Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Griz Defense with Bergers

I've decided to hunt Elk and Mule Deer with the 155 Berger VLD out of my T3 308 this year. Everything was fine and dandy until yesterday when I was slowly walking down a two track to meet up with my hunting partner when I was startled by about a 3 year old Grizz crossing 88 yards ahead of me. The wind was blowing from 8 to 2 o'clock in front of me. I immediately halted all progress and decided to stand my ground, rifle off my shoulder.

AFAIK, the bear left without so much as a grunt but it was an uneasy 10 minutes waiting for my partner to arrive. He had to have winded me. Suddenly I felt the urge to be shooting an accubond or partition. What say you? Should I be shooting a different bullet in Grizz country? Time to build a 338? My partner had an -06 with 180 grain Accubonds and I certainly was more confident in his load doing the job should it need to be done.

A partition is never a bad idea.

Personally, I wouldn't hunt with any frangible bullet if there was a chance I might encounter something that would likely only be angered by being shot with one, but that's just me and my experiences.

Stick that 155 in it's neck/dome/throat and I doubt it'd be too mouthy.

A couple days ago, I shot an antelope at about 200 yards with a 168 Berger from a 7 mag. It is a great antelope and light game load, but if I were in grizzly country, my rifles would have accubonds or partitions.. I hear what Tanner is saying, but all the same, I would want a different bullet..

The neat thing about trying to shoot one when it means business is that the idea of being able to pick a spot to put the bullet is pretty much a false hope. You just shoot the middle of the brown blur that's coming at you with something powerful enough to matter.

I'd prob prefer a different bullet but I have the feeling that a magazine full of Bergers in it's face wouldn't have that gizz looking for more.

^^^^This^^^^
If it's a close encounter no time for picking spots your bullet will work on...

I wasn't there and you were. If you felt the urge to be shooting an Accubond or Partition I see no reason to do anything else.

Just as likely to have a light handy .308 - if I thought about I might have some 200 grain round nose Partitions in my pocket but I'm not noted for thinking about it.

Be great if you have time to empty a full magazine at them.
They aren't always where you see them from distance.
If it's a close charge you may only have time for one shot & it had better work....

I'd use what the folks who have a lot of experience with them and are around them more than a little use.

I'd not pack Bergers in grizzly country.

Not only because of the bear situation, but because it's often brushy, and the only possible shot at an elk may be less than ideal. Also, I believe a blood trail is a necessity in such terrain.

Nosler Partitions.

I know what I'd be loaded with.

Is a large caliber revolver side arm a consideration?

Using Berger bullets in Grizzly country = Darwin's theory at work..

I much prefer suitable loads in the rifle.

to the OP, I hope you had a chance to enjoy the encounter.

I'm not familiar with the Berger bullet you mention but I generally hunt grizzly every spring and have taken two grizzlies.

I used to use Partitions and then tried AFrames. They seem to retain weight well for penetration and leave a big hole. I recovered one AFrame that busted up some bone, shredded some lung and heart, punched through the far shoulder blade, and got hung up on the hide on the far side of one grizzly. It was a 275 grain 338, on recovery it weighed 269.5 grains and expanded up pretty good.

I think a regular bullet will work fine until it hits something like a grizzly shoulder and then it may or may not.

308, 3006, 338, etc this topics been beat to death. I think your 308 would do the job, for the money involved I would just elect to use a premium bullet.

Here is a picture of AFrame I recovered.




This is a picture of one at about 100 feet. The wind was blowing in our face hard so he could not smell us although he knew something was close. He lived because he was on the wrong side of our tag boundary.

Nope... Not an option in my case. This is Canada. A can of bear spray is an option, however. See http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/8108941/1

Having seen quite a few brown bears fall, I can't worry about a 155 Scenar on a grizzly. The Scenar's penetration abilities are plenty good for such encounters. Other bullets may give someone more confidence, but they'll not make the grizzly any more dead.........

Two old pals have had close range grizzly encounters while hunting "something else".Both had 270's. One was charged and killed the bear at about 20 yards with a 130 Bitterroot (predecessor to things like Aframes, Northforks etc).

The other used a 130 NPT at about 30 yards.Both bears were killed very quickly.

Gaining a lot of experience on grizzlies is hard to do unless you live/guide among them.So I don't have a lot of experience with grizzlies/brown bears,having killed only two.I shot them with Nosler Partitions and Bitterroots.

If I ever kill another (doubtful)it will be with one of those two bullets.