Black Bear Rifles

[WVhunter]

I am looking to buy a new rifle for bear hunting.

The bear that I am hunting weigh a mox of 350 pounds, but the shots will be at an average of 250-500 yards.
What would you recomend?
30-06 Springfeild
7mm Remington Magnum
300 Winchester Magnum

What say you?

 

[honkeetonkin]

500 yards ? At a bear? I've only heard of that once and it didn't turn out well. I dont know..........

 

[Bigwheels]

I agree.500yds @ a bear?If the circumstances were right,I'd do it with my 338 WM.But I have turned down a shot @ a BIG black bear from 613yds.The wind wasn't steady,& the shot was down hill about 15*.The wind was the deciding factor.But not to get into a LONG RANGE HUNTING debate.I'd definatly choose the 300,given the choices you listed.I'd still go bigger if you can.You can't make a bear TOO dead.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

Well contrary to popular belief, black bears are really not hard to bring down. I've killed 3 with my 25-06 and 115g bullets. Ranges on the 3 bears were , 375, 440, 450 yards. 1 bear took 1 shot, the other 2 bears took 2 shots. How much more can dead get then that?? I've also shot a huge blacky, #10 youth for Oregon, at 250 yards with the 300 RUM. 1 shot was all it took for him as well. I would go with the 7mm or 300 WM. Both will easily get the job done at 500 yards. Pick a good weight bullet, with the ability to break shoulders and you'll be fine.

 

[WVhunter]

Bigwhells your right we don't need another long range hunting debate I think the last one got the job done.

I would have to think long and hard to pull the trigger at 500 yards.

I have only been bear hunting once on November 25 this year. I am planning to go again this month. Eight people went on that trip and only one of us saw a bear. The man that shot at the bear is just plain ignorant. He said that he thought the shot was about a mile.

On that trip one of us was a guide and had already gotten his bear this year. The guns that were brought along were 3, .270 Win's 2, .30-06 Sprg's 1. 7mm Rem Mag and a .30-30 Win.
I carried on of the .270 Win's my dad another, but we both want somthing with a little more punch.

 

[Bigwheels]

I agree with reingtonman-25-06.Small to medium sized black bears are not hard to bring down.However where I live there are some real monster bears.The one I spoke of @ 613 yds. measured 4 mils in my scope @ that range.Thats about 7' from nose to tail standing on all 4's.He would have to be in the 500# range.Thier vitals are not as big as a deer,or elk's for thier size either.The chest cavity is farther forward,& the lungs are small for thier ssize.A wounded bear in heavy brush can get VERRY EXCITING! :!: Just be carefull,& use enough gun. :grin:

 

[Thebear_78]

If your talking truely long range then why not look to something like the 338 RUM. Heavy bullets, good SD and BC, and hit very hard. I do a lot of hunting with a 300 win mag and wouldn't think twice about shooting 300-400 yards if conditions where perfect, but at the same time I passed up a 200-220 yard shot on a medium griz this year that probably wasn't over 350lbs because I didn't like the angle or the situation. There was too much heavy cover near him, and it was fairly steep, no place to be searching for a wounded bear. Another thing to consider is it is very hard to really judge a bears size at long range, you might end up shooting a fairly little bear that you would have passed up if you had known better. Accurately judging those kinds of yardages is also very tricky, even with a range finder. That said the 300 with 180-200gr Partition, AccuBond, or failsafe would work well if dropped in the right spot..

 

[7mmfan]

That's a long way for any bear as you don't want to wound one and have to go into heavy brush after it. That said I'd shoot the biggest caliber I could handle that was accurate at that distance. I agree with 25-06 that black bears are easy to kill when the shot is placed right, but you'd have to set yourself up for the worst. Ask yourself, what round/bullet you would want to shoot a bear @ 500 yards dead square in the stomach with. Anser that and you're set.

P.S.

I prefer a minimum of a 30 caliber magnum and 180 grain bullets.

 

[FOTIS]

Given your 3 choices I would say 300 Winnie.

Still though 500 yards...... :shock:

 

[Jar Head]

Not to spark a long range debate I would agree that 500yrds. on a black bear is a bit much. I work w/ some long range shooters who shot a black bear w/ a .300 rum a little past 500yrds. & it was ugly not to mention cruel. I have personaly shot 4 black bears all w/ a .308 & a .30-.06, all were within 100 yrds. & only one of them took 2 shots.
Best Regards,
Jar Head

 

[JD338]

I'm not an expert on Black Bear, but I have shot 3 bears. I have used a 30-06, 35 Whelen and 338 RUM. Bear are easy to kill if you hit them right.
Any one of your 3 chosen rounds will do the job nicely but if you are going to shoot long range, I would go with the 300 Win Mag.

BTW, the 338 RUM is awesome on bear! (and everything elso too) :wink:

JD338

 

[Jeff Olsen]

I am looking to buy a new rifle for bear hunting.

The bear that I am hunting weigh a mox of 350 pounds, but the shots will be at an average of 250-500 yards.
What would you recomend?
30-06 Springfeild
7mm Remington Magnum
300 Winchester Magnum

What say you?

