I'd use the 8mm on bear and the .30-06 on deer.

Take whatever gun you have more confidence in between the 8mm and the 30-06. Either one would do the job,

Hey popeye,

One time i lay in the grass and let a pretty good brown bear walk up to about 30 yards from me. He stopped and looked to one side as i put the cross hairs of my 338-06 on his left front shoulder and let a 275 grain Speer go!! He droped as the bullet angled from corner to corner and exited his right rear quarter.

Even with a broken shoulder he instantly was on his feet and turned to run straight away. My second shot hit just under his tail and went up into his back takeing out about a foot of back bone exiting out through the top on the hide!!! That anchored him permently!!!

Those 275 Speers are a pretty good bullet, too bad Speer quit makeing them!!! I pushed them 2,350 fps at the muzzle and found them to really penetrate well even on the biggest animials.

Anyway, i just thought i'd share that with you....

Drilling Man

Any of the cartridges listed are way more then enough for any Black bear that walks this earth. Choose the rifle you like the best in this case.

I've been hunting deer/bear in Virginia for 20 years.... all these guys are totally on the mark. The 30-06 is all the gun you need... the 8mm-06 will work fine too!

I take either my 30-06 or 35 Whelen..... both are more than are necessary! Heck, I have a buddy that took a nice big bear (by Virginia standards) about 10 years ago with a 7X57 Mauser.

Good luck! Round about, where are you going?

I've shot two bears in Idaho with a 30-06, 165 gr. Noslers. I have a couple of boxes of some Federal ammo loaded with those bullets so that's what I use. They were both one shot kills, one at about 75 yds. the other at around 140 yds.

Well you guy's are helping to a great degree..... Look's like I'll plan on taking my 8mm/06 for the main rifle with my 30/06 as my back-up second rifle.
For those of you with experience hunting in that region..(looks like there's a few of you) ...during November in Virginia (like from Nov 19th to the 30th) what other types of species besides deer and bear will I have available to me...just in case I need to pack along another weapon, like a shotgun. Are there turkeys? Bobcats?
Thanks for all replies...I really appreciate the experience here. Now I can drop a couple bucks on some boxes of premium bullets for reloading.
Keep your bear comments coming if you have any..
thanks
John

8mm/06,

Go to the Virginia Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries website. Lots of good current info on species, limit and seasons. I think the website is address is www.dgif.virginia.gov Anyway, Virginia has a rather complicated sytem based on regions and indivual counties within a region as well as wether you are hunting public or private land. Please read carefully. National Forest lands(mountains) in Rockingham, Augusta, Shenadoah and Page counties are normally the best areas if tagging a bear is your top priority. Good Luck.

Almost forgot to mention that bear season using a rifle normally opens the Monday prior to Thanksgiving and runs thru December.

DM,

I've never used anything heavier than 225gr Nosler in my 338-06 and that was when I was still experimenting with different loads. The last few years I've used 210gr Nosler's for everything. Something about those big bullets you just gotta love

Your 30:06 is more than enough for bear. A quality 180 gr. or better bullet will drop a bear in his tracks.