Grizzly Bear with .30-06

[DrMike]

Thank you, Jamila; I certainly enjoy each of these rifles.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

Would you question it a 30-06 Remington Auto my father has one and it works flawless with factory ammo. I would just buy and test the best Nosler Ammunition or Remington 220gr and test its reliability to function and go hunting.
To be honest I'm surprised more people don't hunt with Auto's these days. I have only bolt actions for my Big Game Rifles but it's because I reload.
I will tell you if I was going Grizz hunting my old 1939 Model 70 300 H&H would be going with a Premium Bullet of 200gr or more why here is a picture of a Hog I shot with a 180gr Nosler Partition at around 30-35yds yds running and I did not get pass through. I was surprised 180gr Partition at 3000fps. It did drop the hog on the spot. I have only shot one Black Bear with my 300 H&H but I would like to another on a spot and stalk hunt. I would love to hunt Grizz but it's out of my price range for now but you never know ?

1100 Remington Man

Love a man that loves and understands the 300 H & H and that if you want all that the grand old girl can give you, one does not hunt with a baby bullet. Hunt with a 200 or 220 grain bullet and if you are a reloader the old girl will shoot faster than the Winchester mag, with less muzzle noise and recoil than the Weatherby, and with lower pressure than either, which is important if your hunting along the equator. Plus, you will be hard pressed to find a smoother chambering round. By now you have guessed I love the 300 H & H whether it is my dad's favorite, a pre 64 model 70 or a Mauser 98 which my mom prefers

Dr Mike, those are three beautiful rifles, just beautiful!

Best Regards

Jamila

Right on all counts. One thing I love about the 300 H&H is the action is smooth. I also like the weight of a 26inch barrel. I'm not so wild about the Steel Butt pad but I'm trying to keep it close to how they came from factory. I just put on a Limbsaver slip on recoil pad when doing range work.
When Hunting I never feel recoil.
Jamila you are mine kind of Person take care & good hunting.

 

[gerry]

Don't know if a 300 H&H is a lot better than a 30-06 but the extra points you get for style are through the roof :lol:

 

[BretN]

Isn't it interesting that on the ad listing cartridges for Brown Bear that Winchester has included 150 grain 270, 180 grain 300 Savage and 180 grain 30-06? Today, we are certain that these are all insufficient to tackle such bruins! Guess they didn't know any better back in the 50s.

Yep, and they only had a fraction of the premium bullets we have today. Or the slower burning powders that help get every last fps out of a load. It is a great time to be a hand loader. Every time I think I might like owning a magnum caliber, I have to remind myself 1) I really dislike heavy recoiling guns and 2) there's very few animals in NA (or even African plains game) that could withstand a well placed shot from my .30-06, .280 or even my .308's.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Isn't it interesting that on the ad listing cartridges for Brown Bear that Winchester has included 150 grain 270, 180 grain 300 Savage and 180 grain 30-06? Today, we are certain that these are all insufficient to tackle such bruins! Guess they didn't know any better back in the 50s.

Yep, and they only had a fraction of the premium bullets we have today. Or the slower burning powders that help get every last fps out of a load. It is a great time to be a hand loader. Every time I think I might like owning a magnum caliber, I have to remind myself 1) I really dislike heavy recoiling guns and 2) there's very few animals in NA (or even African plains game) that could withstand a well placed shot from my .30-06, .280 or even my .308's.

Yep that's where I am at too.

Funny how you come full circle it seems.

Dale

 

[35 Whelen]

There is nothing in North America that can stand a well placed shot from a 30/06...... With handloaded premium bullets it IS a 300 ouch n ouch...... However I gotta agree with Jamila here;
The classy 300 Holland ,just has a mystical lure to it! And she is right they do feed like glass!

 

[truck driver]

Never owned or shot a 300 H&H but did own a 300Wby and that was more than enough for me for recoil when I couldn't refocus my eyes for a quick second shot which is something the 35 Whelen AI with 250gr bullets loaded stiff doesn't do. As much as I like my Whelens if I could only have one rifle to hunt with I would take my Ruger 77 30-06 and be very happy with it knowing it will get the job done.

