Brown bear Rifle

[Treeslug]

I didn't expect anything, one way or the other. I now I have expectations. I don't expect much. Maybe some more math?

Are you mad at me? This thread is slowing down and I was trying to stir up some conversation. I like this subject. I left plenty of room to allow many folks to correct me and add their knowledge to the story. I hope you can add something interesting to the thread, because I like interesting people.

 

[Treeslug]

Karamojo Bell loved the 275 Rigby cartridge. He shot everything he could with that rifle. A highly experienced rifleman with decades of first hand know how who understood bullet placement better than anyone of his period. He most likely wanted to just prove it could be done or maybe he was getting financial inducements from Rigby. But he was not stupid or have a death wish. He went everywhere with a handful assistants who carried his big bores and were trained to use them. KB would walk thru the tall grass with the little Rigby and a bearer carrying a tripod ladder. Behind. When he was within a distance he was comfortable with the ladder was setup and the bearer would retreat behind the fellows with much bigger Rigbys. He climbed the ladder lined up on the elephants eye and pulled the trigger. The elephant went down. I think shock to the brain did kill many of them but there were probably some that were finished with a .416 Rigby or .500 double. Another thing he knew to do was he had to do this to the dominant bull. This eliminated the possibility of getting trampled by the dominant bull. He also had camera crews present filming some of these exploits. They required protection as well. But, to compare what he was doing to a herbivore in wide open spaces with a small army behind him is apples and oranges to what a guide and his client are doing in dense terrain in cold weather by themselves with huge carnivores with ginsu knives for toe nails. As for kinetic energy if you make me choose between getting hit with a five pound sharpened pencil or a ten pound cinder block. I'll take the pencil.

Well, excuuuuse me! My old and feeble brain seemed to remember KB shooting a trainload of elephants with a 7mm rifle. A 7mm-08, I was thinking. Thinking that hard gives me a headache. I never implied that Bell had a death wish or was stupid. That would be me talking about me. I'm sure you are correct about his hunting styles. My point is that you can kill a very large and powerful, completely enraged herbivore with one shot from a small projectile, so a .30 caliber bullet of sufficient size, moving at sufficient velocity, CAN kill a brown/grizzly/polar bear. Would I use my son's .300 Win. Mag. for the job, NO. My wife would kill me if I did not use my 378 Weatherby that she saved up and bought me back in the early 80s. She would be more dangerous than any wounded brown bear. As for the kinetic energy experiment you are planning on trying so we can discuss the results later, that is a personnel choice between being impaled or being bruised. I will have to experiment with that problem a time or two.

 

[Treeslug]

From my experience hunting with guides on Kodiak Island, I doubt if any guides will let you shoot a bear over 150yds because, they want to be able to back up your shot. The last thing a guide wants is a wounded bear he has to find and put down. Both bears I killed, fortunately with one well placed shot on each, the guides had me put another shot into for good measure. The first one I shot the guide was going to if I didn't. In both cases, my guides told me they rarely have clients that make one shot kills. The first time I was told this I thought the guide was just giving me a pat on the back but, after hearing stories in camp I believe them and feel fortunate.

All of my unguided hunts on Kodiak Island have been pipe dreams that never came true. I am happy for you getting two bears. In my dreams, I always make one-shot kills, and there is never a need for a follow-up shot. I did not want too many bullet holes in my rug. I, too, have heard and read and watched the videos and old movies of real brown bear hunts. How do you think a poor boy from Texas would even know there is such an animal in this world. I would no longer hunt brown bear with a .300 WM. I own a 340 Weatherby and the aforementioned 378 Weatherby. I love big weapons. I hunt Texas deer with a 378 Wby. Some call me crazy for that, but it does less damage to the meat and still kills the deer DRT. Heavy, stout bullets. I love to sit around a good campfire and listen to the stories of past hunts. From hippos to bunny rabbits, I am always up for a good hunting story. Keep 'em comming.

 

[436]

Yes sir My wife often carries an Ithaca 37 12ga 18" when checking our camera line. Lightweight, very quick slick action, bottom eject, and lethal with 00Buck at close range. She prefers it over my 35 because of recoil. Truth be told I will likely put a brake on the 35 this winter .

When my wife and I are in Alaska fishing or just taking in the States vista's traveling by camper... I always have my old never-fail Ithaca 37 Deerslayer slug gun with us.
When we are on the bank of a river or lake it's never off my back. I picked 3" 1 3/8 oz Brenneke Black Magic Mags for my slug in the Ithaca rifled barrel, barrel it's a track driver as a shotgun goes with pretty good range and tons of power in close. I'm amazed at how well my wife shoots it, it's just hard to beat where the big teeth hang out.

 

[Deleted member 118518]

I love the sight on it

 

[Pdvdh]

I've tricked out a 20 and 12ga Rem 870 shotgun. If available, it's my 1st choice of carry into the brush when bear conflict is likely. Returning to recover meat from caribou or moose. Or finding a bear that runs into thick brush after being shot.

Brenneke slugs or Tungsten buckshot.

 

[longgun505]

When my wife and I are in Alaska fishing or just taking in the States vista's traveling by camper... I always have my old never-fail Ithaca 37 Deerslayer slug gun with us.
When we are on the bank of a river or lake it's never off my back. I picked 3" 1 3/8 oz Brenneke Black Magic Mags for my slug in the Ithaca rifled barrel, barrel it's a track driver as a shotgun goes with pretty good range and tons of power in close. I'm amazed at how well my wife shoots it, it's just hard to beat where the big teeth hang out.

