RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

Now that's not a fair compairson at all, For what it's worth I misread the original post and missed the "brown bear" part, so no I would not take a 308 after BIG BEARS how ever an arrow tipped with a cut on impact broad head will out penitrate a bullet every time unless there are big bones in the way but I wouldn't take a bow bear hunting anyway well to be honest I don't ever see me hunting bears just not my cup of tea I'll let others control the population.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

The odds are when a guy is pursuing browns or grizzlys with a bow there is a guide with a BFG ready to kill the charging bear. Of all the videos, articles I've read on bowhunting big/dangerous game there is less likely to be a charge because of the lack of sound. In my experiencea fatally wounded animally usually runs towards the sound.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

If I were to go for a big bear, I think I would choose a Model 70 in 35 Whelen. Be a damned good excuse to buy a new rifle. Would prolly top it with a 2x-8x Leupold. I would choose Nosler Partitions as my bullet. However, if I HAD to kill a bear with a rifle I already own, I know my 06 would do it.


Oh, and the .243 is NOT too small for deer.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

If I didn't have a bigger rifle and got the chance to go after Big bears again, I would use the 308. Many of the big bears have been taken with the 30-30, 44-40, 30-40 Krag,303 British and the 7.62x54 as well as the 6.5x55. People think that if you huntnthe big bears that you are automaticly going to be attack if the shot does not drop the bear in its tracks. The truth is that it does not often happen. Most wounded animals including the big bears will try to escape when wounded. If you are hunting big bears with a smaller rifle, you may have to pick your shots more carefully. Ideally a bigger caliber would be a good choice but the 270 and 308 class rifles have taken more than their share of the biggest bears on earth. It is more the skill of the hunter than the size of the weapon.

You have to accept the fact that if you hunt dangerous game, you may become the hunted. The mountain men nearly wiped out the grizzly with their muzzle loaders. However Sometimes the bear won.;)

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

:D:D:D:D:DYeah, with .54-58 and .60 cal!:D:D:D:D:D

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

For big brown bear go with a 338.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

Need I say more?

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

The biggest rifle in the world won't stop a grizzly charge in colse quarters unless you hit the spine or brain. If you can hit that spot then any good sturdy bullet will do the job. Its been done many times with the 30-06. Before the 338 and 300 Mags ever came out, hunters took the big bears every season with the 30-40 krag, 30-30, 270, 30-06 and many with the 303 and 7x57 mauser. My grandpa killed several with his 44-40. Many more were killed with the 45-70 and many other black powder cartridges. The 308 with 180-190 grain bullets stack up pretty well against many of the old proven calibers. The fact that his rifle is a semi auto would concern me more than the caliber. Most grizzly country is not auto rifle friendly. Besides many hunters hunt dangerous game because its dangerous. If you do some checking around you will find that Grizzly and polar bears have been killed with rifles much smaller than the 308. Like the 22 Hornet and 218 Bee. I wouldn't try it but its been done. I have used the 30-6 and didn't feel undergunned at all. You got to hit them right. Thats far more important than the gun you use. Bears have eaten magnum totters too. Bears are not impressed by ballistics, only by good shot placement. If I go again it will be with the 45-70.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

My best friend and I talked about it yesterday and he said he felt .338 was way too much gun and I should get a 30-06. I'm convinced by our discussions here that my .308 will not be enough but I'm stuck on what calibre to getJohnny (my best friend) swears by the 06' but I'm reading here that I need a .338 which also will the .338 knock off my shoulder with recoil? Also, price of ammo for the '06 is much less andeaiser obtained. For clarity I will say this bear hunt is in north Georgia mountians ona Wildlife Management Area. There are 5 of us going together. I read this article and decided to set it up.
http://www.georgiasportsmanmag.com/hunting/big-game-hunting/ga_aa101203a/#cont
What ever gun I get I don't want it to be a once a year hunt with gun. I want to be able to hunt deer and such with it too.

Thanks,

Chuck

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

You originally said you were going brown bear hunting and now you say that you are going bear hunting in North Georgia. There are no brown bears in Georgia, only black bears.