 

[35 Whelen]

Yes besides a Weatherby nick over your eye, thd old 300 will even loosen up the fillings in your teeth!
Lol, great round if you can shoot it.............. It was very popular with Texans in the 1980/90 hunting in Alaska, usually ended something
Like this :: Guy wants to shoot toooo far away, guy makes very poor hit, guy watches animal run off, guy is scared of his gun and has wicked Flinch, guide gets to chase said animal down , after it stumbles around and suffers from lousy hit, guy is amazed big magnum didnt actually pick up said game and hurl it thru the air like the salesman told him it would! Yea right.

 

[Alaska]

Costal bears in Thickets
It starts at 338 win and goes up in Cal.

If you have longer ranges the 300 Win and up will do.

I live up here in Alaska
My 3 rifles are 300 Win 338 Win And a 338 Ultra Mag

I concur the 416 Rem most excellent in dense areas.

 

[35 Whelen]

Hi Jeff,
Sure interesting the reference " in thickets" with your .338WM , if in fact that was the criteria for a caliber , where a lighting fast shot, at extreame short distances, on a bigger Salmon feed bears, was going to be the scenario, I am thinking that at least a .416 is a better place to start ? And a reciever sight would trump any scope.
Long distance stuff is something we used to avoid at all cost 99% of the time, however if a fella was going to take long shots
I am guessing over 200yds? I would think one might want consider something with Alot more HP, than a .300? (Thinking more about your .338 UM !!)
Of course we had never watched" best of the west" in the old days , and didnt realize you can shoot 1000lb animals effectively With bullets arriving at extreame distances at 1000fps and 500ft lbs of energy............... :?
And congrats on living up in the last frontier, I guess its beautiful "up there"

 

[Thebear_78]

Coastal thick cover is more a jungle than a thicket, and river bottom alder stands can be so thick you are almost swimming thru them, up over and around while pushing thru limbs and stalks .5-3" around so thick you can't see 10 feet in front of you. Places where you smell them before you see them!!!

I've spent some time trying to move thru that stuff and 35 Whelen is right 416 sounds way better and 458+ better still. A scope is mostly worthless because the kinds of shots you will get in that stuff is closer to shooting flushing partridge.

I'm having a 458 Lott built right now for just such occasions, 22" barrel and good ghost ring sights no optics. I might put a scout rail but worry scout scopes and red dots might not handle the recoil.

I went into that thick river bottom willow/alder mess one time up off the wood river. We were running thru the braided section way up the wood in an airboat when we came across a bear half way across the river. My buddy stopped shimmer and tried to make a snap shot at it before it got to the brush and center punched it with his 300 win. I could tell it was too far back but couldn't get to my rifle in time to do anything. We gave it a minute to stiffen up and tried to go in after it about 35 minutes later. It was so thick in there that my 27" barreled 300 RUM was worthless, way to long and the long barrel and large scope got hung up on everything. I ended up going in with just my 4" 44 mag.

After going less than 15-20 feet the brush started shaking and bear started making noise, Couldn't see anything but the tops of the alders shaking. We backed out to give it time to die. After several hours we went back in, almost like crawling into a tunnel shaped basket, found blood and where it had holed up when we first bumped into it. We lost light and had to pull out until the next morning, it misted most of the night and even though we went in looking again we never did find that bear. I'm pretty sure that bear was somewhere in there dead but like I said you could literally trip over one in there and not see it until standing on top of it.


I was pretty pissed with my friend for taking such a shitty shot in the first place and crawling in that mess didn't do any favors for my mood. Nothing makes you feel quite as small as standing in the brush with a wounded/angry bear. Nothing you could fire from your shoulder would feel big enough. Air support is about the only thing you would feel comfortable with!

There is a world of difference between hunting an calm feeding bear and crawling into the brush with one. I'd hunt one with about anything 270 on up, where the shot is on my terms, and I can pick the when and where. If going after a wounded one I want the biggest, handiest rifle I can get my hands on.

