killer243

this will be my first year hunting black bears and i have a 243, 270, 300 savage and a 35rem. for big game.... will the 270 be large enough shooting 140 grain failsafe's? or do you think i should use the 300 or 35?

bears here in the area i hunt can be very large. i have seen 2 that will tip the scales at around 6 hundered pounds while i was out scotting. and i have seen several between 200-300 pounders

what would you take out 270 or?

charlie brown

The .270 with 140 grain Failsafes will work fine for black bear. Good luck this fall!

Colorado Bob

The 270 should work just fine, but the 300 Savage or the 35 Rem would also work. I would use the rifle that you are most confident in. Also which one has the best scope ? My personal choice would be the 300 Savage with 180 grain round nose bullets-----I like the Model 99.

killer243

bob i also like the 99 that is why i got the 300 to begin with... sweet gun. the 270 will have a zeiss on it

sawbill

I think you guys missed the key point of this post. "This will be my first bear hunt" says it all. NO!!! That .270 will not be big enough! Too many hunters fall apart on their first bear and that makes their shooting unpredictable. Or I should say, predicatable! Most blow the shot and the result is a wounded bear that must be tracked and often its either not found at all or found the next day and the meats gone bad. That bullet must expand but still hold together and pass through both lungs and exit low for a chance of a decent blood trail. And given the amount of fat on a fall bear, you might get a 100 or 150 yd blood trail max before the wound coagulates and you lose the trail completely. I'm not blowing smoke here about this--I've had to track way too many bears for my hunters and I've had ample opportunity to see even seasoned hunters blow it. Bears are not deer. They're one of the toughest animals to put down--almost as tough as a hog. Go larger caliber and leave the 270 in the cabinet.

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charlie brown

So are you guys saying that I should not take my Muzzle Loader on a black bear hunt if I get to go next spring?? If I do get to go, it will be my first hunt for bears, but are you saying that I will "blow it" simply because its my first hunt!!!! It doesn't matter whether a bear is wounded with a .270 or a .35 Remington. Either way, there is a wounded bear and the situation is the same. A caliber with less energy, and which has less quality bullets available to completely penetrate the animal will make no diffrence in that situation!!! That failsafe from a .270 will penetrate just about anything it encounters, its one of the toughest bullets available!! The .35 Rem can only shoot soft point bullets that would most likely fargment before exiting the other side of the bear. I still stand by what I said, I would take the .270 over the other 3 calibers mentioned!!

bearklr

A .270 will be plenty. I shoot 140 grain noslers and have never had a problem. Alot of people feel that you need the biggest gun possible to shoot a bear and say "oh, you could make a bad shot, then what" Well, if you took the most accurate gun you own (which in my case is the .270) then you reduce the chance of making a bad shot to begin with. As far as knock down power a .270 with the proper load is more than capable. I took a 425 lb boone and crockett boar that didn't even have time to breathe before he hit the ground. Dropped him like a ton of bricks with a 140 grain .270 nossler. In my opinion if you take a huge rifle in the woods because you think your probably going to blow the shot anyway then you might as well stay at home. Take the gun you shoot the best and everything else will fall into place.

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Buckslayer1

I have bagged bears with my 270 with 150 gr bullet droped in there tracks.