Whats the longest shot you would take on a brown bear

[bigrich954rr]

I was talking to a friend whos planing to go on a hunt . Hes taking a 338RUM he thinks he might take a long shot at one. But i said he should keep it close. Hes said i worry to much which might be true but elk are alot nice then a ****ed off bear. Just wanted to get your thoughts on it

 

[Coyboy]

Less than 100yards. Why take all the fun out of it. The adrenaline rush from having such a deadly beast so close would be the best part.

Perfect senario in my mind would be 450 marlin at about 50 yards, wind in your face with the stink of rotten flesh filling your nostrils. The big bear rises to his hind legs as he sences somthing different. You remain motionless as the bear seems to look through you. When he drops to all fours and gives you a good broadside look, WHAM WHAM WHAM.

And pray he dosen,t run 52 yards /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[sniper2]

I'm with your friend I rather have him ****ed at 400yds and not know where you are than in a few yards of you!!The rig he is talking about will get the job done an at good range...

 

[sewwhat89]

The whole point is for him not to be ****ed but dead. It depends on how good a shot you are with your gun and load you have developed. I like the idea of a big bore and close range, but others may not share my challenging/stupid idea. With a 338RUM, 300 yards should be a cake walk if he does his job.

 

[alremkin]

I wouldn't hunt brown bears with a 30 caliber rifle. I have a 338 Win mag and a 338/378 and I consider these on the light side for brown or grizzly bears. Right now I'm considering buying a Remington 416 Safari with the 22" barrel. Of course the CZ Safari in 505 Gibbs and 450 Rigby also tweak my interest, but now I'm thinking the handiness of the Remington makes it the best choice.

Generally I agree that shots on big bears should be less than 100 yards. This way the bullet has close to it's maximum energy and the certainty of a clean kill is high. Also I agree with the old African rule of using a 40 caliber minimum on dangerous game.

 

[41mag]

I am also sort of qurious as to where this will end up. My hunting pardner has it in his mind to poke one with one of those little graphite arrows, and wants me along for back up or as a witness for the insurance co. Either way, I told him that if I was going to be there, he had better be prepared to pick up something in at least .338 with pleanty of steam for at least a 200+ yd shot. I figure that I could hopefully get off at least two more rounds before he made it as mentioned above that extra couple of yards.

 

[ricka0]

Are 50s legal (like in Montana). I'd shoot one at 1,000 yards using one of my 50 BMGs.

I'm with sniper2. The 338 RUM with accubonds will do the job. If I was going to shoot at 100 yards or less, I might use my 338 BAR WinMag - no muzzle rise with the excellent BOSS break + auto. You fire 4 shots in 3 seconds with good accuracy.
<ul type="square"> [*]338 RUM 225 gr AccuBond 3200 FPS [*]338 WinMag 225 gr AccuBond 2900 FPS [*]375 RUM 260gr Accubond 3050 FPS (My first choice) [*]416 Rem 400gr 2500 FPS [*]50 BMG - 750gr A-MAX 2800 FPS with BC 1.05 [/list]

 

[ricka0]

[ QUOTE ]
<font color="purple"> Also I agree with the old African rule of using a 40 caliber minimum on dangerous game.

[/ QUOTE ] </font> </font>
There's a good reason it's an <font color="red"> Old </font> rule - they didn't have hi velocity guns or bullets (like Accubond) that could utilize them. Even with a a lower velocity gun like the 6BR, the Old rule would never allow taking an antelope at 800 yards are even 460 in high gusting winds. GG breaks the Old African Rule
I like Mike / Tx idea - go for the long shot and for added insurance, get life insurance /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[sniper2]

Should get the Brown like we catch Polar Bears, cut hole in ice,place fish in front of the hole when the Polar Bear bends over to get the fish you just kick him in the ice hole.Must have good BC boot for this kind of work!!

 

[jro45]

A friend of mine shot his Grizzley at 100yds with his lapua
338. Shot it 2 or 3 times but killed it without it going but a couple steps

 

[Ian M]

If he is guided the guide will have something to say about how long the shot is and what is optimum. Guides I hunted with liked 75-120 yards, that way the bullet goes where it is aimed and has a lot of its energy. Closer than 75 and you might not get more than one additional shot - they can run charge very fast. Bottom line is not to wound one, not let it get into the brush - that is very bad.

