The Best Black bear rifle and cartridge

[Rio56]

Could it be the Winchester 88 in a .308 ? Smooth and quick .. Looks great , good handling and have one that shoots mighty fine .... New ammo out too that rivals the 30-06 ... so what's your choice ...

[260 Rem]

If I had to dispatch one in my yard at close range... 30 M1 Carbine. BANG then if necessary BANG:BANG:BANG:BANG

[stob]

SAKO Black Bear ... 9.3 x 62

[TBark]

35 Whelen & Nosler ballistic tip 225 out of my cheap H&R.

TBark

[Alberta Bigbore]

I don't care what rifle.. but I like Xbolts....

As for Cartridge..... 338 win mag. I haven't killed a bear with one yet.. but the tests I have done... I am so excited to pull the trigger on anything with it. My old faithful 270win..... even though I have a newer xbolt as well in 270 win... just doesn't put the ear to ear grin on my face like when I pull the trigger on the 338win mag. Lol

[martinbns]

Originally Posted by Alberta Bigbore

I don't care what rifle.. but I like Xbolts....

As for Cartridge..... 338 win mag. I haven't killed a bear with one yet.. but the tests I have done... I am so excited to pull the trigger on anything with it. My old faithful 270win..... even though I have a newer xbolt as well in 270 win... just doesn't put the ear to ear grin on my face like when I pull the trigger on the 338win mag. Lol

About 10 years ago my son shot a middling black bear across a small creek/ditch about 75 yards away. It was broadside and his first shot, 270 with a Winchester PP right through the boiler room. Down it went, then up again getting closer to him, he fired again right through the ribs, down it went then up again, now pretty close to him, 3rd round again through the ribs, down then up again.

The bear was now only maybe 20 yards away, I was about 100 yards down the trail watching, he was shooting a 270 and had no shells left.

I shot it length wise from a 300 winny with a 168 gr TSX from behind and it went down and stayed down.

When we skinned it later, Brendan's three entry wounds would have covered by the top of a Tims coffee cup and the exit side with heavy damage about twice that, the lungs were soup.

I like width and velocity on anything that might bite back.

[Alberta Bigbore]

I dropped a Blackie 2 years ago with a 270win using 130gr Hornady GMX. It dropped like a sack of crap. I love the 270win cartridge to pieces. But the things I have witnessed with my 338win mag in testing bullet preformance is outstanding. My biggest decision for this coming season is 250 grain Accubond... or 250 grain Partition. Lol they are both shooting under an inch

Originally Posted by martinbns

About 10 years ago my son shot a middling black bear across a small creek/ditch about 75 yards away. It was broadside and his first shot, 270 with a Winchester PP right through the boiler room. Down it went, then up again getting closer to him, he fired again right through the ribs, down it went then up again, now pretty close to him, 3rd round again through the ribs, down then up again.

The bear was now only maybe 20 yards away, I was about 100 yards down the trail watching, he was shooting a 270 and had no shells left.

I shot it length wise from a 300 winny with a 168 gr TSX from behind and it went down and stayed down.

When we skinned it later, Brendan's three entry wounds would have covered by the top of a Tims coffee cup and the exit side with heavy damage about twice that, the lungs were soup.

I like width and velocity on anything that might bite back.

[purgatory.sv]

Tc encore in 30.06,savage 338wm and my xbold 375 H&H.

The xbolt is also my favorite.

[Gilly]

My Remington 7600 in 35 whelen is The best imo. Stoked with good old 250 grain corelokts it will handle anything I need done on a black bear.

Gilly

[Redneck 7]

I love my Remington 7600's either the 30/06 or the .243 but I was bored and built a dedicated bear gun. Remington 700 VTR .308, I fitted it to a old 700 walnut stock and bedded the action, one of my favourites.

[double gun]

Model 7 in 350rem mag.

[sns2]

Originally Posted by Redneck 7

I love my Remington 7600's either the 30/06 or the .243 but I was bored and built a dedicated bear gun. Remington 700 VTR .308, I fitted it to a old 700 walnut stock and bedded the action, one of my favourites.

Did you chop off the foolish break?

[Redneck 7]

Originally Posted by sns2

Did you chop off the foolish break?

Nope. I have 3 VTRs. The .308, a .243 and .223, I cut the barrel down on the .223 to 18.5". It's a nice little gun but I haven't thought about chopping the other breaks off. Maybe I'll look into that, no ear plugs that .243 makes you want to throw up it's so loud.

I usually have ear plugs.

[sns2]

I had one for a very short time. I thought it would melt my ear muffs it was so loud!

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

[sns2]

22-250

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

[muirsy]

Hoping to take a bear this spring with my Marlin 1895. Loaded with 405 grain pills coming out at about 1650fps I can't imagine it'll travel very far. I'm definitely not excepting to need a follow up shot that's for sure.

[270 ELK]

I shot only one black with my 338 wm with 225 grain at 100 yds one shot never moved

[catnthehat]

Any legal big game cartridge will do within its parameters
Cat

[Dean2]

Have told this story before but; I and another fellow shot bear control up North for almost 20 years. Got to try out everything in the my closet and his on them.

