.300 Weatherby and .300 WSM

nsf003 · May 18, 2002, 09:55 PM

Are these two good Brown Bear/Grizzly calibers? What about a .44 Magnum?

nsf003

Art Eatman · May 18, 2002, 11:06 PM

I've been catching up on reading gunzines after four months; stuff sorta blurs as to which one said what. Anyway, some records were checked for a whole bunch of Alaskan bears. From a percentage standpoint, there were fewer shots fired with .300 Magnums than with .338s. Maybe it has to do with deeper penetration of heavy .30 bullets? Dunno.

The main thing is being able to shoot accurately at a time of possible very-high stress. If a magnum rifle gets you flinching during your hundreds of rounds of off-hand practice, you're gonna have problems trying to be a bear hunter.

Art

Al Thompson · May 19, 2002, 06:19 AM

Are you planning to hunt or for defense?

The WSM is ballisticly equal to a .300 Winchester mag, the .300 Weatherby is about 200 FPS faster - needs a long action.

IMHO, the end all, do all bear caliber is a .338 Winchester.

.44 with good cast bullets and lots of practice is a good handgun for SD.

Giz

Art Eatman · May 19, 2002, 09:58 AM

Keith Rogan, who survived a bear mauling, has posted here numerous times. His advice is that a .44 Mag is marginal to useless if the bear is actually charging. Self-defense against bears is best done with something like a .45-70 Guide Gun and Garrett loads.

While some hunting guides will accept a skilled hunter with an '06 and heavy bullets, I'm of the "more is better" school--from many years of reading, going back to Russell Anabell's stories. (Annabel?) I'd most likely go with a .338 or .375.

Purely opinion,

Art

H&H,hunter · May 19, 2002, 06:25 PM

From personal experience,
I don't care for .30 caliber anything on big bears. Minmum should be a .338 and depending on the area probably a .375. Many folks out there are using the .416's on bear now days and futher I know of several guides who will only use .458's and such as backup guns. There have ,however, been a multitutde of brownies and grizz killed with the various .30's and lesser cartridges.
My personal experience is a long story but the meat of it was a friends .300 mag a good bear killed later and a complete failure of a Nosler 180 gr to penetrait on a frontal shot at about 35 yards. Fast light bullets + heavy boned critters= uncertian penetration characteristics. You want heavy and slow on these types of critters.

May 18, 2002, 09:55 PM	#1
nsf003 Senior Member Join Date: January 12, 2002 Location: South Central PA Posts: 574	.300 Weatherby and .300 WSM Are these two good Brown Bear/Grizzly calibers? What about a .44 Magnum? nsf003 __________________ Christian, American, Heterosexual, Pro-gun Conservative. Any Questions? Molon Labe! Lets Roll!

May 19, 2002, 06:19 AM	#3
Al Thompson Staff Alumnus Join Date: May 2, 1999 Location: South Carolina Posts: 3,611	Are you planning to hunt or for defense? The WSM is ballisticly equal to a .300 Winchester mag, the .300 Weatherby is about 200 FPS faster - needs a long action. IMHO, the end all, do all bear caliber is a .338 Winchester. .44 with good cast bullets and lots of practice is a good handgun for SD. Giz __________________ http://www.scfirearms.org/

May 18, 2002, 11:06 PM	#2
Art Eatman Staff in Memoriam Join Date: November 13, 1998 Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA Posts: 24,798	I've been catching up on reading gunzines after four months; stuff sorta blurs as to which one said what. Anyway, some records were checked for a whole bunch of Alaskan bears. From a percentage standpoint, there were fewer shots fired with .300 Magnums than with .338s. Maybe it has to do with deeper penetration of heavy .30 bullets? Dunno. The main thing is being able to shoot accurately at a time of possible very-high stress. If a magnum rifle gets you flinching during your hundreds of rounds of off-hand practice, you're gonna have problems trying to be a bear hunter. Art

May 19, 2002, 09:58 AM	#4
Art Eatman Staff in Memoriam Join Date: November 13, 1998 Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA Posts: 24,798	Keith Rogan, who survived a bear mauling, has posted here numerous times. His advice is that a .44 Mag is marginal to useless if the bear is actually charging. Self-defense against bears is best done with something like a .45-70 Guide Gun and Garrett loads. While some hunting guides will accept a skilled hunter with an '06 and heavy bullets, I'm of the "more is better" school--from many years of reading, going back to Russell Anabell's stories. (Annabel?) I'd most likely go with a .338 or .375. Purely opinion, Art

May 19, 2002, 06:25 PM	#5
H&H,hunter Senior Member Join Date: July 25, 2001 Location: Colorado Posts: 504	From personal experience, I don't care for .30 caliber anything on big bears. Minmum should be a .338 and depending on the area probably a .375. Many folks out there are using the .416's on bear now days and futher I know of several guides who will only use .458's and such as backup guns. There have ,however, been a multitutde of brownies and grizz killed with the various .30's and lesser cartridges. My personal experience is a long story but the meat of it was a friends .300 mag a good bear killed later and a complete failure of a Nosler 180 gr to penetrait on a frontal shot at about 35 yards. Fast light bullets + heavy boned critters= uncertian penetration characteristics. You want heavy and slow on these types of critters.