With all due respect in my opinion you guys are wrong about taking on a brown bear with .30 cals. and even the .338 . Sure it has been done lots but it is at the bottom of the power scale if things go bad.

If I get to do another hunt I will carry nothing less than a .416, even the .375 H&amp;H can come up short when an enraged brown bear is coming on you. My partner's bear took five .375's at 28 paces, all from .375's. My bear stopped like he hit an invisible wall when the 350 grain A-Frame from my .416 Rigby hit him as he came at us - the shot was at 150, he was coming like a freight train. I could not believe how that bullet overwhelmed him, just plain dropped him flat on the sand mid-stride.

Met two guys with brand new .338 RUM's in one camp, both Remington rifles went down during their hunt. Bad luck, but not a good time for that to happen. Guides I hunted with preferred CRF M-70's - had them in .416 Rem and .375 H&amp;H.

Personally I would not consider taking a long shot the way I do with deer-family critters. Just way too dangerous, chance of bear getting into the alders and someone getting hurt. Just not worth it in my opinion. You have to experience their size and determination to respect how deadly they can be - they scare the spit out of me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[alremkin]

Regarding GG breaking the old African rule on dangerous game, I haven't heard of wounded ground hogs charging those shooting them and killing them or pronghorn either, hence the 40 cal min on dangerous game doesn't apply.

Actually what I was describing is what I consider to good grizzly gun here in BC. I considered the CZ Safari in 505 Gibbs and 450 Rigby, but they weigh 10 or 11 pounds and have 25" barrels; so in tight quarters it makes these two much less handy. The Remington 416 stainless custom shop has a 22" barrel and a barrel band so the rifle will carry lower on my shoulder, a good feature in heavy bush. So I think the 416 Remington gives the best compromise of killing power and handiness in heavy bush. I'll sight in for 50 yds and not plan to shoot grizzlies at much more than 100 yds.

I recall Ian, one of the moderators here, telling of shooting a large brown bear with his 416 Rigby @160yds as it was charging him. Under the conditions he described he actions seemed appropriate to me. I've done some long range hunting in the 500-600 yd range and recovered two wounded animals and never left a wounded game animal in the bush. I've done some competitive shooting and I worry a little about what anti hunters would say about long range hunting in that they'd like to ban all hunting. When hunting dangerous game to me it seems reasonable to add an extra level of safety by reducing the range, now of course using a 50 cal adds quite a bit to the killing power of a rifle and increases the range at which one can kill reasonably. At this point I fell comfortable out to 500yds with my current equipment. With my 338/378 I hope to extend this out to 800yds, but it will require considerable practice this winter at long range to achieve this.

 

[sniper2]

Ian what level of energy do you say is necessary to bring down the big bruins?I have never even fired at a brown bear
and was giving my two cents worth about range and cartridge and bullet performance based on what little I know about ballistics...

 

[Ian M]

Sniper2,
I would not hunt deer with a .17 rimfire even tho a .17 would no doubt kill a deer. That is how I feel about hunting brown bear with .30 cal. rifles. When you see one coming hard they are NOT from this world - I doubt that you could have too much gun. I came away from Alaska with an entirely different outlook towards bears. I have a lot of experience with black bears, a bit of time with grizzlies - had never seen a brownie. Brown bears are evil, they are pre-historic killing machines, they are not nice looking, they have beadie little eyes, very small brains, enormous muscles on their jaws that are made for one thing - killing, their shoulder muscles are about the size of your waist (unless you are a chubby guy like me). Any bear can scare the crap out of a person when they get aggressive - bown bears are worse. They can be very vocal, which is an intimidation thing that works. They are not that nice of an animal, despite what that guy from California that got munched was trying to tell the world.
Personally, I would not hunt one intentionally with a .30 or .338 mag. - simple as that. Hope to do it again, it will be with a .416 or bigger.

One brown bear kill does not make me an expert by any means, but I got some strong opinions on them big furry guys.