Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7mm or 300 win mag

338 -

I like that!!

Exactly why a 270 would likely be my minimum.

Have restrained myself so far on this thread, hoping somebody else would come up with the perfect compromise answer--the B-29, with a bullet diameter halfway between 7mm and .30, less recoil than either, and powers far beyond those of mere factory cartridges.

All interesting stuff indeed,....my two cents,..not sure it's worth that much but since the penny is gone it'll have to be a nickel's worth or nothing..:-)..if I were to embark on a sheep hunt in grizzly country tomorrow I'd be carrying my custom Pre'64 M70 in 35 Whelen in a Micky Hunter's Edge......7lbs 11 oz with 3.5-10 Leupy on top...it'll shoot flat enough with a 225 Accubond as far as I will shoot and I think it would impress Mr Grizz a bit more than a 270....:-).....YMMV

Any published reports of these grizzle attacks Kute? Not doubting you, just want to do some reading on them.

Thanks,

Jason

Did the OP mention grizzly?

The media here in BC has published accounts of various attacks for decades, there should be SOME official reports on SOME of these available through the BC Fish and Wildlife Branch, in Victoria, BC and some of the individuals involved have been/are quite well known in hunting/gun/outdoor circles.

An encounter of an aggressive nature with a Grizzly is not a big deal for people here, working/living in rural or even smalltown BC. My brother-in-law, was walking his dog in the Nelson, BC Cemetery at suppertime a few years ago and was jumped and chased by a sow and cub....this is, btw, about a half mile from the home where my family has lived for 100 of the 120 years we have lived in Nelson, since moving there from Vancouver and New Westminster, BC.

Grizzlies, wander into the center of town every summer and are fiercely "protected" by both law and the public opinion from which said legislation derives...SO FAR, there have been no injuries/deaths and the majority of locals like to see this......me, wellll, I think that the day is coming.......

BC and Alaska, have roughly the same population density of these bears and BC is the ONLY jurisdiction anywhere that has Dall's, Stone's, and both RM and Cali. BH sheep in huntable numbers, although populations are DECREASING and management just [bleep] SUCKS.....urbanized society, hordes of grasping immigrants and some of the most vile, "neo-con" politicians, anywhere......

Google "Gary Shelton" and perhaps look at his books, for, a sound, in some ways biased, commentary on Grizzly issues here.

Kute is fairly set in his ways, and for good reason.
For me, whenever a 7RM went along, it always had available 160 grain hunting loads, and 175 grain bear loads. Having seen first hand what a 175 grain 7mm bullet will do to the front of a bear, it didn't leave me wanting more, under those circumstances...
In other circumstances, even the 338WM loaded with 225's doesn't feel like enough rifle, but by the time that happens, you realize you really shouldn't be where you are.

R.

I personally like the 7mm Mag much better than the 300's .

I'm feeling the same was as I get older. While we could argue that a .300 Winchester with, say, 220-grain Nosler Partitions would stop bear charges more certainly than a 7mm Remington with 175's, for hunting purposes I really haven't seen many animals either in North America or Africa that could tell any damn difference. But my shoulder sure can, especially in a lighter rifle.

I can handle the recoil from any rifle, but it doesn't mean i like it.

This. A well built 140 gr out of a 7mm Mag of any flavor would be an absolute laser beam. Or even a heavier high BC slippery profile target/hunting bullet. A 7mm mag doesn't have the recoil of a 300 mag and lends itself better to a lighter mountain rifle style platform. Try that with a 300 and you have a handy sledgehammer if you're not accustomed to shooting it. As stated, a non-magnum round such as a 280, 270, '06 will get it done as well when loaded appropriately. In fact if I were to go sheep hunting a light, well built, 7mm-08 or 260 would be a top pick for me.

My situation as well. Can still shoot my .416 Rigby quite well, but don't see any reason to if I don't have to.

Speaking of BC and grizzly: BC bear attack

Color me a 30 cal man, the only 7mm that I ever fell for is the 7X57. I like the 30-06 and the 300 Winn as well as the 300 RUM's

[quote=gmsemel If I were to, I would have Mel Forbes Make up a one of his Model 24's chambered for 270 and call it good. [/quote]
+1 for this!

If there was a need to balance the marriage by taking a vacation within the same year etc. I would probably just take my Tikka T3 Lite 300 WSM that is a light weight rig and my most accurate gun.

I've never had to deal with bears, not even Boo-Boo Bear, but wouldn't a headshot or 2 handle a grizz pretty well even from a relatively light caliber?

Seems like I saw a video one time of some game keepers culling elephants with FALs & AKs - just drive up & pop them in the chest a few times.

One example here, from my personal experience, and this is one of the closest encounters I have ever had with a Grizzly, the other two as close, I was not armed.

Three of us, all around 30+, were hunting Elk, in early October, 1979, around the Grizzly-rich "White Swan" area of the once-fabulous East Kootenays hunting region.

One was a former USFS worker, from northern California, and spent some time in Montana, working in the bush. He had hunted for about 20 years at the time and was packing a Savage 110 in 7mmRM, loaded with Frontier 175 factory ammo.

The second, was an Albertan, fair amount of hunting experience, packing a Lee-Enfield, .303, can't recall his ammo, but, it was factory, not handloads.

Third, was me, considerable working experience in both the BCFS and private forestry in Grizzly country, much of it alone. I had a pair of Gen. 1 Ruger, M-77s, 7mmRM, Leupy 4xs, WW factory 175 PPs.

We had hunted, hard, all morning and a bull had out-smarted us in a patch of Lodgepole, so thick you could not walk in it...old, sidehill, dry burn and small ponds where they would "wallow". We were tired and went down to the Suburban 4x4 to get some decent lunch and ponder on going over to the Lussier.

Driving slowly up the road, stopping to pot Grouse and watching for fresh sign in the roadside dust, we came about a bend, Bob, driving and telling us about ski trips in the Sierras, when, "F**K, Dewey, is THAT a Grizzly?" and he slammed on the binders, right quick.

It, WAS a Grizzly and it ran into the bush on the side of the road as we piled out of the truck, with rifles and NOT to shoot, just to look. It disappeared and I said, just stand quietly and he will circle into the wind and come up behind to check us out and, soon, THE single most beautiful Grizzly I have ever seen came walking on the road behind us and toward us.

The guys were somewhat tense and I said, "don't shoot, wait" and the bear, a mature, but, I think, fairly young male, came to about 10 years from us and stopped, doing a "Flehman" and calmly looking at we three guys.

I had three WW-175 PPs in my rifle and the Duplex was rock solid on his center chest, as he checked us out. I did not think he would bother us and he soon turned and walked, then scampered into the bush and was gone.

The guys were pretty shaken and had not managed to load their rifles, so, I was the only one who could have fired, IF, the bear had decided that we looked like "lunch".......I HAD a .338WM at home, 250 miles away, but, the custom stock, "Fleur-de-Lis" and all had cracked and so I was using my new 7mmRM.

Given the difference I have seen in killing Elk, etc, I think that the .338 WOULD have been FAR superior in that instance and in some others I have experienced in my time in the bush...so, YMMV, but, for me, "bigger is better".

Whatever, this old computer is having "fits" so, I am taking it offline and into the local place to be fixed, back in a few days.

First G bear encounter I had a 7mmRM in my hands, next season I carried a 338Win.,since then I have used 35Whelen and 9.3x66 when on the ground in close quarters. But my '06 with 200gr AccuBonds slam pretty good too. I agree bigger is better when facing the G-Bear.