears where Phil is at. Tyler Freel shot a huge interior Grizzly this Spring with a 6.5 Creedmoor. I had students kill one while I was up in Ambler with three 10/22 ruger rifles in 22LR. They shot the bear about 40-50 times. Heimo Korth has shot probably north of 40 Grizzlies with a 22-250 in another Remington 788. He prefers a Slug gun today. I killed another grizzly DLP with a Ruger Super Blackhawk in 44 Mag when I was 18 years old fishing on the Tonsina River. It had been injured with an illegal snare and was in bad shape. I like bigger caliber rifles now. People have killed bears with 250-3000 and even 32-40s and believe it or not 25-20s.

I killed a Caucasian brown bear in Russia with a .270 Wby shooting 150 gr. Bergers a few years ago. Stoned him dead, didn't even twitch from about 200 yards. But they're not real big.

Wow! I am not believing someone didn't get badly hurt/killed with the smaller calibers. My experience tells me shot placement is the real deal here. In our modern times Mule Deer has told us about shot placement results. Thanks for your reply.

My dad shot a grizzly with his 7 Saum when I lived in AK. It’s more or less a short action 280 performance wise. 150gr Partition from 150 yards or so.

I know another guy who killed a nice peninsula brown bear with his 280. 8.5 footer.

Visited with many villagers who had cell phone pics of grizzlies and polar bears they’d slewn with various rifles, mostly 222s and 223s with the Mini14 being fairly popular.

Villagers aren’t dropping $20K +, plus travel and miscellaneous expenses for a hunt!

There’s no doubt that most any animal on Terra-Firma can be killed with a 22 Hornet…..but probably not prudent…..nor legal in many places. If it’s my hard earned money, I want to kill my bear…..not have the guide kill “my” bear! My photo, shown with a light rifle, posed with a bear killed by someone else…..ain’t how I want to spend my money! memtb

And where in the OP does he state grizzlies killed on an expensive guided hunt?

There are way more bears killed as incidentals when moose, caribou, or sheep hunting by residents each year than guided hunters kill. Scores more killed with whatever is handy in the boat or snow machine by rural dwellers. A huge percentage of the time the rifle employed will not be some giant magnum.

And in AK there are no caliber restrictions.

These are always weird threads. But I know of a Pre 64 Model 70 270 WCF that has likely taken over 50 Grizzly Bears in its lifetime. Successfully.

Jake Korrel killed both the full body mounted Grizzle and the full body mounted Buffalo in the Riverton Museum with his 270.

I moose hunted in Alberta and the oufitter's camp rifle, a Marlin .30-30 had accounted for 11 problem grizzlies in camp over about 20 years

Wonder how many Russian/Asian brown bears have been killed with lowly SKS's.

A younger brother has killed two Alberta grizzlies with a .270 Winchester with ammo I loaded for him. Winchester cases, Winchester primers, 54 grains of IMR4350, and 130 grain Hornady SP. This was some years ago so it may have been before the InterLock was introduced.

roanmtn,

One reason I suggested Phil Shoemaker is that he's guided not only clients with .270s, but many who used the .30-06, and the brown bears in his hunting area get very big.

. ..and let's not forget that Phil killed a brownie with a puny little ol' 9mm pistol.

Seems like with good shot placement and the right bullets that not much else matters.

If a .22 can kill a GIANT Grizzly, then a .30-06 will kill them way faster!

Bella Twin was a calm, quiet, clear-headed Cree woman with a trap line. May 10, 1957, she killed a massive grizzly bear with her Cooey Ace #1 . 22. That was near Slave Lake, Alberta, and the bear Twin killed turned out to be a world record that stood for a good long time.

This bear was killed 2 hours from my home in Alberta, with her teensy-weensy .22

I used to watch films of Gordon Eastman hunting in Alaska and Canada's NW Territory. IIRC his son shot a brown bear with a 270win in one of the films.

I believe it was shot with .22 longs not even long rifles. She was grouse hunting at the time. One shot to the head and down. Walked up to it and shot it several more times in the head just to make sure.

Yep, she used Longs--and shot the bear in the head with the rest of the rounds she had to make sure.

