8mm/338 for brown bear

[Jasper2017]

I'm thinking about a brown bear hunt and was think about using my 8mm/338 Winchester mag with 200gr Barnes bullets. would this gun and load work or should I rework my plans.

 

[hunter67wa]

I bet it will do great!

 

[Alibiiv]

I'm thinking about a brown bear hunt and was think about using my 8mm/338 Winchester mag with 200gr Barnes bullets. would this gun and load work or should I rework my plans.

I black bear hunt, close ranges, use Barnes bullets, so I can attest to the bullets. The first bear that I harvested with a 180gr TSX out of a 30-06. Another bear was taken with the 200TTSX out of a .358 Winchester, and two more were taken with 225gr TSX bullets out of the 35 Whelen. The bullets performed perfectly, all through-and-through results. Decent entry hole and huge exit hole on all of these animals, dropped where they were shot, however....... Had to track the bear that was shot with the 30-06 for about a 100 yards, that was on me and not the bullet; not my proudest shot with that one. I really like the Barnes bullets for bear hunting, it would take a lot to convince me to change bullets at all.

 

[338LAPUA]

I think that should do the trick. Glad to see there is still some love for the 8mm!

 

[m3mike]

I used a .338 Win mag on brown bear and it worked great. I think in general for that caliber 225 grain bullets have the best sectional density for penetration. I used trophy bonded Bear Claws but have had great results with Barnes on many other hunts.

 

[remingtonman]

I black bear hunt, close ranges, use Barnes bullets, so I can attest to the bullets. The first bear that I harvested with a 180gr TSX out of a 30-06. Another bear was taken with the 200TTSX out of a .358 Winchester, and two more were taken with 225gr TSX bullets out of the 35 Whelen. The bullets performed perfectly, all through-and-through results. Decent entry hole and huge exit hole on all of these animals, dropped where they were shot, however....... Had to track the bear that was shot with the 30-06 for about a 100 yards, that was on me and not the bullet; not my proudest shot with that one. I really like the Barnes bullets for bear hunting, it would take a lot to convince me to change bullets at all.

would you prefer the 35whelen/358winchester over the 30-06 for bear? I've been thinking about a 35 whelen lately, even though I have a 338-06 and 45-70 I'm still partial to the 35calibers.

 

[Alibiiv]

would you prefer the 35whelen/358winchester over the 30-06 for bear? I've been thinking about a 35 whelen lately, even though I have a 338-06 and 45-70 I'm still partial to the 35calibers.

The 338-06 or the 45-70 are great bear cartridges. However.........I feel that the 35 Whelen is a really tough round to beat for bear hunting, and.....a much better round than the 30-06<<<------boy I am probably going to get beat up for writing this statement!! I've shot bear with both the Whelen and the .358 Winchester, it's been a bang-flop DRT situation. With the Whelen and the Barnes, 225gr TSX bullets it's a large entry hole and an extremely larger exit hole. The .358 Winchester is also a good round, I have one as a back-up rifle in case something goes awry with the Whelen. I missed a very large black bear this past season with the 45-70, so....cannot comment on cartridge's performance, only can comment on the nut-behind-the-trigger's performance; not so great!!

 

[Truc]

would you prefer the 35whelen/358winchester over the 30-06 for bear? I've been thinking about a 35 whelen lately, even though I have a 338-06 and 45-70 I'm still partial to the 35calibers.

LOL, I had to double check if I had wrote this when reading,
I had a 358 win for a couple of years, then took the barrel off and put it on a model 7 350 Mag. I did this because the 358 barrel was a custom and had a break. I also have a 338/06 I bear hunt with. My wife uses the 350 RM but got bear fever and missed.
I
my lever action though is a 356 Win