Thoughts on the 308 marlin express
 

i recently bought the new Marlin 308MXLR...at 20 years old this is my first brand new gun. I was very excited when i got it. One of the best looking guns i have seen and i LOVE lever actions. They work very well in the thick stuff we hunt.

Anyone else have experience/opinions for this gun/caliber?

Also, what do you think about the 150 grain 308 express on bears? Mind you PA has HUGE BEARS...

i think the 150gr. is alittle light for bear imho

i always used my dads .35 for bear with the 200 grain core-lokt....but i got the 308 because i can reach out more with that compared to the .35

As you can tell by my UN,I'm a firm believer in the 308. for Whitetail.

I've never hunted bear but I think the ole' 308 can take um' down at the right distance.

anyone else?

panative...

i am not sure but hornady has or or coming out with an all copper bullet like the gmx. for the caliber u have. if my buddy can use a 210gr. 41 rem mag out of a handgun in maine.

Personally I like a little heavier bullet for bear hunting but a 308ME and 150gr bullet will kill PA bears dead all day.

I love my .308 for deer. In fact I just smacked a nice 9 point in NY yesterday. One well placed lung shot resulted in DRT deer. Hit the ground in his tracks and slid 50 yards down the steep bank I was hunting. That makes 2 nice bucks that have dropped in their tracks in the last two years, I'm very happy. As for bear, especially the 800 pound version like Bozo that was just killed in PA, I'd step up to something a little heavier, a 180 at least.

thanks guys! PS my uncle was the guy who killed the 875 pounder...

anyone else have some opinion on the caliber? Does anyone think it will die out?

Generally speaking any whitetail caliber & bullet wieght is also capable of taking black bears as long as you put the bullet where it belongs.

I would bump up to a quality 165gr bullet. That is kind of splitting the difference between fps and knockdown power.

I agree with this.

Black bear aren't that hard to kill. A 308 is perfect for bear. Like said above, any whitetail round can be used. I love the 308 myself, took a nice 4 pt this past weekend. Dropped him at 170 yards one shot. Regular old remington corelokts did the job.

Love my Ruger m77 308, using either 150 or 180 remington core loks. If they don't drop on impact, they leave a hell of a blood trail.