Those are all great choices for black bear, assuming the right bullet. If you scale your range back a little (and I think you should), then a 30-06 is hard to beat. If you are really going to be taking 500-yard shots at bears than I guess the 7mm-mag is maybe the best choice, or the 300 mag. But then you need to try and insure you get a very accurate rifle, a calibrated scope, and do a whole bunch of long-range practicing... insuring you get a very accurate factory rifle is pretty impossible. Maybe a Kimber? It's a roll of the dice with all of the major manufacturers. I like Remington's, personally, but I've gotten a couple duds over the years.

For what I'll call practical hunting ranges a 30-06 with 180-gn Accubonds would be about perfect and will be a pleasant shooter. 7-mag is a great caliber too. Recoil for 300 mag starts to get a little stiff- if I were going to absorb 300 mag recoil, I'd just step up to .338 Win Mag.

But if I were going black bear hunting tomorrow (hmmm... not a bad idea! I have a tag... hmmmm... I could even take the day off!) I'd take my 30-06 loaded as described above.

ACTUALLY, if I were going bear hunting tomorrow I'd take my Browning BLR in .325 WSM. It's a very accurate rifle and gives a lightning-fast 2nd shot. Where I hunt in Oregon things get thick and that 2nd shot might be nice. But that caliber isn't on your list and since it may not succeed in the marketplace, I won't recommend it.

-jeff

 

[Alaska]

I like a bigger hole, the 308/30-06 and 35 Whel make a good black bear gun as well as the 358 Win and 350 Mag.

Not to say the smaller diameter bullets will not kill bear, but the larger diameter bullets leave a better blood trail.

If the range is not too long the 45-70/450 Marlin are excellent!

Try to keep the range under 300 yards with the 270/30-06.

 

[Jeff Olsen]

I like a bigger hole, the 308/30-06 and 35 Whel make a good black bear gun as well as the 358 Win and 350 Mag.

Not to say the smaller diameter bullets will not kill bear, but the larger diameter bullets leave a better blood trail.

If the range is not too long the 45-70/450 Marlin are excellent!

I agree completely; I own a .358 and a 45/70! I was trying to limit myself to the calibers he mentioned...

I'd love a Whelen. Then I could use that upcoming Nosler 225-gn AccuBond, which will be too long for my .358 most likely. A guy in our elk camp uses a Whelen and said it had given him 2 one-shot kills on elk, though he missed the only shot he got the year he was there... I carried my .358 a couple days elk hunting but never saw a shooter. I was using 225-gn Partitions in it; now I'm using 200-gn Hornady's for deer for want of a better bullet.

I've never killed a bear with my .358 but that little rifle (Model 7) knocks the CRAP out of deer! When you look at a .358 round, it's so short and stout it just looks kind of... mean. I'd use it on black bear in a heartbeat.

-jeff

 

[RogueRiver]

I have killed Bear, Elk, mule deer and blacktail deer all under 100 yards. The last 2 elk and last 2 bear I shot were under 50 yds. I agree with the other guys bigger is better. I love the 35 whelen for big game it knocks down bear and elk with no problem

 

[FOTIS]

I wonder if my 378 Bee would work? :mrgreen:

 

[Jeff Olsen]

I have killed Bear, Elk, mule deer and blacktail deer all under 100 yards. The last 2 elk and last 2 bear I shot were under 50 yds. I agree with the other guys bigger is better. I love the 35 whelen for big game it knocks down bear and elk with no problem

What's your load?

Hey, you know my buddy Tom Rutledge down there in Southern Oregon?

-jeff

 

[Brad]

There are many thing's I'd shoot at 500 yards, a black bear isn't one of them.

That said, bears are pretty easy to kill... any deer rifle will do the trick. Hard to beat a 270 or 30-06 for the job.

 

[Jeff Olsen]

There are many thing's I'd shoot at 500 yards, a black bear isn't one of them.

That said, bears are pretty easy to kill... any deer rifle will do the trick. Hard to beat a 270 or 30-06 for the job.

Yeah, I think a 30-06 is about as good as it gets for blackies, at least in the common calibers. Like I said earlier (elsewhere?) to my mind the 30-06 is really in it's element with 200-500 pound critters.

Outside the common calibers, the one time I explicitly went black bear hunting this year (just not really into bear hunting/eating) I carried my .325 WSM with 200-gn Partitions. That's good bear meds right there. It's chambered in a lever gun (BLR) and I was going into an old-growth canyon here in Oregon, primarily scouting deer, and the fast followup shot seemed like a bonus. And I wanted to see how the gun carried pre-elk season. I 'd run into a big blackie the year before in that canyon while grouse hunting and suddenly the 2 rounds of 00 buck I slipped into my Citori seemed a little inadequate! Man that bear was pissed. Funny thing was, my knuckleheaded Lab was hardly paying any attention at all to this large, furiously-snapping animal 40 yards away!! Wierd. Denial I guess. Or else she trusted the 00 buck more than I did!

As far as not shooting them at 500 yards... I ain't TOUCHING that one!

-jeff

 

[JD338]

I wonder if my 378 Bee would work? :mrgreen:

Are you thinking AccuBond or one of those copper solids?
Pop, good excuse to go get a 460 Bee. :lol:

JD338