What Gun For Bears?

Bill
That should do the job quite well.
I have a coworker (Dale ) who is a very experienced bear hunter tells me he has killed several with a 30-30 no problem then others have taken many hits with big magnum rifles followed by pistol shots. They all “die” it’s just a matter of how much damage they do on the way..
Take care out there Pal.
J
 
Bill
That should do the job quite well.
I have a coworker (Dale ) who is a very experienced bear hunter tells me he has killed several with a 30-30 no problem then others have taken many hits with big magnum rifles followed by pistol shots. They all “die” it’s just a matter of how much damage they do on the way..
Take care out there Pal.
J

I know. This is more of an exploration of how big a bullet I can use and have effective performance from my .358 win. I’m sure a 180g Barns would work just fine. Put this into the “doing it because I can” column
 
Just for conversation, Dale told me a story of his Alaska guide that hit a huge Kodiak with a magnum rifle , as wounded bear charged he pulled out his 44 mag pistol and gave him all 6 rounds finally stopping the animal within a few yards . Myself I would have crapped my pants and been lunch:eek:
 
I usually carry my Ruger Superblackhawk 44 mag when I go bear hunting....always available on my right hip. If my 7mm-08 wont stop
the critter, I hope the 44 mag will!
 
I'm heading up to Canada in August for a week long black bear hunt and would rather take my AR in .50 Beowulf but it seems that AR's are taboo north of the border. I have a 45-70 load with 350gr XTP that shoots great and my trusty 30-06 with 180gr Nosler Partitions that I use for Elk. Which would you choose?
 
I'm heading up to Canada in August for a week long black bear hunt and would rather take my AR in .50 Beowulf but it seems that AR's are taboo north of the border. I have a 45-70 load with 350gr XTP that shoots great and my trusty 30-06 with 180gr Nosler Partitions that I use for Elk. Which would you choose?

30-06 w/Partitions before any load with an XTP bullet.
 
Guessing the XTP's don't have a good field performance? I was mistaken, the XTP is in the .50 Beowulf, not the 45-70.

The bullet in the 45-70 is the 350 gr Interlock FP
 
XTPs in 44 cal have given lackluster performance for me. Both 240 and 300 gr varieties. The .50 cal XTP is probably the XTP-Mag and I have used the XTP-Mag in .450 Bushmaster with similar lackluster results. Those results being: entrance holes bigger than exit holes, multiple exit wounds from bullet breaking apart, long long recovery distances. And this is just on whitetail deer and 150 lb and smaller hogs.

I used 300 gr XTPs (out of necessity) from a 44 mag rifle on MI whitetail this year with similar questionable performance. They will kill deer. That is not in question. They do have marginal performance pertaining to staying together and expanding properly.

Im pretty sure it would kill bear too from as formidable of a cartridge as 50 Beowulf. I have seen too much evidence of it failing though. I would not want to use a marginal bullet like the XTP on something that can reach 300 lbs.

That 45-70 with the Interlock would be fine.
 
A worked up griz will cover 50 yards in 3 seconds...they can move out at 30 to 35 mph..... if you stumble on one in that range and it comes hard at you... can you draw and fire a heavy handgun and hit a moving target in the given time?

...and fire multiple shots on target?
Just something to think about in bear country....
 
Bill
That should do the job quite well.
I have a coworker (Dale ) who is a very experienced bear hunter tells me he has killed several with a 30-30 no problem then others have taken many hits with big magnum rifles followed by pistol shots. They all “die” it’s just a matter of how much damage they do on the way..
Take care out there Pal.
J
A friend of mine who's in his early 90s told me once he'd been hunting with his brother and a big black bear came through. His brother had a 30-30 and shot the bear multiple times and agitating the bear but not dropping it. He head shot it with his '06 and when they looked the bear over they saw heavy sap from rubbing trees all over the fur. He claims the 30-30 penetrated about 2-3" past the sap armor and that was it. Not sure because I wasn't there but he is generally known to be a straight forward guy.
Anyone heard of that? I haven't heard it from anyone else.
 
A worked up griz will cover 50 yards in 3 seconds...they can move out at 30 to 35 mph..... if you stumble on one in that range and it comes hard at you... can you draw and fire a heavy handgun and hit a moving target in the given time?

...and fire multiple shots on target?
Just something to think about in bear country....

I would ask the same question of one carrying a rifle for bear protection. I find the handgun a faster and easier wield than a rifle.
 
A friend of mine who's in his early 90s told me once he'd been hunting with his brother and a big black bear came through. His brother had a 30-30 and shot the bear multiple times and agitating the bear but not dropping it. He head shot it with his '06 and when they looked the bear over they saw heavy sap from rubbing trees all over the fur. He claims the 30-30 penetrated about 2-3" past the sap armor and that was it. Not sure because I wasn't there but he is generally known to be a straight forward guy.
Anyone heard of that? I haven't heard it from anyone else.
I’ve never heard that either although I certainly wouldn’t doubt anything when it comes to Bear.
 
Unless you’re actually hunting, rifles get set down, or walked away from leaning on a tree or whatever. Imho theres no substitute for a magnum revolver or atleast 10mm autoloader or better. Also I think handguns are better for when inside of a tent. I really like my brother’s glock 40 with the light mounted on it, Ive really been thinking about drilling and tapping my Taurus tracker .44 for a light of some sort, would sure be nice when leaving the tent to take a leak. Not sure if cylinder gap blast would destroy a light mounted under the barrel though? Anyone ever seen anything like that done?
 
Unless you’re actually hunting, rifles get set down, or walked away from leaning on a tree or whatever. Imho theres no substitute for a magnum revolver or atleast 10mm autoloader or better. Also I think handguns are better for when inside of a tent. I really like my brother’s glock 40 with the light mounted on it, Ive really been thinking about drilling and tapping my Taurus tracker .44 for a light of some sort, would sure be nice when leaving the tent to take a leak. Not sure if cylinder gap blast would destroy a light mounted under the barrel though? Anyone ever seen anything like that done?
***Not my picture. ****The s&w trr8 has a rail for flashlight.
SW-7.jpg
 
Thats what I have in mind, I think I can shape a 3” chunk of a raging bull scope mount I have onto the underlug of my tracker and drill/tap for 2 or maybe 3 8-40 screws. Then I gotta get new holsters made.
 
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