My father, who grew up partly on a central Montana homestead during the Great Depression, was also a believer in Longs, because they looked just as long as Long Rifles. He always thought I was nuts for spending the extra money for Long Rifles with my paper-route money.....

Mule Deer;
Good evening to you sir, I hope that you and Eileen are well tonight.

Thanks for the chuckle, I know you've mentioned that before and so help me I recall at least a couple times having a similar conversation with my late father.

Dad liked shorts in his Cooey 39 which was the same action as Bella Twin's Ace, but the 39 was just a wee bit longer barrel and bigger stock.

His one regret buying me a Lakefield Mossberg Mk II bolt action repeater was that it only fed long rifle ammo properly so his beloved shorts were out.

That was likely okay though as both longs and shorts became harder to get into the early '70's.

If anyone wants to read up about the rifle and CIL Whiz Bang Longs used, here's a link.

https://www.ammoland.com/2017/06/be...-the-1953-world-record-grizzly-and-more/

Thanks again for twigging some pleasant memories from long, long ago John.

All the best to you both this Thanksgiving.

Dwayne

roanmtn;
Good evening to you sir, I trust the day behaved down in your part of the world and you're well.

For sure hopefully Phil looks in and gives some input as he's likely seen more bears cross over the great divide than any three other people I can think of.

As to your question, I knew a couple of fellows who were shooting mentors that grew up in the Kootenays back when bears could still be hunted and problem bears were just "dealt with" who shot at least a handful of grizzly each with a .270.

While I can't say this for certain, there might be a difference between shooting a garden or stock raiding bear and taking one up on the mountain - or not, I just don't know.

There was another Kootenay grizzly in a taxidermy shop that belonged to a father and son who were personal friends that died with a 180gr Sierra out of a .308 lever rifle, but so help me I can't say for certain if it was a 99 or an 88 now, that detail has slipped away.

Lastly and I'm cognizant it's not a .270, but a hunting mentor of mine who was a small farmer in the Peace Country during the Depression shot everything that needed shooting with a 95 in .30-40. That included whitetail, mulies, moose, elk, caribou, black bears and grizzly.

He talked about sometimes shooting more than one black bear a week to keep them out of the garden and how grizzly bears and hogs were problematic in that once they developed a taste for pork, there was no non-lethal way of changing a grizzly's opinion about it.

Anyways that's a few from up here, but again Phil would have better and more data.

All the best and Happy Thanksgiving.

Dwayne

Shot placement ALWAYS matter. You can't miss the vitals with a 460 Weatherby and expect anything other than a schidt show.

Long time no see Dwayne. 👍

You are very correct, My mistake! I made the mistake of assuming that the OP from Tennessee was considering a hunt!

However, your reading comprehension is also somewhat lacking, as I very cleary stated (for those that can read) that a 22 Hornet is capable of killing most any animal on Earth.


I guess that we both have our reading/comprehension flaws! memtb

Mule Deer....I am utterly enjoying the responses to my question from you and others. I am now age seventy one and have hunted from the Yukon to Tennessee to Southern Africa with a.270 Win. I have had wonderful experiences with my custom Mark X 98 Mauser in .270 Win. with a 26 inch barrel. After all of these years I have become tired of opinions and no experience of a .270 being used on big brown bears. I am attempting to contact Mr. Shumaker as you have suggested. OH! By the way, I'll use my 9.3 x 62 on big dangerous stuff if I go back to Africa. My cape buffalo was killed with one shot with a 286gr X Bullet. Next time I will use your load of
66 grains Big Game behind the X Bullet.

I have killed only 2 grizzlies, certainly not an expert, but my first was a 7 foot bear in Montana with a 25-35. It is all I had and one shot between the eyes was all it took…

And then there's the rumor that expert shot, multiple bear killer and Alaskan game warden Hosea Sarber was out with his .270 and got eaten by a bear, because he had an inadequate rifle. There are other rumors about that particular incident as well (such as salmon poachers got him), that's just one of them.

My son at 17 shot his second brown bear with a 25-06. Two 100% lethal shots at about 150 yards. Bear facing left swapped ends after the first shot and was running flat out across an avalanche chute. Second shot nearly crossed paths with the first and dual entrance and exit wounds on each side were less than two inches apart.

80gr TTSXs destroyed the heart.