So basically this entire thread has nothing to do with the actual bear hunt you are going on. [&:]

For black bears the 308 or 30-06 will do just fine. There isn't a nickles worth of differance in the two. Especially at the close range you are likely to shoot one in Georgia.A big black bear in Georgia will weigh in about 300 pounds. Not the 1100 pound bears in Alaska.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

I appologize for the misinformation. I did not mean to waste anyones time.This thread has beenextremely informative and has encouraged much lively discussion. For which I am grateful. Since you have pointed out a very important observation would you say that .338 is too much gun for what I'm planning? Or should I go with the motto of "you can never havetoo much gun"?
Again I appologize for the misinformation.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

In that case then, I would buy a 270.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

Yes you can have too much gun. If you can't shoot the 338 well because of recoil then you might as well be using a 22.

The 06, 308, 30-30 270 280 etc will be fine for the GA black bear. Use what gun yoiu shoot well

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

For brown bear minimum .338,..... for black bear300+, 6.5mmSwede, 7mm-08, .308 or .30-30 will do the job!

Now, don't change again!:D:D:D:D

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

I feel like such a punk for misleading you guys. I promise it was NOT intentional and will not happen again. So, now I'm stuck asking this as you ALL know I have a .308 and am looking for a new rifle. Would a 30-06 be a bad choice?

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

Buying a new gun is always a good choice.

If you are looking to buy something that is alotdifferent than your 308 and 30-06 does not really fit that bill.
If you are looking for more power look closer at the 300WM. If you want something with less power the 30-30 or 243 is probably a better choice.
But in my opinion, the 308 is close to the 270,280,7-08,30-06

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

No partner, the .30-06 will do fine! I see you're set on the .30-06, go for it!:)

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

I dont think the '06 is a smart choice if you already have a 308. Either is a good gun but if you dont have many guns I would spread out what they can do and either go down to a 22 or 24 calbier varmit small-med game gun or go the other wasy and get one to big enough to kill a T-Rex. An '06 wont be much different than a 308.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

It is hilarious that your going to GA instead of what everyone thought was going on. Funny stuff.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

Frick when you buy a gun it's got to make sense, hogwash or at least my gun cabinet says so. The 06 is probably the most vesitale rifle on the face of the earth, no that doesn't mean that it's the best choice in all situations but with the right bullet and shot placement it will do the job, it's the only reason I have one in the cabinet, I shoot it very seldom (it's a 1/2 group @ 100 all day long) butno cabinet in america is complete with out one

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

I'm glad I could accomodate your daily comic relief.:D

In the cabinet I have two 22 cal. , a 12 ga. , a 20 ga. , a 30-30, and a .308.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

If you really want a 06 then go for it but if I had a 222 my next gun wouldnt be a 22-250. I'd get something for another purpose.
I try to have a gun for every situation, although my wife thinks I make up half of them. Id rather have a more rounded collection but this is just my opinion. Any new gun is a welcome addition to a collection.
And yes a full moon on Tues does require a different gun then a full moon on Fri, at least Im trying to convince her of that.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

A .54 cailber muzzleloader shoots a 240 grain pill at about 1500 fps. Sound similar to any other guns you know of? The .44 Magnum. Essentially, a .54 caliber smokepole is as powerful as a 44 magnum. Granted, a .44 has better downrange ballistics. Which is more powerful? The .308 or the .44 Magnum?

What it really comes down to is shot placement. A good shot with a .308 is better than a crappy shot with a .338. I think, Rebel, your lookin for an excuse to buy a new rifle. Hell, I cant blame a man for that!!!

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

No not really, I have close to 50 already.:)I have the A-Bolt in .338 and BLR in .358 and many, many more calbers.Thanks!

Edit: Oh, I almost forgot, I have an original Sharpes in .45-90.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

I shoot 485 grain bullets in my 54 caliber muzzle loader. At close range the 44 mag is a powerful weapon. More so than the old 44-40 which took its share of Big Bears.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

The .308 can kill anything that walks on the planet, but if bear hunting is something that you plan on doing regularly I would invest in a good .338 Winchester magnum. The .375 H&H is a great cartridge and my personal choice for big bear hunting, but thereare not a lot of other uses for it. The .338 could very easily be used for smaller bears, elk, and moose. Most people would rate it as a bit of overkill on deer sized game, but no bear guide will ever call you undergunned with a .338 win mag.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

I'd like to test my .300rum on a brownie. I doubt it would know the difference between a 225 grain from a .338win to a 200grain from a .300rum

Actually, seeing as I'm bored, after comparing *factory* ammo for the 2 @ 100 yards, any of the 225 grain .338wm delivers between 3,100 and 3,400 ft lbs. A 200 grain .300rum delivers between 3,400 and 3,600. I'd be more than confident using that.

