grizzly gun
 

considering a grizzly hunt in an area that is not known for the big browns but most likely the 7-81/2 foot bears. My largest gun is a 7 mag. Should I be looking at a 300 mag or something even larger? would my 7 mag be enough if i went to larger premium bullets?

Buy and shoot the largest gun you are comfortable shooting and one you can shoot good. (no need for an ultra super magnum if you can't hit the broad side of a barn with it) Obviously the bigger the better when it comes to Brown bears but that being said the 7mm mag is more than capable of putting down a Brown bear...even a big one if the the correct bullet is used and your aim is true. Good luck and I hope you indeed do decide to go.

Oh and one more thing...they are A LOT bigger in real life up close than you think. I can almost guarantee you the first thought you will have when you do see one up close is "Did I bring a big enough gun"!?!

All in shot placement. As said above, even the biggest and baddest cartridge is useless if you cannot comfortably shoot it. The 7mm should be fine.

great excuse to buy a .338mag or .375h&h, might as well get one or the other or both!

get a .338 win. mag or .340 weatherby

Same thing happened to me (my 7MM RM is a Sako A7 Stainless), so now I own a Browning X-Bolt Stainless Stalker in .338 Win Mag.

I have little doubt that the 7mm Mag is sufficient but If I was going I'd be taking my .35 Whelen.

The gun you have is plenty.Sure something like a .338 would be nice if faced with a close charge but unless you plan to keep hunting regularly in griz/dangerous game country it doesn't make much sense.Good luck!

I'd feel comfortable with a 160gr TSX through the 7. But you could always get the 338 RUM too :D remember, it's all about the bullet!

That 7mm would do the trick, but if you're going the spend the money on a griz hunt, the money for a .338 would be a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. If it were me, I'd probably get a bigger gun. Skip the .300's and go with .338 or so.

If it was me and i wanted to buy a new gun for that hunt i'd look at a 325wsm there great.

You could certainly use the 7mm. It will definitely kill the largest of bears. It has done so and will continue to do so mor many years to come.

Having said that..... If I could afford a Grizzly bear hunt I'd sure as hell am sure I'd be able to afford a new rifle in .338 or larger. If I am chasing game that can turn the tables and make me the pray I'm taking a bigger gun.

In my opinion, get a 338 mag. thats what they were made for. I have two, a 338 Win mag and a 338 RUM. both would be ideal.

A 90 mm tank killer. No really if your comfortable with the 7 stay with it, if your looking to by a new gun go for it.While the bigger is better sounds good, being able to put the bullet where you want it counts more. remember by the time smokeless powder came along the great bar was already mostly gone from the lower 48.
Alex

I think your 7RM is fine. It will definetly kill a big brown bear. Heck a .22 would if you put it right in the eye or ear.

If I were going to find an excuse to buy another firearm for a browny hunt it would be a pre-2008 Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70. Hit that sob with a 500 gr bullet going 1400 fps and you'll see it go down.

Tom

Just out of curiosity, Why would you pick a pre-2008 Marlin Guide Gun apposed to a new one? I have both, the reason I have a new one is cause I dont like the older one, Its ported and blued, the ports make that rifle extremely unpleasant to shoot, muzzle blast is unbearable, i quite shooting it and when and bought a new 1895GS last fall, a unported, stainless version, a way better gun, and alot better to shoot. The 45-70 is absolutely devastating on bears.

I'm kind of expecting the response will be "because that's when Remington bought Marlin, and Remington sux..."

I cant speak from experience, because I have never went after a grizzly before. I have no doubt that a 7mag will get the job if you use a well constructed bullet and you put the bullet in the proper place. That being said if you dont put it in the proper place and get into a tight area with a P O grizzly I'm not sure the 7mag has the bone crushing power to cease hostilities. No telling how many grizzlies have fallen to the old 30-06, so the 7mag has the power, proper bullet placement is the key.

If Remington sucks so bad, why are the majority of custom rifles built on Remington actions and the majority of your long range target rifles are built on Remington actions? I wouldnt think you would start out to build a masterpeice or a world class target rifle, and use a rifle that sucked as a foundation for your build. Maybe im wrong, would you please educate me on this matter. I almost forgot, our military snipers use them also, they mount Schmidt & Bender, NightForce, and Leupolds on these rifles that suck, I suppose if they are using rifles that suck they must also be useing inferior optics also, I suppose they would probably be better off if they used Brownings mounted with Nikon optics.

He's not saying that Remington Sucks but rather, that's gonna likely be his answer.

