I have never hunted black or brown bear so I cannot say from experience. Personally if it is something that could chew me up and spit me out in little pieces I think the .30-06 is the minumum. As for elk & deer I think you have found a winner. It is good for elk and just about perfect for deer. If I was you I would load 150 gr bullets if going for elk. It is what I am using for deer this year.

I am going to purchase a Ruger M77 in 270 caliber. I have read alot of comments on this caliber, but am looking for some real world expectations. I am wanting to know what is the largest game animal I can harvest with this caliber. I have read about elk, and mule deer is this the biggest I should try? What about bear, black or brown? I have found 110 grain bullets for p-dogs and ground hogs. Any and all input is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your advice in advance. Bigchast

Using 150 grain bullets built to handle however hot you'll be loading them, you'll be equipped for anything on the North American continent, and most things in Africa. Assuming you have proper bullet placement, of course. No, it doesn't have the stopping power to halt a brown bear in its tracks, but most calibers don't. A heart shot from a .270 will do the trick.

This is a simplification, certainly, but an animal, any animal operates on wires (nerves)and hydraulic hoses (blood vessels). You don't need to turn the nerves and vessels into denatured proteins to kill tha animal, all you have to do is destroy their function. A .270 bullet will do that quite well.

My hunting partner uses a .270 exclusively. He has shot 16 black bears, two dozen elk (mostly cows), a buffalo, two Moutntain Goats, a Caribou, and an uncountable amount of deer, and antelope with it. With proper shot placement at reasonable ranges it will work for most game animals in North America. Just remember that larger animals will require you to get closer. It's not a four hundred yard elk rifle.

the best load I have found in my Ruger #1A is the 160 grain Nosler partition with 56 grains of H-4831SC. this will give almost 2,850 fps and good for an inch or less at 100 yards. I thnk that with the sectional density of this bullet it is probably good for anything that a 30-06 is good for. it is shot placement that kills.

BIGCHAST1, I've not killed Black bear with a .270 but have killed them with my .280 Remington, using 160 grains Nosler Partition bullets in my handloads. (Elk with the same load and deer with either 139 grains Hornady Interlock, or, 140 grains Nosler Partitions. Also have killed several large Muleys with the .280 Rem., using Remington's factory PSP 150 grains Corelokt.) No problem whatsoever. So I think your .270, with the above suggested 150 grains Nosler Partitions will do just fine, so long as you shoot accurately.



.270 on elk and deer? You bet. Again, 150 grains premium bullets for elk. For deer, most good factory loads in 130 grains will do just fine.



Good hunting. L.W.

Works on Black Bear.



I shot this guy while hunting deer in California in 2002. He was facing me at a bit of an angle from about 70 to 80 yards out. I was a bit up hill and shot him in the left side (on my right) of his chest. The 130 grain Nosler Partition at 3,150 fps (chronographed) exited by his groin. I quickly reloaded and put another Partition thru his lungs as he turned. He did not go more than 10 feet from where I first shot him and he died pretty quickly.

My rifle is a Pre-64 M70 with a Leupold 4.5-14x scope.

Tim

SHUMBA, nice bruin! Where'd you kill him?? I've killed two Black bears while living in Calif. One, a 400 pounder up in the Peppermint Creek area, Tulare County, and another, about 250 pounds, a bit north of the Eel River, in Shasta County.



One with my .280 Remington, the other with my S&W 57 .41 Magnum.



My other Black bears have been killed in Idaho and Colo.



Good hunting. L.W.