My current "brown bear" rifle is about perfect for an all purpose bear rifle. It's a 375 RUM with 3-9 ziess in quick detach rings with backup ghost ring. Scopes it's a great shooter out to any practical hunting range and with the scope off it swings like an upland SXS. Even have forearm mounted light that I'm convinced stopped a charging brown bear a few years ago.

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[Thebear_78]

I just reread this thread, I have posted on here over a half dozen times and basics ally said the same thing every time!![emoji848]

Well, at least my story is consistent [emoji13]

Looks like he is getting bored!

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[35 Whelen]

Bear78,
One time my boss who had been involved with literally hundreds of Bear hunts was saying he had a real 10fter spotted and was going to take this football player dude over and whack it. The hunter had never shot a bear before and Kirk mostly used his 300 H&H all the time even backing up for bear........
They shot the bear right at dark and the hunter made a poor shot and the bear lunged into heavy alder, then the guy falls down and twists his ankle badly ......... they hobble up to the airplane and get him into it and he takes off in the dark and flys him back to the village and we take him into the clinic . That night he says to me this is a MONSTER bear and he is NOT looking forward to going in after if it is still alive in the morning!
So he digs out his Dads Holland Double Rifle in 460 #2 Nitro and informs me that WE are going back over and skin this bear ....................... well I pack up my old 375 and he says nope not this time , and he had an old Ruger 77 Redpad in 458WM that had been cut down to 20" with special receiver sights on it, and he tells me that he wants me to use his gun! So off we go to finnish off this bear, both of us hoping it is already dead,
Well it was NOT dead at all, in fact is was dying to kill anyone that came near it!!
The alders were so thick in there you had to hold the gun on your hip and push them away with your left hand , the bear had dug a hole and was backed into it, the closer we got the more he roared, we were probably 30 yds apart and I saw the bear first as it came out of the hole charging ME, I pulled down a fired at his chest as best I could, then immediately heard an unbelievable explosion to my side, he had seen the bear charging ME and in his excitement aimed and discharged BOTH barrels in secession! He actually hit him with both bullets from that big 460 Nitro! Literally flattening him . As he tumbled forward he was 21 steps from me........................ upon examining the bear and don't know if I didn't hold correctly or the bear was moving up and down more than I thought but my shot was very LOW in the chest and did NOT stop him , I am guessing I could have gotten off one more before he ate me , but we will never know for sure. The bear had 28 15/16 , Skull and measured 9'10' just pulling the wrinkles out of the hide squaring it up. The hair was still standing up on the back of my neck and there was considerable amount of excitement and hollering when we knew we had him................... lesson learned if a bear is on the uprise when you fire you better hold higher than lower!

 

[Guy Miner]

You two are throwing out some GREAT bear hunting stories!!!

Only thing I've got even partially close to that involves black bears that made it into the thickets after being shot out in the open.

Going in after them at close range, particularly in the dark, is a LOT different from hunting deer...

I can only imagine going in after a wounded grizzly/brown bear... Yee Haw!

Guy

 

[SJB358]

Great stories fellas. Can't even imagine the excitement but it sounds incredible.

 

[Thebear_78]

My buddies wife took this pretty interior bear with her 30/06 using a federal premium load using 180gr Partition. Shot it twice. First shot up in the hump immobilized the bear but required a finisher. Both shots exited.


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[DrMike]

Beautiful colour on that bear. The lady did well. Candidly, any grizzly is a trophy and you will definitely earn the hide on most bears.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

My buddies wife took this pretty interior bear with her 30/06 using a federal premium load using 180gr Partition. Shot it twice. First shot up in the hump immobilized the bear but required a finisher. Both shots exited.


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Another great example.

Good job on the bear!

Dale

 

[Alaska]

Very many Grizzly Bear were taken with the 30-06 especially during the 50's.
But today I suggest the 300 Win Mag as the miminum cal. with good 180/200 gr bullets.