He has also killed multiple black bears, Sitka deer, mountain goat, a huge-bodied bull moose, multiple caribou, and more with the combo.

Well, Bella Twin has been mentioned. How far can we be from a Karamojo Bell sighting in this thread?

I plan to take a 30-06 with 180s next Fall when I go to the Alaska range. My buddy will also have a tag and has also opted to bring a 30-06. Guide is good with it and both of us shoot the rifles well.

2 friends and I did a drop-camp Caribou hunt on the N slope of AK in 2011. 2 270's shooting 140gn Barnes TSX and 1 7Rem Mag loaded with 160gn Partitions. We didn't even see a bear, but, I guess I wouldn't have felt undergunned with the 270's or 7Rem we had in camp. When we got back to Kavik we found out that a camp 5Mi up-river from us had to DLP a Griz that wouldn't leave their camp alone.

In a "hunt" situation, really about any rifle I could shoot well with a fairly stout bullet would be fine.

In a charge/wounded/pissed-off bear situation I'd want every ounce of kenetic energy and every MM of penetration I was capable of summoning.

Forgive my ignorance but what is DLP?
I assume shot in self defense but IDK.

Defense of Life or Property. You have to skin out the bear and turn it in to Fish and Game.

Thank you!

Cousin Tom shot one with his 270 Win 150 gr mature Brown bear out of Valdez

Well I'm not taking my 270 on my brown bear hunt this spring🤫

Yeah I used my 375 H&H with 300gr tsx for my kodiak bear. Shot a dink not as big as some mentioned here. Only measured 9feet.

Come on Dennis……we need to catch up with some of the others in the world of hunting. Over at LongRangeHunting, many are pushing the concept of “hot” 22’s for the largest of NA game!

For some folks……I highly recommend the use of .22 centerfires for the big bears! 😉 Oh, and for those folks……they should insist that the guide be unarmed! 😁 memtb

Shooting a Grizzly with a 270 is about like shooting a big northern deer with a 243 or a small texas deer with a 223 scale wise. Not a problem, just hit them right with a good bullet. A 338 or 375 isn't going to kill them any quicker if you if you don't hit them right.

Throughout time I'd hasten to bet more grizzlies have been killed with 30-30's and 30-06's than anything else, add the .303 for Canada.

Eskimos like the 223 and 22-250 for polar bears.

Shoot it with whatever blows your skirt up.

Saw one shot 9 times with a 358 norma mag and the thing was still flopping around. Saw a 30-06 180 hornady interlock bang flop one with one shot. The 30-06 bear was much larger. Shot placement is what matters.

I can’t argue with any of what you stated…..though, with one addendum……I’ll bet more have been wounded by 30-30’s and .303’s than any other rounds also! It’s simply math! memtb

Eskimoes shoot what ever they have, if the game gets away here is always another.
Bullet placement is important, but what you hit them with is equally important.

One of my older friends, now gone, was a guide in Alaska for both polar bear and brown bear. His favorite rifle was a .270 and at one time he said 130 Silvertips. I would prefer something else, but he did it for years.

Another old timer now gone shot a .300 H & H with 180 Rem factory loads. He killed a ton of the big bears.

.


And a full mag dump with the 9....

A guy I worked with in the 70's got cross-ways of a sow griz and her 2 year-old twins out of Pt. Hope. .243, but he did have to go back up to his 3-wheeler for an 11th round to finish the last wounded bear.

There are absolutely NO substitutes for shot placement and bullet performance!

A well constructed and well placed bullet from a 270 or 30-06 will kill a big bear as quick as any caliber

Back in the territory days and just after statehood my father in law, his brother and their “old man” used a .222 Rem Mag for several brown bear. Uncle Rick was almost eaten by a Kodiak that wasn’t impressed by either the 25-06 nor the .270 but he eventually succumbed to a 115gr 25-06 between the eyes.

The .270 would not be my first choice for big bears but with a mono or a premium C&C to the right spot it’ll kill them. I would NOT choose that but if that’s all I had I absolutely WOULD go hunting.

Anyone who claims the 30-06 is not effective has either not used one, or else is unwittingly commenting on their marksmanship.

.....dang Phil.....that's a little harsh....editors and advertisers might be offended...

