6.5 140 Partition on Griz.

[338 dude]

My 2nd cousin lives in back country Alaska. Two track to his place and bit of a recluse. He owns 2 rifles. Both are Winchester M70 .375 H&H. One stationed at front door and one stationed at back door. His mom visited him and left after 2 days into 10 day visit. She told me she could not take the stress of having bears around 100% of time. Solid oak doors, small windows shuttered with steel at night. She walked out on porch with coffee first morning and got chewed out for not having him with rifle on porch. So in his world of big bears 24/7/365, he prefers a cartridge that has the horsepower to get their attention.

I started him hunting when he was 14 with bow and had lots of fun with him. His dad was casualty of Nam. I was single and tried to help out as much as a single guy could. He went into Army, put in quite a few years, took discharge to go to Alaska maybe 30+ years ago.

So IMO, he has good idea what works in Alaska.

Now that's the life many of us could get used to

 

[xsn10s]

My favorite part of these kind of threads is reading them and wondering how many respondents have actually killed grizzlies. Or even bears for that matter…I'll get another bag of popcorn going.

I've hunted/ fished in griz country and I packed heavy while doing so. A black bear was killed 15 ft from my cabin door while I was at a flyout camp. But I've never killed one. For me I side on carrying a heavier cartridge because I've never killed one. But I'll listen and vet those who have. It's knowledge and I consider knowledge another tool for the toolbox.

 

[xsn10s]

Delete

 

[xsn10s]

My favorite part of these kind of threads is reading them and wondering how many respondents have actually killed grizzlies. Or even bears for that matter…I'll get another bag of popcorn going.

I put this article close to the same level of using a 9mm pistol for bear protection.

 

[Brad Quarnberg]

I lived in and hunted all over Alaska for 18 years. I had bear baits for the majority of that time. I carried a 12-gauge shotgun when checking the baits. When hunting I always used a 300 WM or 300 WSM, and that was the minimum I'd carry because of the possibility of running into a grizzly. I killed a grizzly at 200yards with a 300WM shooting 200g grand slams and later accubonds which was my main caliber and bullet weight of choice.
I don't think you'll ever convince someone who thinks the 6.5 is the perfect Elk or Grizzly caliber that it's not. But I saw firsthand and also read many stories of guys shooting and wounding bears, even black bears with even large caliber rounds, then get mauled or killed. i want the biggest caliber and bullet weight I can shoot very well if I'm in Grizz Country.

 

[xsn10s]

I lived in and hunted all over Alaska for 18 years. I had bear baits for the majority of that time. I carried a 12-gauge shotgun when checking the baits. When hunting I always used a 300 WM or 300 WSM, and that was the minimum I'd carry because of the possibility of running into a grizzly. I killed a grizzly at 200yards with a 300WM shooting 200g grand slams and later accubonds which was my main caliber and bullet weight of choice.
I don't think you'll ever convince someone who thinks the 6.5 is the perfect Elk or Grizzly caliber that it's not. But I saw firsthand and also read many stories of guys shooting and wounding bears, even black bears with even large caliber rounds, then get mauled or killed. i want the biggest caliber and bullet weight I can shoot very well if I'm in Grizz Country.

No one said the 6.5 cm was the perfect round for this. Neither I nor the author.
Edit: I misread your post. I agree there might be some that think the 6.5 CM is the ultimate round, but I think they are far and few now. I prefer larger cartridges but it's interesting to see what a smaller round is capable of. And I fully agree with taking the largest cartridge that you are able to shoot well.

 

[FEENIX]

No one said the 6.5 cm was the perfect round for this. Neither I nor the author.

Peeps will always step out of that lane even if you tell them to stay on it. You know what Dirty Harry says about opinions.

 

[3chester]

I put this article close to the same level of using a 9mm pistol for bear protection.

Lehigh, Gold Dots, V-Crowns in a double stackD 9, going in pretty well armed. Think guy in Alaska just dropD a bear with a 9, as a guide on a fishN party .

 

[xsn10s]

Lehigh, Gold Dots, V-Crowns in a double stackD 9, going in pretty well armed. Think guy in Alaska just dropD a bear with a 9, as a guide on a fishN party .

I carried a 44 Mag stoked with now discontinued Federal 300 gr hardcast CastCores. However I trained pretty hard with that combo for months and I was in heavy into pistol competiions/ training. Can't replace experience, knowledge, skill and a cool head under stress.