There aint nothing wrong with a Remington other than minor things like weak extractors and a brazed on bolt handle.

Gothca, I misunderstood what he was saying.

Very nice!

It is only a matter of time before certain BS artists lend their voices.

Remington bought Marlin and the quality control has gone out the door as one would expect. If you doubt this do some searches. There have been some atrocities coming out of Ilion, NY.

Why not 2008-2009 when they were still being produced by Marlin? Disgruntled employees. This part is just a theory but I can't imagine too many were thrilled.

Tom

Fritz,

Do Remington's suck. I'll leave that one for someone else. I don't like them but that is my opinion.

Your response about custom rifles being build on a Remington action couldn't be more misguided. When the Remington action is used for a custom build, by the end it couldn't be anything further from a factory produced Remington. Heck it may as well have started it's life as a hunk of metal. There is nothing Remington left in the thing. The real reason folk use them as the foundation of a build is price. Actually most of those guys if they thought through it better they would go with a full custom Remmy clone. It would be cheaper in the end and much better built.

I'm building a custom rifle right now on a Winchester action. That action needs zero work to be squared up and trued. This is with a CRF not a PF. I know I just blew your mind.

If I had to point to anything about a Remington that steams my bean bag is the welded on bolt handles and the terrible extractors. Not to mention the triggers. I won't go there though.

Do they make an adequate rifle. Yes. More than adequate.

Tom

Well I have one of the first Guide Guns that were made, it is a piece of crap compared to the one I just bought last fall, and that is first hand experiences with both, not hearsay from some internet expert, that there seems to be a over abundance of on here. My old Guide Gun stays in the closet were it belongs. There is a reason Marlin sold out to Remington, and it wasnt because they were building superior products, I can tell you that. Selling out to Remington was the best thing to happen to Marlin.

Im sorry!!! There is another company that made such great products that they couldnt keep there doors open, Maybe FN can do something with them. When FN cant do anything with them, maybe Remington will buy them out also. Yeah when people are buiding custom rifles I am sure they are looking to save money by using a Remington action, Custom rifle builders that I know dont cut corners and go cheap, especially on the actions.

Yep. I've got 4 Model 700's and a Model Seven. The oldest 20+ years old. The newest from 2 years ago. All of them very accurate. All of them have performed flawlessly. Never had a bolt handle fall off (if a weld is done right, it'll be as strong or stronger than the metal around it), never had a failure to extract or a broken extractor, never had a problem with a trigger (whether old style or the new X Mark Pro) and I seriously doubt that anyone else has unless it had been tinkered with by someone who didn't know what they were doing...

[QUOTE=statjunk;3753947]

Your response about custom rifles being build on a Remington action couldn't be more misguided. When the Remington action is used for a custom build, by the end it couldn't be anything further from a factory produced Remington. Heck it may as well have started it's life as a hunk of metal. There is nothing Remington left in the thing. The real reason folk use them as the foundation of a build is price.
If I had to point to anything about a Remington that steams my bean bag is the welded on bolt handles and the terrible extractors./QUOTE]

Your apparent dislike of Remington is a personal opinion that I respect. However, I take exception to the comments about building on Remington actions. My opinion is that the 700 action is the best non-custom action for building accurate rifles, and that the only ones better are custom 700 based actions. I have seen very good and accurate target rifles built on Winchester actions too, just not very many. I guess we all have different opinions and experiences.
The extractor on a 700 is very good and reliable. I have never seen one fail (although some internet teenager probably has). I do use crf actions on all of my DGRs, as ANY push feed is more likely to jam than a good crf. I have never seen or heard of a 700 bolt handle problem, but certainly some "expert" on an internet forum somewhere has reported this as a problem.
Lets not start a keyboard battle on this issue, but this type of bias goes too far.

It's not worth my time to show you the proof. Do some searching around and I assure you will see pictures posted on the internet of guys hold a bolt handle in one hand and the remaining part of the bolt in the other.

Also keep in mind, data rules the roost. Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it won't. Too many variables to consider.

Let me not even get into some of the other issues I've had with Remington Shotguns.

As for the comments on custom. That is the beauty of custom. You built it the way you want to. If I was a fan of the Remington platform, I'd go with a clone that is already pretty much perfect.

Tom

Like I said there really isn't anything wrong with Remington 700's and I currently own 3 700's myself but, the bolt handles do break off on rare occasion (they are brazed, not welded) and the extractors are a weak design (one of the weakest) and do fail often enough. I have seen both fail and have fixed both..... two bolt handles and a whole bunch of extractors.