Calvin45
Well-Known Member
Just a world of difference between a "killing rifle" a dedicated "hunting rifle" and an honest to God "stopping rifle" or backup rifle.
Every dang time this subject comes up someone points out that an indigenous berry picker named Bella Twin in the 50s by slave lake Alberta killed one of the largest grizzly bears ever recorded with a single shot Cooey .22 lr. It was acting ever more brash and aggressive and she shot it in the side of the head, it dropped, and she shot it like 8 or 9 more times in the head to "pay the insurance" as she put it. Wise lady. In the right hands under the right circumstances a .22 rimfire is a killing rifle. It is not a big game hunting rifle or a stopping rifle in any stretch of the imagination. Same goes for the .22 centerfires, it is always pointed out that many sustenance hunters kill everything under the sun with a .223. That's not the same as getting to go on the hunt of a lifetime and choosing to bring such a piddly gun haha.
The .308 is a good, if boring, all purpose hunting rifle. Most anything can be killed relatively swiftly with one, Lord knows the old ivory hunters killed a pile of elephants with 7x57, 303 British, 8x57, and I think even the 6.5x55 with heavy for caliber round nose FMJs taking brain shots. The .308 is comparable to any of those in its utility and power level. Every year numerous large moose and elk are hunted without any fuss or complications or underkill issues. We've all heard stories of the anomalously huge 2000 pound bears, and they have existed (biggest polar bear ever recorded north of 2200 pounds, no such thing as overkill facing a beast like that). But those are twice the size of anything commonly encountered, and if a cartridge and bullet combo is up for clean killing chest shots on a full grown bull moose or elk it's not like a bear that almost certainly weights less than the moose by a fair bit
Is going to be immune to it. The .308 should be fine as a hunting rifle for bears of any kind.
But now for the kicker…what if you don't get a perfect shot, and you don't have the option of passing it up like an elk or a moose BECAUSE ITS COMING YOUR WAY.
Then I'd sure want a lot more gun than a .308. It's no stopping rifle. Neither is the .300 win mag, BUT I will say I've seen it numerous places where guides are asked what they recommend ad a minimum ideal caliber for hunting these things and the most common answer has been a .300 win mag with a premium stout 180 grain or heavier bullet. In my limited observations and listening to others, there is something of a new level of terminal ballistic authority that begins to be realized by the magnum .30 calibers that you do not get with the slower .30s or smaller bore diameters.
Every dang time this subject comes up someone points out that an indigenous berry picker named Bella Twin in the 50s by slave lake Alberta killed one of the largest grizzly bears ever recorded with a single shot Cooey .22 lr. It was acting ever more brash and aggressive and she shot it in the side of the head, it dropped, and she shot it like 8 or 9 more times in the head to "pay the insurance" as she put it. Wise lady. In the right hands under the right circumstances a .22 rimfire is a killing rifle. It is not a big game hunting rifle or a stopping rifle in any stretch of the imagination. Same goes for the .22 centerfires, it is always pointed out that many sustenance hunters kill everything under the sun with a .223. That's not the same as getting to go on the hunt of a lifetime and choosing to bring such a piddly gun haha.
The .308 is a good, if boring, all purpose hunting rifle. Most anything can be killed relatively swiftly with one, Lord knows the old ivory hunters killed a pile of elephants with 7x57, 303 British, 8x57, and I think even the 6.5x55 with heavy for caliber round nose FMJs taking brain shots. The .308 is comparable to any of those in its utility and power level. Every year numerous large moose and elk are hunted without any fuss or complications or underkill issues. We've all heard stories of the anomalously huge 2000 pound bears, and they have existed (biggest polar bear ever recorded north of 2200 pounds, no such thing as overkill facing a beast like that). But those are twice the size of anything commonly encountered, and if a cartridge and bullet combo is up for clean killing chest shots on a full grown bull moose or elk it's not like a bear that almost certainly weights less than the moose by a fair bit
Is going to be immune to it. The .308 should be fine as a hunting rifle for bears of any kind.
But now for the kicker…what if you don't get a perfect shot, and you don't have the option of passing it up like an elk or a moose BECAUSE ITS COMING YOUR WAY.
Then I'd sure want a lot more gun than a .308. It's no stopping rifle. Neither is the .300 win mag, BUT I will say I've seen it numerous places where guides are asked what they recommend ad a minimum ideal caliber for hunting these things and the most common answer has been a .300 win mag with a premium stout 180 grain or heavier bullet. In my limited observations and listening to others, there is something of a new level of terminal ballistic authority that begins to be realized by the magnum .30 calibers that you do not get with the slower .30s or smaller bore diameters.
