[Mr. Lionheart]

Yeah, I'm not relying on bear spray. I just don't trust my life with it and they need to get too close for comfort for it to be effective. Besides when hunting I'm heading towards the wind so guess which way the spray will come...right back at me. My boss who lives in Alaska told me he hears from people who had to use guns to protect themselves from bears but never heard from anyone who had to use bear spray.

I don't plan on aiming for the head just center mass, but I wanna know if I score a head shot that the bullet will penetrate. Glad to hear the Canadians are using this round for polar bear. I posted an account of someone who listed off what they hunted with the .308 and they downed everything big in NA excluding polar bears but said it would end up just as dead like the other bears he's hunted, so I'm confident in this round. So many people think you need a cannon for bears while it doesn't hurt to have a bigger caliber, shot placement is more important. I'll be with 2 other people so I'm not really worried as we will have plenty of firepower if we get really unlucky.

Not sure spacemanspiff my boss is the one planning the trip, I just picked what I wanted us to hunt and he's going to take care of the rest. I wanted to hunt elk because I heard it was the tastiest game meat but I think he said he drew a caribou and bear tag so I figured caribou would have a similar profile to elk and we'd try that. Hope Joe Rogan and Steve Rinella are right, I look forward to trying some.

Thanks Blindstitch for being sensible and understanding my dilemma too many people not taking this serious enough. For those that responded with suggestions, thanks. It looks like 180 grain is what most are recommending and someone mentioned 200 and 220 grain. I'll have to talk to Daniel Defense if their rifles can handle that kinda load which I suspect they would being they have some of the best barrels on the market today. So flat tips work well no matter where I hit or only for thick spots like the skulls? Does having more grain in a bullet reach a point of diminishing returns in the sense that I want the bullet to not just pass right through but actually "flower" up inside causing more internal damage?

Thanks again for the responses guys, really appreciate it! I just wanna make sure I walk out all in one piece. Oh and I changed my mind I'm going to get the DD5V2 which is the 18" barrel version... I really have been struggling with which one to pick.