I met a nice Russian guy through work few weeks ago, gun lover and with a family tradition of hunters back home.
Soon enough we were talking about guns and calibers and this is what he told me.
In Russia, for deers they use the 7.62 X 39, the 7 mm Mauser and the 6,5 X 55 Sweden. The last two are commonly used for Caribou too. Occasionally some old Carcanos are also used for deers.
Then we started to talk about the 7,62 X 54R and things got very interesting.
This caliber is obviously very common in Russia end the Mosin action has been sporterized and used as base for several hunting rifles in the motherland.
He told me that this caliber, together with the 7,92 X 57 (the 8 mm Mauser) which is commonly found over there in sporterized Mauser actions, is even considered too powerful for Moose (unless light bullets are used).
He said that big brownies and even polar bears are put down for good with the 54R very effectively.
He recalled a hunt where a charging nasty big brown was hit by a 54R 200 gr., the bullet went all the way through leaving a fist-size exit hole breaking the hump.
The bear (his own words) literally jumped in the air at the impact.
That was shocking to me when I read some Alaskan accounts on here where big bears were soaking 375 or 338 bullets like candies....
So are we lousy shots, our dangerous bears are tougher or are we just plain magnum-maniac???
Any comments or opinions?? Where is the truth???
Thanks
Soon enough we were talking about guns and calibers and this is what he told me.
In Russia, for deers they use the 7.62 X 39, the 7 mm Mauser and the 6,5 X 55 Sweden. The last two are commonly used for Caribou too. Occasionally some old Carcanos are also used for deers.
Then we started to talk about the 7,62 X 54R and things got very interesting.
This caliber is obviously very common in Russia end the Mosin action has been sporterized and used as base for several hunting rifles in the motherland.
He told me that this caliber, together with the 7,92 X 57 (the 8 mm Mauser) which is commonly found over there in sporterized Mauser actions, is even considered too powerful for Moose (unless light bullets are used).
He said that big brownies and even polar bears are put down for good with the 54R very effectively.
He recalled a hunt where a charging nasty big brown was hit by a 54R 200 gr., the bullet went all the way through leaving a fist-size exit hole breaking the hump.
The bear (his own words) literally jumped in the air at the impact.
That was shocking to me when I read some Alaskan accounts on here where big bears were soaking 375 or 338 bullets like candies....
So are we lousy shots, our dangerous bears are tougher or are we just plain magnum-maniac???
Any comments or opinions?? Where is the truth???
Thanks
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