I wonder if this statement is specific to “hunting” an un-wounded, calm bear as opposed to what you would choose to protect yourself and others from an enraged charge?

I absolutely understand if it’s the first but would be especially curious if your lifetime of experience has convinced you of the second as well.

Thanks for being here.

Although not as well versed as some on this site, I can say I have not seen much difference in killing power between the bears-both brown and black- that I've shot with my 308, and those that I shot with my 300win and 375. With all due respect to opinions on this site, the moose I have broken down have had thicker hide and ribs than the bears I have shot and have seen shot, and many of those have been with 243, 270, and 308.

It used to amaze me what folks would hunt with around here...a lot of 223s, 22-250s, 243s, 270s, 30-30s, and 30-06s. At one point I was told that you couldn't swing a cat without hitting a 270 around here; I would agree. I know- and some on this site know- a well-versed hunter on the south side of Iliamna Lake that has hunted most of her life with a handed down .300 Savage.

As has been said, good bullets put in the right place are what do the work.

You can read what Phil sometimes uses to follow up wounded big bears. Bet he likes a client who can shoot.

DF

Charlie, I hate to be the guy who tells you, but in todays world most people seem to think that the truth is harsh 🙄

But it really doesn’t matter very much whether an animal is resting or charging , a well placed bullet that penetrates will quickly kill it.

The only reason I carry a bigger caliber is that sometimes when things are going sideways it’s difficult to quickly place your bullets and that is when a bigger bore with excess power can sometimes make a difference.
I have killed bears with a lot of different calibers , from the 9mm handgun to the 505 Gibbs, and the more experience I gained with the larger rifles , the more I learned to appreciate the standard 458 Win.

That has not been my experience after hunting with many Inuits across the Canadian North.
But am interested in hearing about your experience.

Certainly not my experience either. While I have not spent a lot of time with Inuit, I have guided with, and hunted and fished with other indigenous men and women. If anything, they are more careful about utilizing all of what they harvest, and go to great effort to secure it.

Ted

Since I am the OP, can someone please tell me what does OP mean?

Original Poster

Thanks? I'm learning a new vocabulary here on the 24hourcampfire

Mule deer, that was reported in Outdoor Life by JOC. I think it was in reference to polar bears.

Some you may need to un-learn.

Ha!

I’ve learned a lot over the years I’ve spent here, exchanging info.

We’re fortunate to have this level of expertise, experience and camaraderie.

DF

Would like to see the quote. To my knowledge (and I have all of O'Connor's books, plus some of his magazine writing) he never hunted with Inuits or for polar bears.

I don't think he hunted P. bears, his was doing articles on N. America wildlife and the Polar Bear was covered. He mentioned the .22 Hornet and .222 as a favorite of the people because they could carry lots of ammo. The bears were incidental while hunting seals. It has been probably 50 years since I read this. I never kept much of his writing, but may have the article in a box in the reloading room. If I get to it, I will check it out.
If you can still access old Outdoor Life articles you may find it. I am almost 100 % sure that is where I read it. How he knew about I don't remember if he mentioned it.

Just wondering if there are any brown bear guides carrying 270 Win rifles for client back up on brown bear hunts ?

I've discussed polar bears with a few natives in Alaska and also in the NW Territories. One in the NWT guides for them and has supposedly been in on around 100 polar bear kills. They all seem to prefer mild mannered rounds of .257" or 6.5mm. The NWT guide recommends the .243 Win to his clients. They all say that .300 Magnums (I presume they're referring to the Winchester round) is too destructive. I am not sure if they'r referring to the hide, the meat or both.

I am guessing they shoot their bears bayed up by dogs or those chased down on snow machines, so close shots are the norm...but that is just a guess. Take that for what it is worth...

Mule Deer was Moose Johnson, who guided O'Connor on sheep hunts, a Eskimo? He later went mentally ill after surviving a grizzly attack. I have no knowledge of the native tribes in Alaska or Canada.

If I recall correctly, Moose Johnson was from one of the western Canadian tribes, maybe Cree, and not an Inuit.

IIRC he was from the Dease Lake area, perhaps Tahltan?