I have shot bears with 12 Gauge, slugs and Buckshot, 12 Gauge smooth bore Muzzle loader, 20 Gauge slugs, 243, 250-3000, 264 Mag, 7x57, 7 MM Rem Mag, 300 Savage, 303 British, 270, 30-30, 308, 300 Win Mag, 338 Fed, 338 Win Mag, 357 Mag, 8 MM Rem Mag, 375 Mag, 375 Win, 38-55, 44-40, 444 Marlin, 45-70, 458 Win and 460 Weatherby mag. I have shot more than one with almost all of the above.

They ALL killed just fine. Probably 90% were shot under 150 yards, with less than 10% farther out. Of that 90%, 70% were under 60 yards. My Favourite is the 45-70. At 250 yards and under nothing beats a 350 Grain Horn RN at about 1700 FPS. On long distance bear, the 338 would be my choice.

[338 Rules]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Have told this story before but; I and another fellow shot bear control up North for almost 20 years. Got to try out everything in the my closet and his on them.

I have shot bears with 12 Gauge, slugs and Buckshot, 12 Gauge smooth bore Muzzle loader, 20 Gauge slugs, 243, 250-3000, 264 Mag, 7x57, 7 MM Rem Mag, 300 Savage, 303 British, 270, 30-30, 308, 300 Win Mag, 338 Fed, 338 Win Mag, 357 Mag, 8 MM Rem Mag, 375 Mag, 375 Win, 38-55, 44-40, 444 Marlin, 45-70, 458 Win and 460 Weatherby mag. I have shot more than one with almost all of the above.

My Favourite is the 45-70. At 250 yards and under nothing beats a 350 Grain Horn RN at about 1700 FPS. On long distance bear, the 338 would be my choice.

You don't like bears do you? lol

[sns2]

Something inside my skull tells me that we should pay heed to Dean when he talks about bear rifles. If bears had Facebook, I'd bet they be calling him a serial killer on the loose. LOL.

[bubba300]

I have shot 2(lung shots) around 100 yards with 270 win and 150 gr. SP ,both went about 25 -40 yards and down.Shot 1 with 7mm RM and a 168 LRAB at around 200 yards and it went about the same distance.They seem to have addrenillin that makes them run abit.I have heard some guys claim they have did heart shots on them and they still run abit.
I think I am gonna try the 6.5 CM and a 129 LRAB this spring if I get a chance to get out.I will take the 7mm RM with me also.

[rembo]

Over bait?.....30-30 or 44 Mag lever with iron sights and factory ammo.
Hunting is supposed to be exciting. Don't make it too easy.

[bat119]

Not to big
Not to small
Something in the middle is just right

[Sashi]

A 303 Lee Enfield pushing a 215 gr Woodliegh. Or a 375 H&H pushing a 300gr RN.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by 338 Rules

You don't like bears do you? lol

That made me laugh as did SNS2's serial killer comment!.

F

Funny enough, I don't have any personal grudge against bears, I actually think they are kind of cute. That Said, when you see 15 in one 1/4 section of Oats, or have to shoot more than a dozen out of one set of Bee Hives, even though they are protected by electric fence, you know there are far too many bears in that area. I have often shot bears where the others in the field don't run or react to the gun fire. We have shot as high as 20 bear in one evening, 4 till it got dark at 11:30, working a pair of Bee Hives and 1/2 section of Oat field in a River bottom.

Just like gophers or any other pest, Bears can make it REALLY tough on a farmer. It is even worse if the bear gets a taste for easy to kill livestock. That is quite rare however, and the far more common cases are entire fields flattened by Bears eating in them or expensive Bee setups totally ruined. They also make a hell of a mess out of granaries that have grain in them. Once they learn a place has food in it they will just keep coming back till the food runs dry, but they will check it again same time the following year and they teach their cubs how to do this.

If you ever watch a Bear eating Barely or Oats you will see they lay down and roll and eat the grain laying down. A couple of bears can completely flatten a field in a couple of nights. The other problem is they are defecating as fast as they are eating so there is literally Bear scat spread through out the whole field as well.

It is one of the reasons I hope they never cut out the Spring and Fall Bear hunts. Even with a fair amount of hunting pressure there is still a very large population of bears. It would get right out of control without a lot of hunting.

[ndw]

Using 308 for years, 168 grains - bang flop with longest shot ranged just over 400 yards

[oldgutpile]

The last two were shot with 577/500 sxs blackpowder gun. The one prior to that was 458 american, and before that 358 norma mag.
You wont find me taking a knife to a gun fight either
Ya, any legal caliber will work fine on blacks, but bears just seem to offer an excuse to buy bigger and bigger! I still have two new doubles that havent been blooded yet; 450 3 1/4" sxs, and a 470 NE. Bring on the bear season!!!

[elkdump]

Wow, a lota folks think a black bear is powered on nuclear energy',,

Thier bone and muscle structure is no more indestructible than a Muley buck

[obsessed1]

1895 45-70, 336 30-30, enfield 303 brit...