quote:

Originally posted by BigB:
I only have the experience of one brown bear hunt. 4 of us went to Alaska in 2005 and all took bears. 3 eight footers and I got lucky and took a 9 footer.

8 footer shot with 300 Win Mag 4 shots 180 grain noslers distance about 150 yards.

8 footer shot with 338 Win mag 250 grain Noslers distance about 200 yards. 5 shots

8 footer shot with 375 Weatherby 300 grain Noslers 80 yards 1 shot DRT.

All above factory loads.

9 footer shot about 40 yards 404 Jeff 400 grain Swift A Frame 2 shots. My bear I shot second time as it was going into thick alders after first shot albeit slowly. Second shot stopped it right there. Bullets loaded at about 2350 no bullets recovered.

Guides carried 338 or 375 and suggested 338 or better for clients.

All else being equal I would take the bigger caliber. I also did not want to shoot a brown bear from a long distance thus I took a 404. It is stainless with a McMillian stock so it held up well to the soggy weather.

BigB

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. I wish you guys would stop talking about 404s , I might start thinking I want one ....

hey phil - remember what patton said about pearl handled pistols? same thing could be said about plastic stocks and you probably do need a 404

quote:

Originally posted by gumboot458:

quote:

Originally posted by M70Nut:
I have a wood stock on my 1895 XLR 45-70 and have no intentions on changing it to a plastic stock. I think people make too much about wood not holding up in Alaska,
Now if your hunting in SE Alaska, that could change things a bit, the annual rainfall down there is staggering compared to the rest of Alaska.

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.... I like the staggering part .... .. If you seal a wood stock enough so it doesn,t soak up tons of water , you arn,t really seeing the wood , you are looking at and holding the protection of the wood which often times is plastic , so you still have a plastic stock ,yer just foolin yerself thinkin it is wood ..... Some people think there wood stock is real light weight .. Those are usually very open grain sticks of lumber that soak up moisture like a sponge ............
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. I have seen guys miss and wound because the wood stock on their rifle swelled up and shifted poi.. I,ve seen it happen several times ... On a trophy hunt that is expensive , why bring wood ??????? Laminated stocks are great.
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. Barnes quit making the 350 gr TSX .423 bullet . But GS Custom does make them in a little lighter weight which is even better ... Zooming out of your 404 @ 2650 fps it would be perfact for about any situation you could end up in with your bear 10 feet - 300 yards you won,t find a better , and probably not nearly as good a bullet for about anything , but brown bear especially ..

So your telling me the rainfall in SE is not that bad compared to the rest of Alaska? Funny that I hear so many people from SE Alaska complain about the rainfall down there. Here we go again with the wood vs synthetic crap again. Tell you what, you go ahead and stick to your plastic and i'll carry whatever works for me and we'll let it go at that.

quote:

Originally posted by gumboot458:
.. So why get rid of a good rifle ?????? Havn,t you heard of spares ?

I've heard of spares, and I've also heard of private jets... hyperbole I know, but the economics of the times have great impact on the number of toys I get to keep in the safe.

That said, I really don't think I can get rid of my Whelen. I just sold my 358 win, 338 win mag, and my 350 remington mag... as you know from other threads.

My Vote is with the 300 Weatherby Mag, I have taken Grizzly, Brown and Polar Bear all with this caliber using 200 grain Barnes X bullets, all with very good results.

If a 200 + yard presents itself you will be fully prepared to take the shot.

Good Luck!

@200 yards the 200 gr .308 X is only going 250 fps faster than the 250 gr.366 X ..possibly as much s 350 fps faster .And has about 250 ft lbs more energy .. When the cross section area of the 2 bullits are taken into account , I don,t think the 300 has any better killing ability than the 9.3x62 Mauser @ 200 yards . and if you are @ 50 yards which is customary , I would want the 9.3x62 ....

I took my Browny Bear with a .300 Winny loaded with a 200 grain Nosler Partition at 2950 fps, a one shot kill. I now pack a .358 STA with a 270 grain North Fork at 2900 fps when in Brown country and feel much better gunned. Good shooting.