Notice I said factory ammo :)

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

i dont think so

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

If I was hunting brownies they would know the difference between your 200 grain 30 cal, and my 300 grain 375 H&H lol. When hunting really big bears I don't think that any rifle this side of a 458 Winchester magnum is "too much gun".

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

I dont think anything would be too much gun for them(I'd take the biggest of what I own which would be the .300rum. If I had bigger, it would be used), but theres no way a .300rum would be too little/not enough. Theyve been killed cleanly with far less.

Point is I wouldnt run out and get a bigger caliber just for brownies. Bullet construction and shot placement always win in the end.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

Your 308 is plenty for the bear hunt so no real need to invest in a new gun just for that adventure. However adding a new piece is always a good thing if you have the allocation...lol!! So may I ask what you hunt now? What you'll want to hunt in the future??

If deer sized mainy then why not look to diversifing your choices, seeing you have 30 cals already! Maybe a 2506, 270, 7mm 08, etc

If you are interested in pursuing elk, moose then 300 wm, 300wsm, 7mm rem mag, etc. Or add the chance ofmaybe even actually go on a big bear hunt griz or browns then 338 wm would be perfect for all of these critters.

Maybe poping paper/varmits is of interest look at 22 250, 223, etc. Or poping paper and small game at 100 plus look at .17hmr!

A host of possibilities but IMHO buying a 3006 isn't really going to do much more than the 308 you already got! Well unless you don't want to use the handed down piece much in the field...then getting the 06' would be understandable.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

I Was reading through this thread and see it took abig turnand now its kind of dead but why would you hunt big bears with a 308 sure it will kill them but youcan killdeer with a 223 but do most no it in my mind its the same as using a 308 on something that weighs 1000+ and will kill you are that many people scared of the recoil of anything larger then a 30-06 If I were going bear hunting and was going to shoot a monster 1100 pound bear at 10 yards I would want the 700 nitro express 14000+ft-lbs 1000 grains of leadwith me just kidding I would leave the 300rum at home buy a 375h&h or a 338 rum

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

The only reason that I could think of for anyone wanting to hunt Big bears with a 308 would be if that was the rifle they had and got a chance to do a bear hunt. If they did use it they would have to be more concerned with the range of the shots and know what their gun is capable of. However I would bet that the 30-06 has probably killed more Big bears than all other calibers combined. This because its been in the game fields where the big bears live for 100 years now. The 308 with 180-200 grain bullets within it range will do about anything the 30-06 will do. I woullld prefer the 45-70 and thats what I have used most for hunting all bears. However I have used the 30-06 as have many others on this site and had good results doing so.

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

are you all kidding a .308 will stop a bear in its tracks. you all think you need some big cannon. 30-06 may be fine but if you really want to get to the nitty gritty a 30-06 looses its balls where as a .308 is a straight out blaster. maybe ya all need a bazooka. shoot ill take a bear with my rem 12ga if you cant take a bear with a .308 then there is only one problem... the shooter. its shot placement that takes the game. not how big your cannon is. if you feel you need a cannon then you know your shot is less than accurate and need the extra powder to make up for lousy shooting. just my 2 cents here.....

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

in may ill be heading to northern canada to hunt me a big bear and of course my .308 savage is my choice weapon for that hunt

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

ever hear the saying bark is worse than its bite? well thats about the mentality of a 30-06:D:D:D:D:D

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

oh geez and here we go with the 338. a 338 is like a harley a big noise maker. then you need to stop every 2 miles to put the thing back together:D:D:D:D

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

lmao I just sentthe .308 in to be re-blued. Since this post started I've been putting round after round through that gun and have fallen absolutely in love with it. The recoil isn't much and it's damn accurate. I can't wait to get it back from the smith. I think I'm gong to take skeeter's point of view and start diversifying

RE: Is .308 enough gun
 

mrwhitetailhunter, the 338, etc suggestions were based on the original information bigpapa gave of going on a brown bear hunt which is a big bear in the class of a grizzly, kodi, etc(not a colour phase blackie...lol). In this case a 308, 3006,etc are not the suggested choice of chamberings for such a hunt, most who know this big bear game suggest 300 wm is on the marginally light side and 338 is where you begin. For a blackie no doubt a 308win will get her done if you do! Which is what he is actually going to be hunting, so the thread changed courses but not all realized this fact..

Good luck on your spring hunt!