.308 Enough gun for Meese, Brown Bear, Polar Bear

.308 Enough gun for big ol critters?

  • Yes

    Votes: 167 54.2%

  • No

    Votes: 141 45.8%
  • Total voters
    308
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Sure .308's enough...if you're hangin' out the door of a chopper attached to a minigun!

Ah all kidding aside, .308 is fine for meese and smaller bears assuming load, bullet, & shot placement are all taken care of. I wouldn't point and click at anything with teeth and claws that looked to be over 1300lbs or so with anything smaller than a .338 though. I'm a scared! Mostly because I wouldn't be willing to take the shot outside of 500m or so. Wound something that weights 2000lbs, eats canned foo...er cans, and can run like 40 miles an hour? Not me no sir.

Byte
 
Since I have never hunted the big bears, I can only say what I would do. I'm in the J Shirley camp.

I would start with rifles in the .338/.35 Whelen class, if I was looking for big bear.
Click to expand...

But I know that these animals have been taken with 30-06's for years. Part of me just wants an excuse to buy a 375 H&H and I can't think of a better excuse than big bears.
 
I voted "No." Could/would a .308 work? . . . The potential is there, but if I'm holding the rifle & facing a large bear, I'll opt to hold one with a bit more oomph such as those JShirley suggested.
 
yes, but not the best gun

it can be dont but i would want something bigger

.308 on a moose is fine with me but if ive got a bear charging at me i want more power and a larger bullet
 
:D
Short barreled shotguns are permitted in Canada.

I have an exposed hammer SxS 12 gauge with 12.5" barrels (both cylinder bore - no choke) that is quite legal (non-restricted) and can be disassembled/reassembled in seconds and fits nicely in a packsack or duffle bag or under a SUV/truck seat.

Together with 1 1/2 oz. Rottweil Brenneke rifled slugs the shotgun is deadly on nuisance/predatory bears at close range.
 
Necromancy - sweet. I'd say, sure from a treestand, in the case of bears. Wait, make that polar bears only, since browns can climb trees. Wait, there's no trees where there are polar bears. So, no. :p
 
I think I'd be okay taking a .308 for moose. I wouldn't want a .308 for bear though. For potentially dangerous game I would want as much power as I could shoot accurately.

edit to add: A previous poster mentioned the 35 whelen. I built a 35 whelen last year and used it to take a nice whitetail this past fall. After seeing what the 35 did to the deer, I would not feel undergunned using the 35 to take a bear. Though to be fair, I already have picked out and purchased the gun(s) I will be taking on my bear hunt next year. A rossi puma92 in 454 Casull, and a Super Redhawk also in 454 Casull. Though to be fair, I'm not looking forward to lugging that redhawk around on my hip, but I definately want to have a sidearm, so I'll deal.
 
A .308 with proper shot placement would probably work, but maybe not quick enough. Decades ago the .222 remington was a favorite of native Alaskan's and they used it for polar bears, walrus - they were good shots.
 
seems a bit light to me. it would be fine, if you are able to stalk it, or at least shoot it when it does not see you. but if it finds you, well, persoanlly, i would want a more powerful cartridge/bullet combo. maybe like a 338 magnum minimum, more like a 375 H&H! persoanally, i have no desire to be mauled by any bear!
 
My .02 cents (which mean next to nothing because I've never hunted anything larger than a whitetail).

Shooting a ruminid, regardless of size is a different story from shooting bears. Bears are predators. Ruminids are herbivores. While one wants a one shot kill, it it doesn't happen, a moose won't likely run after you to kill you if you are 200 feet or more away from it. A bear would.

A moose won't be hunting you at the same time you are hunting it. A bear might start hunting the little hominid with that metal thingy.

Basically, if I was going to hunt any bear, I'd probably want to carry a lever-action .45-70 into the field. Moose or elk (or large European varieties), simply a .308 or similar caliber would do just fine.

Main difference is this: with a moose or elk I need to kill.

With a bear, I need to stop and kill.
 
I thought everyone knew that that the 300 Win MAG shoots almost 2 inches flatter at 300 yards and hits with 8% more energy than the much lower recoiling .308! To deliver this whopping 8% more energy it only takes 40% more powder and twice the recoil. What an easy choice!

muley4.jpg

TR
 
A .308 will work for Moose, it the shot is properly placed I suppose. But, I'd want something substantially for Brown Bear or Polar Bear. I saw a full body Alaskan Kodiak Brown Bear mount - standing/snarling. It was very imposing and stood about 10" tall, IIRC. That bear must have weighed 1000 LB live.