Dease Lake , probably Kaska

Money is a big factor. The last time I hunted with Inuits, a "summer" hunt for musk ox and caribour along the southern shore of the Arctic Ocean near the mouth of the Ellice River, my primary guide wouldn't even use such a powerful rifle as his .30-30 Model 94 Winchester if he could help it, because it made too big a hole in polar bear hides--which at the time were bringing up to $2000. This was around 20 years ago.

From our conversations (which were translated and added to by his nephew) most polar bears were either taken by using sled dogs to bay them, or by stalking amobearsng the pressure ridges of sea ice, which allowed the hunters to get well inside 100 yards.

That sounds a lot like what I have heard. I wonder if Polar bears have thinner hides? I wouldn’t think so due to the conditions they thrive in, but who knows. The bears (both griz and black) that I have shot with a .300 Win Mag and similar rounds didn’t have any more hide damage than those I have taken with smaller rounds and similar bullets.

This guy mostly used the .22 Rimfire Magnum.

I have seen IIRC several times. What does it mean?

If I Recall Correctly= IRCC

Hi BC30CAL

The stories you have given here are just what I have been looking for. I knew that there must be a good number of people that are/have used the .270 to kill big brown bears. Thanks! I am really enjoying this Thanksgiving gift of .270 Brown Bear stories.

Thànks for your experience. I knew that people were killing brown bears with .270 Win. BUT, where were all the stories. Was there some kind of an agreement by the gun makers to hide the truth.

Phil Shoemaker just forwarded this photo to me, of one of his brown bear clients who used 150-grain Nosler Partitions with a .270 Winchester:



Phil had these comments:
"He is a Colorado rancher and serious hunter who can shoot. On the first shot from 120 yards the bear spun to bite at the wound and a second hit in the same place dropped it in his tracks."

Years ago I took a large adult grizzly with the old 160NP and also found it very effective on moose.

Mule Deer!!!???///$$$$$$YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS! What a photo and what a tell all story in just two sentences. I have been known to utterly punish my buddies with tall tales of the Mighty .270 Winchester. This photo of THE BIG BROWN BEAR KILLED BY THE MIGHTY .270 WINCHESTER will cause me to be utterly
endeared by my poor buddies when I punish them again with .270 stories. WELLLLLLL? Do you guys believe I should show a wee bit of mercy? Thumbs UP or Thumbs Down, it is all you deciding if any mercy is shown. What say y'all?

Tell 458, the king of all bear hunters, someday I hope to be able to hunt with him for a BIG, BIG, Brown Bear. Thanks Mr. Shoemaker.

Glenn

Will do! Though Phil checks in here now and then....

Will also mention that the quickest/deadest I've seen a bull moose drop from a non-spine shot occurred with one shot from a .270 Winchester and a 150 Partition handloaded to 2850 fps. It took a step-and-half and folded up dead. The bullet entered the middle of the left ribs and ended up under the hide in front of the right shoulder....

Thanks John. I came back home from the Viet Nam war time mess, spent some time with the old folks, and went to the Yukon with a fellow soldier who had a dad there and we went hunting. Moose, reindeer, grizzly. All killed with a
270 130gr Nosler partition. The reindeer took two shots as I was so cold I couldn't hold steady was my excuse. The grizzly fell flatt and was hard hit then got up and ran forty yards and just rolled. I knew that people were killing big, mean animals with the .270. Where were the stories? This Thanksgivimg was great with all the stories here that has spoiled a lot of urban legends about the so called inadequacy of the .270. Only experienced hunters can ever really know the truth. The 150gr Nosler partition is the equal of a 7mm 160gr and the moose you saw killed didn't have a chance against that bullet. My only moose went down a whole lot slower.

This might help.

https://www.smart-words.org/abbreviations/internet-acronyms.png

Mule Deer;
Good evening, I hope you and Eileen had a fine Thanksgiving and this finds you well.

That hunt story - I want to say he called it a ".22 Mag a num" unless I'm messing up the stories - anyways that muskox hunt story is one of the top 5 for me that you've written.

As an aside last summer we were at a game farm in Whitehorse where they had muskox and honestly if there's anything cuter than baby muskox, I'm not sure what it might be.

His photo is in the last Sports Afield article you wrote too maybe?

All the best to you both and thanks for the many times you've taken me along on your hunts across the globe.

