A Rifle For Large North American Animals

What Rifle Do You First Reach for?

  • Total voters
    202
“The .375 H&H Magnum is one of the most versatile cartridges and is referred to by Jack O’Connor as the "Queen of the Medium Bores". The cartridge is very popular in Africa where it is considered one of the best all-round rifle cartridges. It is capable of taking any big species including all the Big Five game animals. The big game hunter, John “Pondoro” Taylor held the .375 H&H Magnum in such high esteem that he dedicated a chapter to it in the book African Rifles and Cartridges.”

NA doesn’t need strong rifles like the 375 H&H Magnum, but that’s my choice.
 
No way in hell would I hunt the great bears of the north with anything less than a .338. The `06 is not the hammer people think it is.

Of what I currently own, the .338RCM for everything up to the big bears. For the big bears, the .405WCF, .416Rigby or .45/70. The .375H&H or Ruger would be a good choice, if I had one.
 
I have used .243Winchester to great effect on all of those animals, 'cept the Polar Bear......and my wife did a dandy one years ago with her VTK Finn M-39 Mosin.
Same for the record Brown Bear she caught with teh same rifle.
As a kid I used a .243 on Elk in Montana and here in AK for many years. I then moved to an M-39 SAKO made Mosin, and made a living with that for 10 or so years.
My eyes have changed a bit in my mid 50's and I use peeps now with an M1 A, though I have a 1917 Enfeild in 30-06 I'd use as easily and redily.

30-06 and .308 can be found anywhere, in an village store, the 7.62x54r I used was all Czeck Milsurp.
 
Regardless of trendy newcomers, the .30-06 is the do it all North American big game rifle. Other calibers may optimize certain species or hunting conditions, but few offer the breadth of bullet weights and associated performance windows. You can be hunting open-country antelope one day with a 150 gr boat tail and deep cover brown bear the next day with a 250 gr round nose that mimics the .318 Westley Richards.
 
As several have noted above, shot placement is perhaps the biggest factor in success/survival. Any of the calibers listed above will do the job. I picked '06 because I have one and because of its versatility. I dropped a moose literally in its tracks with a .30-06 150 g spitzer to the spine at the shoulder. A bigger or smaller bullet would have had the same effect.

When it comes to big bear, it's not ideal to arrange for the beast to charge you and then try to stop it. If that happens, yes big is better. It is a matter of record that a grizzly was killed with shots to the side of the head between the eye and ear from a rimfire .22. But I don't imagine that rifle was chosen for the task, but was the only gun in hand when the need arose.
 
dobedo said:
I voted for the 45/70.
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That was my second vote. 500gr hardcast with modern speeds on a giant bears really gets the job done but also does a job on the shooter. I read one of the arctic organizations in one of the Scandinavian countries uses the M1917 to defend against big predators and I am just a huge believer in what the 30-06 can do. i have several variants and for hunting, my Rem721 22" is super light and sub-MOA. I have not shot anything heavier than 180gr out of it but I assume it would perform similarly with 200gr+
 
I know I'm in the minority but my 1978 Remington BDL chambered in 8mm Rem Mag would probably be my first choice for the larger animals you mentioned. When I originally purchased that rig, I had moose and larger bear on the brain. A close second would be my 300 Weatherby and a very respectable 3rd choice would be my 35 Whelen. If I had my 9.3x62 finished, that would certainly make the conversation as well. No shame to all those mentioning the 30-06... you can certainly handload it with heavier projectiles and newer powders to achieve near magnum performance. 30 caliber bullet choices are so vast, which is why I gave my 300 Wby a close second place.
 
1948CJ2A said:
I know I'm in the minority but my 1978 Remington BDL chambered in 8mm Rem Mag would probably be my first choice for the larger animals you mentioned. When I originally purchased that rig, I had moose and larger bear on the brain. A close second would be my 300 Weatherby and a very respectable 3rd choice would be my 35 Whelen. If I had my 9.3x62 finished, that would certainly make the conversation as well. No shame to all those mentioning the 30-06... you can certainly handload it with heavier projectiles and newer powders to achieve near magnum performance. 30 caliber bullet choices are so vast, which is why I gave my 300 Wby a close second place.
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I always liked the 8mm Remington Mag!
I have never owned one, and probably never will, but it would be an excellent choice for the listed tasks!
 
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redneck2 said:
long ago I had an account that had full size mounts of a Kodiak and Polar bears. Once I stood next to one, I was forever cured of “it’s probably enough gun”
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I have worked in Ben Pearson's home and have seen some of His Bear displays. Their size is just awesome!

I voted 375 H&H because Bears were mentioned, although I don't own one. If not for the bears I would be comfortable with a 308, 30-06 or one of the 300 Magnums.
 
Presumably if I had to use a firearm on a large brown bear (or polar bear for that matter), I wouldn't be hunting for it and it'd probably be in attack mode, thus a defensive shooting.

So spiffy ballistic performance in terms of a fast-moving, flat-shooting and long-range cartridge probably wouldn't matter much. And I'm not so much a recoil addict anymore, either... I did fire three rounds through a .416 Rigby once and have no need to ever do that again.

So, yeah, I'm firmly seated in the .30-06 bandwagon. It does just fine for hunting the other aforementioned large mammals.
 
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Trey Veston said:
Or, if something REALLY big is expected, then the .50-90 Sharp's will do.
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If that won't get the job done you can always move up to the 50-140 Sharps.

I voted 30-06 as my largest game animal is elk. It was weird for my last few hunting years. I would go deer hunting and see lots of elk but no deer. Draw a elk tag and only see only deer. It was like the critters knew which season was going on and planned accordingly.
 
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