Nope, If I were hunting that critter, I'd want a 416 Rigby at least.

But, here's the advice from the Alasks F&G

14. What is the best rifle to use for brown bear hunting?

Most experienced hunters consider a .30-06 rifle with a 180 grain soft-nosed bullet to be the smallest effective caliber for Kodiak brown bears. The .300 mag, .338 mag., and .375 mag. are popular and well-suited calibers. A waterproof rifle stock is also beneficial during a Kodiak hunt.

Don't wait until you get to camp to sight in your rifle. Sight in at the range and practice shooting from several positions. Knowing your own capabilities is as important as knowing how your rifle's ballistics.

http://wildlife.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=kodiak_bear.kodiakfaqs#rifle

Notice that .308 isn't mentioned, and even a 30-06 with 180gr SP is the smallest effective caliber. Why would anyone go hunting a Kodiak bear with the smallest effective caliber???
 
Dr. Tad - Adult brown bears can't climb trees. Neither can adult Grizzleys. Only smaller black bears can climb trees.
I vote yes if you can do it with a bow why not a .308
Click to expand...
An arrow won't kill a big bear immediately. And, won't kill one at all unless you hit it right. When an arrow is used, a bear ususlly just runs off and dies quietly somewhere else. They don't normally get a sense of direction of where the arrow came from. But, when you shoot a bear with a rifle, they can sense the direction the shot came from. That in itself makes it more dangerous, IMHO. Besides, the wound channel from a good broadhead arrow is very devastating - perhaps even more so than a .308.
 
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~LOL!!!~

Been there , doing that:evil: Gonna use my Mosin again.
were above 0 degrees, and by the beginning of April, it will warm above +20, and Bears of all kinds will be out for the picking.

.308 is plenty good at killing all Bears.
Polar bears, Brown Bears and certainly Black Bears.

I dont know any Eskimo that uses uses anything bigger than a 30-06. But as year round hunters, most all of us are pretty handy and calm, and placing a proper shot is routine.
Shot placement is everything. Magnum Power in the wrong place is still a sucky shot.

I personally have used my ever ready Mosin Nagant, .243w for a few years, an 8mmK98k, and a .223 three times on Browns and they all died quickly, because I shhot them all in teh Neck or temple.

I know several guys that use .223 alone. No other gun, 'cept a 12 gauge, and theres a saying about a man with one gun is to be feard , as a man with several guns should not be, because a man with only one gun is SURE to know how to use it well.

Ive posted a bazillion pix of Bears I have, of all types:rolleyes: and Boto-phucket is under maintainance or I surely would again...~LOL!!!~:neener:


If you cant kill it with a 30-06, you should hide.
 
An arrow won't kill a big bear immediately. And, won't kill one at all unless you hit it right. When an arrow is used, a bear ususlly just runs off and dies quietly somewhere else. They don't normally get a sense of direction of where the arrow came from. But, when you shoot a bear with a rifle, they can sense the direction the shot came from. That in itself makes it more dangerous, IMHO. Besides, the wound channel from a good broadhead arrow is very devastating - perhaps even more so than a .308.
Click to expand...

The question was it is ennough not ideal not will it run off and die. So I stick with my vote. If anybody on this thread would know it would be Caribou.
 
Dr. Tad - Adult brown bears can't climb trees. Neither can adult Grizzleys. Only smaller black bears can climb trees.


browns just pull the tree up by the roots
 
Hunting the White Bear is different than hunting almost any animal on Earth, and I've hunted a coupla species on a few continents. In the barren ice, while you are hunting the bear, he is very likely hunting you. Everything on the ice is food to the bear, and that includes you. He is always searching for food. Want to be armed with a minimum caliber under those circumstances?

Since I've killed more than a dozen head of Dangerous Game with both rifle and handgun, I can assure you that if I was chasing Polar Bear I would be doing so with a .416Rem rifle and/or a S&W 500 revolver. I've killed Cape buffalo with both.

BTW, I won't be hunting the White Bear anytime soon, since USF&G has once again outlawed their importation. And if you haven't seen what the results of a PB attack on a human looks like, you shouldn't be hunting them either.
 
I learned very well never to argue on THR with people's pet theories or calibers with things like math, physics and penetration tests....in a few words with facts and/or a scientific approach.

So I will just put a link to this video that speak for itself (I did already post it on the Rifle Country section) about a brown bear hunt in Siberia...the local hunting guide backs his American Clients with a sporterized Mosin Nagant 91/30...enough said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU3wIorO04s&feature=related
 
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