View attachment 277082

Amen brother. I purchased it initially for myself, but my 5'3" bride claimed it as a belated wedding gift

 

[Deleted member 118518]

Well, excuuuuse me! My old and feeble brain seemed to remember KB shooting a trainload of elephants with a 7mm rifle. A 7mm-08, I was thinking. Thinking that hard gives me a headache. I never implied that Bell had a death wish or was stupid. That would be me talking about me. I'm sure you are correct about his hunting styles. My point is that you can kill a very large and powerful, completely enraged herbivore with one shot from a small projectile, so a .30 caliber bullet of sufficient size, moving at sufficient velocity, CAN kill a brown/grizzly/polar bear. Would I use my son's .300 Win. Mag. for the job, NO. My wife would kill me if I did not use my 378 Weatherby that she saved up and bought me back in the early 80s. She would be more dangerous than any wounded brown bear. As for the kinetic energy experiment you are planning on trying so we can discuss the results later, that is a personnel choice between being impaled or being bruised. I will have to experiment with that problem a time or two.

Well Walter Bell shot a lot of rifles. He was born in 1880 died in 1954. Suffered from a failing heart the last two years of his life. Moved back to his estate in Scotland with his wife in 1939.
The 308 was introduced in 1952. Was adopted by NATO( 7.62 x 51) in 1954. Winchester had the rights to it. It became world famous as a great full power short action cartridge. Wildcatters started necking it down to .284 shortly there after. It was made a commercial cartridge by Remington in 1980. The .275 Rigby is the 7x57 Mauser in imperial designation. The Britts used the bore diameter which is the top of the lands where as the Germans used the groove diameter to designate caliber which was .2845 or 7mm. DWM of Germany sold the rights to produce the cartridge and rifles for it throughout the British Empire to Rigby. Back then when you bought a rifle of a certain designation you had to buy the ammo from the rifle maker. Rigby profited immensely by sensational feats surrounding their products. But he never lived long enough to shoot a .308 or it's offshoot the 7-08. He did shoot a lot of different calibers from the .220 Swift for European Stagg to the .313 Westley Richards for a lot of animals around the globe. Including Elliphant. He used various means to kill Bull Elliphant. He disectected their sculls and found the best path to the brain without hitting Lage Bone. He had several near misses or complete misses using the 275 military 174 grain fmj rounds and started using the Westley Richards 313 hard ball and didn't have any more misses. You are right about his killing a lot of Elliphant. 1011. His daily high score was 19. He killed 28 pregnant females. He made a fortune in Ivory. His penchant for using smaller than normal bullets made him famous and the other Great White Hunters jealous. Today he would have been jailed in every country he worked in. He would kill the dominant bull and his mate. This put the heard in a position of disorientation without a leader. He and his team would then kill every bull in the heard. As they say things were different back in the day

 

[Deleted member 118518]

I've tricked out a 20 and 12ga Rem 870 shotgun. If available, it's my 1st choice of carry into the brush when bear conflict is likely. Returning to recover meat from caribou or moose. Or finding a bear that runs into thick brush after being shot.

Brenneke slugs or Tungsten buckshot.

Tungsten shot? I bet that was hard on barrels

 

[Deleted member 118518]

Amen brother. I purchased it initially for myself, but my 5'3" bride claimed it as a belated wedding gift

LOL. Happy wife happy life especially when they're holding your new pump gun eh

 

[Pdvdh]

No. 1 size tungsten buckshot in 12ga. Also have some #0000 and #4 tungsten buckshot. The #0000 tungsten penetrated 14" of live birch tree trunk. The #1 buck penetrated 9".

Have to use the thick plastic shot cups to protect the shotgun barrel. Similar to steel pellet shot cups. I also place a plastic liner inside the shot cup. Choke is open, so very little constriction at the muzzle. We have finished one grizzly in the alders and willows with Tungsten buckshot.

Tungsten buckshot is for head/brain shots only, in my opinion. Deep penetration. The pellets don't deform at all. Look like new pellets after fired.

 

[longgun505]

No. 1 size tungsten buckshot in 12ga. Also have some #0000 and #4 tungsten buckshot. The #0000 tungsten penetrated 14" of live birch tree trunk. The #1 buck penetrated 9".

Have to use the thick plastic shot cups to protect the shotgun barrel. Similar to steel pellet shot cups. I also place a plastic liner inside the shot cup. Choke is open, so very little constriction at the muzzle. We have finished one grizzly in the alders and willows with Tungsten buckshot.

Tungsten buckshot is for head/brain shots only, in my opinion. Deep penetration. The pellets don't deform at all. Look like new pellets after fired.

Awesomeness in motion Fast motion

 

[Pdvdh]

Lols... Itchy trigger finger...

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Forget all these shotguns with special metal shot and repeaters with scopes and red dots. Now if you going to be hunting Brown Bear within 100 yrds you don't need a scope so when I get the chance to go I will bring a Holland & Holland Royal Deluxe Double Rifle in 577 Nitro, these are hand made of course so very dependable and two shots in case you miss the first time. Only takes one shot to put anything down. Also if you are not sure of your shooting abilities bring along a HOWDAH for back up-another two shot kill anything (in close) pistol.