 

[FEENIX]

I carried a 44 Mag stoked with now discontinued Federal 300 gr hardcast CastCores. However I trained pretty hard with that combo for months and I was in heavy into pistol competiions/ training. Can't replace experience, knowledge, skill and a cool head under stress.

Agreed! I, too, used to carry, shoot, and practice with a .44 Mag revolver with 250g Partition Gold as my sidearm in the bear country. I always want to save one of those bullets for myself.

Now I have a Glock 40 MOS 10 MM with 15+1 (it came with 3 mags) 200g bear load from HSM.

 

[xsn10s]

Agreed! I, too, used to carry, shoot, and practice with a .44 Mag revolver with 250g Partition Gold as my sidearm in the bear country. I always want to save one of those bullets for myself.

Now I have a Glock 40 MOS 10 MM with 15+1 (it came with 3 mags) 200g bear load from HSM.

Yeah good idea lol. I don't have that Model 29 anymore, though I could get it. If I had to carry in bear country today it would be my S&W 686 or my Glock 23. I'm out of practice but I can do the Dickens drill with either on moving targets or on the move. Not that that proves anything. If I was as experienced as Phil Shoemaker then that might be different

 

[Mark37082]

There is such a fascination with large carnivores like brown and grizzly bears. I've never had the opportunity to hunt one. I great friend and his brother did. The brother scored on a nice 9.5' brown, but my friend lost his in the thick alders after putting a 416 in the bear's chest at 50 yards. This haunted him for decades. He was unlucky on one hand as he lost out on a once in lifetime hunt, but on the other hand he was lucky the bear charged into the alders instead of directly at him.

 

[xsn10s]

There is such a fascination with large carnivores like brown and grizzly bears. I've never had the opportunity to hunt one. I great friend and his brother did. The brother scored on a nice 9.5' brown, but my friend lost his in the thick alders after putting a 416 in the bear's chest at 50 yards. This haunted him for decades. He was unlucky on one hand as he lost out on a once in lifetime hunt, but on the other hand he was lucky the bear charged into the alders instead of directly at him.

Where I fished and hunted there were a ton of bear tracks. I remember running down the shore chasing after a hooked salmon , grayling, or sheefish on my 6lb set up constantly looking over my shoulder. I was/ still am conflicted on hunting them. Seeing one skin out gave me the ebby geebies.

 

[Hand Skills]

I'd have to agree to disagree. Shot placement is critical but I'd have to say speed and energy play just as big of a roll in DRT results.

Cheers Doug, and I agree with you. Speed and energy can be leveraged to good effect, but push a particular bullet beyond its limits and 'dramatic' can go either way

Interesting that a 12ga slug at ~1500fps (less than 2500ft-lbs) is the most popular choice for defensive encounters with Ursus up here in Canada. Often followed up with buckshot (which offers only slightly more forgiveness to #1 Shot Placement.)

Not a lot of speed, not a lot of energy, but big and slow has been getting it done for generations. (Reliably I might add)

You are entitled to your opinion, of course - I am not here to argue, or change anyone's mind...

...just stating facts.

.338 and .375 are generally considered to be 'medium' bores

Impact velocity, bullet construction, size of bore, mass of bullet, gyroscopic stability, target resistance, these variables all contribute to;

Bullet Performance:

i.e. what the bullet actually does when the metal hits the meat.

If your hunting things that can hunt you back, and have no guarantee that you'll be offered up an opportunity for absolutely perfect shot placement, especially if one does decide to come at you, then all that "shot placement is all that matters" goes right out the window.

You missed #2;

1. Shot Placement

2. Bullet Performance

I find it unwise to go into any kind of hunt expecting, planning, and making my success contingent upon everything going exactly right for me. When things go less than right as Murphy would have them do, overkill beats the alternative.

It sure does. Speaking of Murphy, I know a native guy who killed a grizzly with his knife while the bear chewed on his rifle. Pretty humbling story. At close enough range even the biggest rifle is just a big stick...

My favorite part of these kind of threads is reading them and wondering how many respondents have actually killed grizzlies. Or even bears for that matter…I'll get another bag of popcorn going.

Haha, indeed. The 'Wolf' subforum is even 'better' in that regard

It's funny what stirs some people up.

The author gets to shoot a Griz every year. He's done it with a bow and arrow using a stone tip he knapped himself, flintlock and round ball... He's trying to leverage his creativity for a relevant magazine article in twenty twenty-something and

He was in a tree stand.


Thanks for the reminder - time to get back to the real world