The 450 Marlin. I suspect you like the rifle. I've never used one and never hunted Brown/Grizzly bears. I have been around them though. I don't think I'd want to try it. Although I'm sure it would work, I think to work well it will have to be in hand shaking distence. We're talking about an animal that may well eat you after it kills you. You willing to bet your life on it?

I recall reading about a guy that shot a brown bear with a bow. He was fine until he put an arrow into it and the realization that it doesn't usually just fall down hit home. He said the most terrifying thing of the whole hunt was after the arrow hit and waiting for the bear, under 20yds off, to die. Ya really need to get small in your hole then!

While fishing on the Portage River in Alaska, I found Grizzley track's on the gravel bar I was fishing on. They were the size of pie plates. I ain't messing with something like that that eats meat unless I really have to!

They were designed to kill brown bears! As with any slow and heavy keep your range within reason and shoot with confidence. 1 of the most bear huntinest guides in Alaska used a 45-70 forever and is still kicking(sort of).

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.450 Marlin is fine out to 200 yds. you might be pushing it any further. The new leverevolution ammo may get you out to 300 yds, but it will drop pretty quick. Actually I would stick to Garrett hammerheads and cut the distance down to 200 max.

If you're looking for power and extended range with any of the big Marlin calibres go to http://www.Buffalobore.com. I use 300 grain semi-jacketed hollow points in my Marlin 1895G chambered in .45-70 Govt for white tails in the tamarack swamps here at home. My son-in-law lives in North Pole AK and when we hunt there I use Buffalo Big Bore .405 gr loads. Check out the testimonials from customers, guides and professional hunters on their website. This ammo really increases the performance of these rifles.

These are big loads with a healthy wallop so be ready. My Marlin was ported by the factory and I topped it with a 4X32 fixed power scope on top of see through rings. My son-in-law runs a stainless model with open sights. We both like the ..45-70 because we can usually find ammo for it just about anywhere. I had trouble with that when I owned a .444 Marlin years ago. I haven't had any personal experience with the .450 but what I have read sounds pretty positive.

It's always nice to use a flat shooting round in open territory at a known distance. But when I hunt heavy timber, brushy river banks and tamarack swamps I want a bullet that isn't going to be deflected by blade of grass. I want something that will make it's own path and keep going...especially when my life depends on it.

Never bring a knfe to a gun fight.

The 450 is a great gun to hunt bears. Besides the lever action, it is built on the AR platform. I would use iron sites instead of a scope though.

I just noticed this semi-old posting. When I went to Alaska this spring on a black bear hunt in an area also holding a lot of grizzlies, I chose the .450 as my rifle of choice. There are lots of rifles I own that would have made fine rifles for harvesting a black bear, but when I saw the pictures of the grizzlies killed from the same spike camp only one month earlier, I decided to hedge my bets and brought the .450.

If I am ever lucky enough to be able to hunt grizzlies, I plan on using this rifle for that hunt too. here's a couple of pics of the bears they took a month before we hunted.

And for the record, my .450 is a BLR and is IMO a much nicer rifle than the Marlin version.

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i'm familiar with that family of cartiges. i'd keep the distance a little shorter than 200 yds for a brown bear. i'd think of 150 max. and probabky 100-75 would be my target range. and i for sure would stick with iron sights for fast target aquisition in case of an attack.

Years ago testing was done to see how much if any heavy bullet's were deflected by brush. I no longer recall which cartridge's were, used but the outcome was that ALL bullet's are defected by brush.