Dwayne

I have no doubt a 270 and many others work. That said, I will take my 375 H&H M70 that my previous guide, Brad Dennison, was happy to see and happier to see how I shot it. The same rifle for bear next year.

I have no doubt a 270 and many others work. That said, I will take my 375 H&H M70 that my previous guide, Brad Dennison, was happy to see and happier to see how I shot it. The same rifle for bear next year.

How long do you wish for your buddies to remain your friends? I went back in the" Ask the Gunwriters forum" quite a few pages till I found the thread by Moosemike " Can a person ruin a cartridge for you?" I bumped it up so you won't have a problem finding it, you need to read it all start to finish . In a way it's a good thread that reveals alot about how people can beat a subject to death with their.enthusiasm for it. Might not kill the beaters enthusiasm but sure wears itself out on one's friends. Works the other way also as some people get damn tiring by continually expressing their hatred of certain cartridges. By bashing someone elses choice or being over enthusiastic about yours is not endearing to those you associate with. Anyway the thread is a good read. And no I don't hate any cartridge (6,5C, 270 , etc) or try to wax on and on about them either. Just my 2 cents worth.

Yep, that photo in the latest Sports Afield is the ".22 mag-a-num" guy, David Ameganik.

Hope all is well in B.C. We're still having semi-summer here, though it is getting a little below freezing most nights....

Good hunting,
John

Enjoyed reading this! A few comments about the Inuits choice of firearms based on four bow hunts with them from 2018 to 2021:

For his own polar bear (and seal) hunts, my assistant polar bear guide out of Resolute Bay, Nunavut used a Remington 700 .222 with 50 gr softpoints. Said he bought it 15 years earlier when he was in high school. He'd typically order in 500 rounds of ammo every year for it, but was contemplating starting to reload based on uncertain availability of ammo (this was in February 2018).

I asked him about his shot placement and hunting techniques of polar bears...."stay about 70 yards away, take a perfectly frontal shot into the soft spot of the chest". And he said he'd typically shoot them 2 or 3 times "to put them to sleep".

As a sidelight, he was my backup when I arrowed my bear. We got in to 30 yards broadside while the 9 sled/bear dogs held the the bear at bay. The big boar let out a ferocious roar when the arrow hit, then lunged forward one step before melting down into the snow. He was carrying an ancient .303 British Lee Enfield with 180 gr Winchester Silvertips. I was happy I made a perfect shot putting the bear was down in a few seconds as the backup rifle had been showered with sea water a few days earlier when he fired a shot straight down at a seal in a breathing hole through the ice and missed. He'd scraped the frozen sea water off the the action and out of the end of the barrel with a seal gaff hook (think hay hook) so he could eject the empty case. The rifle stayed outside the tent the entire hunt so wouldn't get condensation and freeze up in the -30* to -40* conditions.

Down around Baker Lake, Nunavut, 100 miles inland from the west side of Hudson Bay my archery caribou guide used carried a left hand Ruger M77 chambered in .204 Ruger using 34 gr hollow points. This was his wolf and caribou rifle...and also his grizzly gun.

The week before I got there in late October 2018 he'd shot a barren ground grizzly. I asked him how it had gone down: "first shot the bear was moving away at 70 yds. He got pretty excited when I hit in the butt. It took a couple more shots to calm him down". The hide was draped over the deck railing at his house...I'd guess it was a 5.5' or 6' bear as the barren ground bears are relatively small.

The guide also had a Ruger M77 in .308 Winchester that he he was carrying in 2019, not the .204. Says that the outfitter he worked for had encouraged him to use it versus his .204 when he was backing up muskox and caribou hunters, with the potential of a grizzly or polar bear run-in, depending on how far out from Hudson Bay he was hunting.

