.45-60 good enough for bear?

[CtHunter8]

One of my dream rifles is the Uberti (www.uberti.com) 1876 Winchester, new to Uberti as of this year. Originally the 1876 Cintenial (sp?) came in .45-75, but Uberti only offers it in .45-60. So me and my grandfather got to talkin, and.. is this good enough for bear? I certainly think so, but my grandfather doesnt agree. ANy and all feedback will be appreciated. Thanks

[frontier gander]

if boone could take black bear with his 30 something caliber rifle, a 45-60 will sure as heck do the job.

[sabotloader]

CtHunter8

Guess my first question would be - What kind of bear?

And i assume you already know... location - location - location of the bullet impact point is critical, then bullet performance...

[CtHunter8]

I was thinkin black bear, but is it good enough for grizz/brown?

[rem 700]

For black bear, a good bullet placed well will kill it fine. 60gr used to be a pretty standard charge with those massive, slow moving bullets. For grizzly, I might be feeling a little scared, but good thing this is a lever gun with more rounds for backup. I've never shot a 45-60 but shooting a muzzleloader with a 60gr charge is close enough. I thinkthat load isdern near the minimum for deer (my least is 40gr w/ PRB), but that's just in my opinion. I've never shot a grizzly, so although my opinion is have a backup shooter just in case, I'll leave the final judgement to the pros on grizzlies.

[cayugad]

I really have no first hand experience with that caliber but I was under the impression it was little more then a big powerfulhandgun load. About 1300 fps with a 300 grain projectile. For black bear it should do. For the Great Bear catagory, I would not use it. But that's just me. Although, a well placed shot might do the trick but I would hate to just upset one of them big bears.

I had a friend that used to hunt deer with a 44-40 and that was nothing more then a big handgun cartridge. He used to kill deer with it though. But the power of it was nothing that was real impressive. He hunted my place one year with that rifle while I had a muzzleloader. He shot a doe and we ended up tracking her over 80 yards through the marsh. She was actually hit good.. it just did not do the deed on her like it should have.

[wabi]

I would prefer something a bit more powerful, but I wouldn't be too worried about usingit for black bear. I'd think with the right bullet it would work fine, as long as you put the bullet in the right place!

[CtHunter8]

thanks guys for all your feedback, it's grately appreciated I wouldnt use it for grizz, in my opinion, but I personally think it'd make a great black bear gun. Thanks again everyone!

[nchawkeye]

I was going to say, if you use it for griz, make sure you take your file....