BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[DSR]

I was wonder if .308 win is big enough for a grizly?
can any one help me out with this?

[expatriate]

Has it been done? Yes.

Would I advise it? No.

Your best bet for griz is to break the shoulders and put 'em down in their tracks. I doubt the .308 has the power to do that, unless you're up close and personal -- and then I wouldn't want to have to rely on a .308.

If you use a .308, you're far more likely to have a wounded bear on your hands -- and nobody wants to go into the brush looking for one of those.

I got my brown bear (same species) last fall with a .300 WSM, and you just can't appreciate a grizzly's construction until you skin one out. The animal is a tank.

[DSR]

iam not planing on going hunting, i have an expadtion planed for the yukon (minning).
i would like to bring two guns with me a shotgun (benelii m4)& rifle.
i wanted to bring my springfield m1a. iam farily profiencnt with it. i can hit a playing card at 300 yrd standing and 600+ on a rest (adj. for win. & lev.) but not sure if it had the power for grizz.
thank you for the help..

[expatriate]

Just sent you a PM -- if you're thinking of defense, take the Benelli with Brenneke slugs.

[WesternHunter]

For protection lots of folks in Alaska carry .44 Rem Magnum revolvers or .454 Casul. There is some debate as to whether the revolver is to actually shoot the bear or to shoot ones self to avoid the horror before the bear mauls them to death ::-k

[expatriate]

True -- a lot of people up here carry handguns. But if you look at who's around bears a lot, you don't see handguns. You see 12 gauges. I don't know of any handgun that can punch an entrance hole the size of a nickel with 3,000 foot pounds of energy.

[george_ciprian86]

Here you have some good slugs.

http://www.sauvestre.com/index_us.htm

[expatriate]

Interesting concept that's no doubt devastating on deer, but not one I'd recommend for large bears. You need a round that with high weight retention that will penetrate. That's the good thing about the Brennekes -- where a lot of rounds are designed to open up to do tissue damage, the Brennekes don't.

I once helped my son with a science fair project where we fired various rounds into stacks of paper to study the relationship between energy, bullet weight, and penetration. He discovered firsthand that when a bullet comes apart it sheds its energy quickly and stops -- which is why a FMJ 7.62X39 round penetrated much farther than a .243 or .30-30 that had a lot higher energy and (in the case of the .30-30) heavier bullets.

Not a problem with the Brennekes -- the wad is even attached to the base of the slug. You might not get as much shallow damage in a lighter target, but when it comes to a heavy bear they'll keep going where other slugs break apart and stop.

[Widux]

Heed the words of Expatriate--when we rode horses in AK was only time we carried our 44's and for unsceduled dismounts only--otherwise I relied on my Marlin 1895 in 45/70 customized for scabbard.and close quarter work in 44 we carried 320Gr Hard cast bullets ala Elmer Keith.

[expatriate]

I just helped a friend get a 7-1/2 foot boar. He hit it in the shoulders broadside with a .325 WSM at 78 yards with a 200 grain Accubond. The slug went through both shoulders and lodged under the hide on the far side. The bear was getting his feet back under him when my buddy sent another round into the boiler room, and that did the trick.

A .325 is a pretty powerful round and the range was short -- but it still took two perfectly placed fatal hits to put it down. I still need to weigh the slug we recovered -- it had obviously shed a fair amount of weight. On the other hand, I shot my brownie last year at 125 yards with a .300 WSM using a 180 gr Barnes TSX and the round punched clean through. I believe Accubonds are designed to hold 70 percent of their weight, but TSX is designed to open up and still retain 100 percent.

Weight retention goes a long way when dealing with big bears.