Well, l guess it is thumbs down for punishing my buddies. I actually have only two friends left from my youth . They have all passed. One friend, a Virginian, I met while I sold insurance passed and it broke my heart was Tom Colley. We had this good natured quarrel concerning the .270 and 25-06. Tom was born in 1937 and was utterly convinced his 25-06 was THE gun to own. It seems the white tails, hogs, elk, etc were a good point against me. BUT, we both admitted that shot placement was the big secret as my .270 was also just as good.The other friend lives in Roan Mountain, TN where we went to high school. We graduated in 1970. He too loves the the 25-06. His dad bought him a 25-06 and it was the talk of Roan Mountain, TN. New on the market, the 25-06 was hard to find anywhere. However, there were some small country hardware stores in Abingdon,Virginia next door to Tennessee. It was a long trip where we had crooked two lane roads My dad and his dad took us to one where we knew the owner and he reserved the only one he had and my buddy had his 25-06. We didn't have many deer in Tennessee fifty three years ago. The one hundred grain bullet smoked the deer as did the .270 loaned to me since age ten by my uncle, a disabled lumberjack. We hunted next door in Virginia and North Carolina.The other friend from my youth quit hunting when he became a university professor in math. In time the favorite rifle in Roan Mountain became the .243 Win-6mm Rem.

Great thread and stories fellas. Great reading!

Yeah Phil's getting up in years and had to go back to shooting them, instead of just strangle'n em like he did in the old days.

My parents grew up during the Great Depression & those hard times were never forgotten !! They were building their first home & had to borrow $500 from a wealthy neighbor (Banks would not loan money to worthy customers during that time) to finish building their home. They worried theirselves nearly to death until they paid it back. My Mother, a school teacher never forgot those hard times & made me feel guilty to ask for Lunch Money. She said they didn't even buy underwear until out of debt !!! Needless to say my Dad was thrifty buying ammo !!!!

Hi oldwoody2

My family was also the way your your family was. My father would never borrow money unless it was an emergency. All of the folks that lived in the Tennessee mountain communities of Ripshin Mountain and Roan Mountain were scared for life because of the poverty they endured during the Great Depression. My family did without things we should have had...my opinion. I was a East Tennessee mountain boy that was a lumberjack from age 14-18. I was forced to enlist in the U.S. Army just so I could get some rest from the hard work. I also was able to see a lot of the world and get a college education on the GI Bill.

Hi oldwoody2

My family was also the way your your family was. My father would never borrow money unless it was an emergency. All of the folks that lived in the Tennessee mountain communities of Ripshin Mountain and Roan Mountain were scared for life because of the poverty they endured during the Great Depression. My family did without things we should have had...my opinion. I was a East Tennessee mountain boy that was a lumberjack from age 14-18. I was forced to enlist in the U.S. Army just so I could get some rest from the hard work. I also was able to see a lot of the world and get a college education on the GI Bill. I was fortunate a uncle loaned me a battered old pre 64 M70 .270 with two old boxes of 130gr Winchester Ammo. I still had one and a half boxes of ammo when I went to Ft. Campbell, Ky for basic training. Dad sold the rifle for doctor bills for my mom and paid my uncle back for the rifle.

Yes! Yes! These great stories are the best I've read in a long, long time. I just knew there were people out there who had and were using the .270 to kill big brown bears. Just wonderful to read about all of these .270 stories.

I'm going on my 3rd grizzly baited hunt with Jake Jefferson in June. My 1st grizzly was a nice sow killed with1 shot from a 375 Ruger with 270 Hornady factory interlocks. The 2nd grizzly was also a sow 1 shot kill with a 30/06 with 220 grain Nolser partitions handloads. Both went about 20 yards. Jake has killed grizzly with a 270 when he was young. I know his wife & 2 sons have killed 8 1/2 ' ers with a 308 Winchester. All of these bears were taken @ 100 yards. 1 shot kills. Shot placement is critical. For my hunt this June I'm taking back the 30/06----I'm thinking either 180 Hornady round nose interlocks----which is my do everything load here in the lower 48. Or maybe 220 grain factory loads either Federal or Remington. Bob

I hope you really enjoy your hunt and your 30-06 drops your bear with one shot.

Boy, not me. I'm hoping for a 'Revenant' type story coming outta this. Think GOOD tale....

Man, that's just mean

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I really appreciate your reply. This Thanksgiving post and the replying have really brought a lot of joy during the Christmas holidays. I much enjoyed everyone's stories. Merry Christmas!

I feel your caliber choice is very good and will exercise great authority with the bear.

Yes! I remember this story from many years ago as told by Jack O'Connor when I was a young boy. My high school principal complained bitterly that someone was stealing the current copy of Outdoor Life every month. It was JUST BORROWED as I always returned it after week or two. This is where I first read this story. That was many moons ago in Roan MTN., TN.