MizzoukiSpot

Read an article within the last 18 mos- I think it was in outdoor life, but I am not sure. They looked at the 300,338 and 375 hh for bear. A good number of bears were shot with each, I think over 50. The one thing that I recall was that there was no difference in the number of shots, except for possibly the larger cal taking more shots. THey attributed this to the kick and shootablility. The bear, all of these were browns, to go down the fastest was one shot with a 270. I am a firm believer of shoot the biggest gun that you can handle, but accuracy is the key. Id shoot my 300 win mag with 180 grain barnes xlc at 3,000 fps because I already own it and it shoots. I think a 308 would be fine for all but the coastal browns. A good 180 grain load with shots kept to 250 or less would be good for elk and bear. Just one guys opinion.

jaybird2

i agree with briman,the 308 will do fine on elk and big bears always remember that shotplacment is what is most importent..

pharaoh2

A good rule of thumb is to shoot as big of a gun as you can comfortably handle. We all know the bigger the better. But that is not always practical. I know a fellow, who I bought a .270 off of sometime ago, who killed everything up to grizzly with that very rifle. It will do it, but I would not feel comfortable doing it myself. On the otherhand, I felt like the king of the castle carrying my .300 and .338. Are they big enough to kill a bear, yes. Do you feel that their comfortable carrying that small of a gun when a bear walks past you at 30 yards? probabl;y not. Just do what I always say. Do the best you can with what you have. It's been said the greatest gun in the world just happens to be what ever you're carrying at the time. I agree with that. If you have a .308, and your a good shot shooting a good bullet. It will probably get the job done. For elk. no problem. Just practice until your comfortable enough with your rifle to get the job done. I don't care who is going to argue with that, but it's the truth. Shot placment is the biggest thing I can stress. If you shoot a bear in the rump with a .50 BMG, your going to have to trail a really ticked off bear into the trees. If you shoot him in the heart/lungs with your 30-30, he's dead on his feet. Good luck, and hopefuly you never need to shoot unless you want to.

dpv

I wouldn't have a problem carrying a 308 in bear country as a "have-handy" weapon....but I don't think I have the stones to go looking for a brown bear with anything less than an '06. I'd probably go for something even bigger....and I really doubt I'd take a shot as far off as 200 yards......the question is...how far is too far, and how close is too close.

David

1dahunter

The .270win will kill any animal in north america with proper shot placement and if your not confident with your shot placement you have no business risking your life shooting bear

vb.kiwi

Everybody has said the most important thing, shot placement. i can remember alot a years ago when i lived in New Zealand, we would shoot deer with .22's when we were out after possums, back then they didn't care what you used, just as long as ya got rid of them. wouldn't do it now .