My brother has been in on 46 Grizzly kills, and has shot many himself. He's used a 300 Weatherby for years. Used to use 180 grain Noslers, but now uses 200 grain Noslers.

This one was just shot a month ago. Squared out at 8' 5". Nothing wrong with a 300 Weatherby.

Ya but a 7 mag with 160 Noslers would have worked just as well out in those wide open spaces ...And a 9.3x62 with 230 - 250 gr mono metal bullets @ 2600-2700 fps would have worked just as well . But @ 50 feet would work better ....

I don't think you would see any "on-game" difference between the various 300 mags and the 9.3x62 at 50 feet. All of them are more than capable of killing bears at spitting distance, or long range. The difference mostly recides between the ears of us hunters.

I'd be a lot more concerned about the shooter and what he or she could do at 50 feet than the cartridge they were shooting.

I shot this 8' Grizzly last September with a 338 loaded with 210 Noslers.




Worked just fine, one shot was required. I'd have felt just as comfortable shooting any of the 300 mags as well. I'm pretty sure that todays available bullets have changed the whole "It's gotta be a big bullet to stop them" scenario. It might still exist in the minds of hunters, but in reality a well built 180-200 grain 30 caliber bullet is going to work pretty well on most critters.

Diameter is still diameter ,, Super Bullet or not ......... That is a nice looking bear you got there , Nice open country also ......I don,t hunt bears in very open country much ..........
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. 50 feet or less is alot funner .!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by JBabcock:
I don't think you would see any "on-game" difference between the various 300 mags and the 9.3x62 at 50 feet. All of them are more than capable of killing bears at spitting distance, or long range. The difference mostly recides between the ears of us hunters.

I'd be a lot more concerned about the shooter and what he or she could do at 50 feet than the cartridge they were shooting.

I shot this 8' Grizzly last September with a 338 loaded with 210 Noslers.




Worked just fine, one shot was required. I'd have felt just as comfortable shooting any of the 300 mags as well. I'm pretty sure that todays available bullets have changed the whole "It's gotta be a big bullet to stop them" scenario. It might still exist in the minds of hunters, but in reality a well built 180-200 grain 30 caliber bullet is going to work pretty well on most critters.

Great pix, and Great Bear..

I live and hunt in the center of northern B.C. Canada and I hunt with a 300 Weatherby Mag. According to the Speer Reloading Manual #14 no 300 magnum caliber is recommended for the great bears (Alaskan Brown). As a mater of course a 338 or a 340 Weatherby Magnum should be considered the smallest gun to consider for such a hunt. If it were me I would take nothing less than a 375 H&H and 270 grain TSX bullets. I mean have you seen pictures of these critters up close and personnel? They are huge, they have very dense powerful muscle tissue and very heavy bone. Even a black bear which I have hunted and harvested has powerful dense tissue and heavy bone. A adrenalized great bear can run 100 yds in 5 seconds with his heart exploded and lungs full of blood, imagine a Volkswagen charging you at 35 miles an hour and it has 10-6-inch knives,you have to think about that. A charging grizz can be your worse nightmare. If all you are holding in your hand is a 300 Weatlherby and your johnson you are going to be calling for your momma I guarantee it. Yes you can successfully harvest the great bears with a 300 magnum if you shoot them when they do not know you are there and they don't have a chance to get their dander up. You must remember you are in their living room, they are usually aware of everything going on around them all the time, they have to, to survive in the wild. It is their business to be aware of their environment. They know you are there, and as soon as you shoot one they tend to get right pissed off very fast if it is not a bang flop. Sometimes, most times if they are not dead right there, they will run off into the thick to get away. When you go in after em after a long Marlboro moment, if they are not dead, they will backtrack you with one thought in mind, to kill you.

Cheers & Tighter Groups: Eaglesnester

I vote for the 300 Weatherby. It worked for me on black bear to Eland.