308 enough for brown/polar bear?

[436]

Not particularly impressed by waking up a sleeping bear (I know I know technically they don't "hibernate") with dogs and fire and then shooting it as it stumbles out of its den. Not surprised the sks killed it. But everything about that "hunt" seemed awful to me. Just my opinion.

Yep, I think Ivan was playing with fire in more ways than one, I also think that Bear was coming out to finish everything out there off, sleepy or not. A guy has to believe his bovine anal seepage to keep doing that kind of hunting, it's not hard to see where that whole Aarvark Rodeo could go south in a hillbilly's heartbeat. Cheers

 

[Idaho Lefty]

Okay Here's My 2 cents on, THE Best, Rifle, Pistol or, Shotgun, FOR,.. a "Charging",.. Grizz , Polar or, Brown Bear,..
I'd Go with an, "African, Double Rifle" in, .375 H& H, . 404 Jefferey, .458 win. or, .416 Rigby with Thick Jacketed SP Bullets, as they Worked, VERY "Well" on Charging,. Lions, Tigers, Cape Buffalo and Elephants ! ( You Still gotta, shoot "Straight" !! ) Those Big Bore, Double Tap's, "Worked" ( Usually ! ).
One of, my Customers ( years ago ) Shot, a Polar Bear with, 3 Shots out of, a .300 Weatherby MkV ( 180 gr. ) and said that, His Guide Put One, in Him, too from, a Win .375 H&H ( He WAS,. a "Toughie" ! ) First Shot, was in Upper Chest as bear was standing and "Looking" around at, 80 Yards and it got, the Bear to,"Charge". He said that, He was shaking so Hard when the Bear finally Piled Up, Dead at, 20 Feet that, he couldn't light, a Cigarette for, quite a while ! The .270 win, .280 rem, .308 win. or, .30-06 with, Heavy weight Partitions, would probably, "Get, the job Done", in the RIGHT "Hands" shooting for, the Mouth / Nose, area ! ( They Just wouldn't Be, My First, "Choice" ! )
I've always Felt, pretty Comfy with, My .338 Win Mag., Mk V Bolt action and 210 Noslers, in Grizz country !

 

[Turpentine21]

A young black guy pulled a pistol in a little hole in the wall nightclub near where I live a while back. Six or seven deputies responded and had the man at gunpoint for a while but he wouldn't drop the gun. When he raised it to shoot those deputies opened up with 9mm and 45acp. The guy arrived at the hospital with 26 holes in him! And lived! Some things just don't go down easy whether you have the right gun or not. But it did get him out of his fighting mood and change his priorities a bit.
Now I personally would have rather had a shotgun and buckshot in that situation. I've shot a lot of stuff with 00 buck and if it's within 25 yards and hit squarely it dies very quickly. 000 buck is very good too. It penetrates better and at longer ranges than 00. I've killed a lot with 00 and 000 at three times that range but that's likely not a range you would be shooting a charging bear.

What I don't want in a bear charge is just 2 shots if I have the option for more. A charging bear might just cause marksmanship to suffer a bit. I'd also like to be able to get shots off in quick succession and hope for a good CNS hit.

 

[Idaho Lefty]

The old Time, African Professional Hunters could NOT afford to, Miss with those, Double Rifles and Most had, testicles, the size of,. Coconuts !
They ALWAYS tried to,. MAKE, the First Shot,.."Count" !
Getting 3 Shots Off, with a Bolt action rifle at, a Charging Bear at, CLOSE Range,.. ???
I'll Take, the Double Rifle,.. EVERY Time ( personally )

 

[Turpentine21]

In that light, a good friend of mine went on a brown bear hunt this year. The folks he went with required a 416 cal minimum which we all thought was steep. Now my friend actually was an outfitter in Africa and told them he has a Kreighoff double in 500 Gibbs I think. It's a beautiful rifle. Ive handled it many times. He's killed lion, elephant and Cape Buffalo with that gun plus many other species. They would not accept that for his hunt because it only allowed two shots. He ended up borrowing a 416 Remington bolt action He killed his bear. 9'7". With one shot.

 

[Turpentine21]

The old Time, African Professional Hunters could NOT afford to, Miss with those, Double Rifles and Most had, testicles, the size of,. Coconuts !
They ALWAYS tried to,. MAKE, the First Shot,.."Count" !
Getting 3 Shots Off, with a Bolt action rifle at, a Charging Bear at, CLOSE Range,.. ???
I'll Take, the Double Rifle,.. EVERY Time ( personally )

To the contrary there are probably quite a few of those people with big testicles laying trampled in shallow graves or were the star attendant at their own closed casket funeral that wished they had had more than two shots. It can go either way.

 

[436]

I think both of you have good points... Cheers https://www.africahunting.com/threads/dangerous-game-double-rifle-side-by-side-vs-over-under.77840/