Thinking about a dedicated black bear rifle, thoughts?

[djharteloo]

So I'm thinking about getting a rifle specifically for using for black bears only, why? because I want one

I'm thinking of a larger then a 30 caliber, some kind of well proven action, shooting around a 200 grain bullet. .338 federal? 35 Remington? 35 Whelen? bolt gun? Lever? Single shot? What do you guys think?

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[v0lcom13sn0w]

300 win mag bolt gun

 

[Certaindeaf]

350 Remington Magnum out of a Model 600!

 

[turq]

I have an AR 15 parts kit in 358 MPG
Shoots a 200 gr at about 2100
Check out the ballistics. A natural for black bear.

 

[KKG]

A "JM" Marlin in .35 Remington with a 2-7X Leupold Scope. That would fill the bill nicely.

 

[djharteloo]

Once upon a time I had an old marlin 336 in .35 remington and I feel I should've held onto it

I was leaning towards one of the savage hog hunters in .338 federal. Seems like they can be had for about $400, and I'm already loading for .308 and .338 win mag. Seems like a natural progression.

 

[Certaindeaf]

A .348 Winchester would be pretty sweet.

 

[djharteloo]

A .348 Winchester would be pretty sweet.

View attachment 512241

That would be pretty sweet, I would feel bad if i hurt it in the brush, but I'm sure I could get over it.

 

[Certaindeaf]

That would be pretty sweet, I would feel bad if i hurt it in the brush, but I'm sure I could get over it.

Dang right! I've seen some beautiful rifles mangled up in the woods but that's the way it goes.

 

[No_Regerts]

Just remember that bear fat will fill holes and really cut down on the blood trail. Because of this, I prefer speed and fairly rapid expansion that causes a larger wound cavity. At the ranges I normally hunt, 0-400 yards, a 30-06 or 300 Win Mag using a Barnes 150gr Tipped TSX with a full head of steam is a good option. So is a 338 Win Mag with 185gr TTSX.

 

[Joe13]

45-70 lever

 

[Mark W.]

Well as the case may be I am doing exactly what your thinking about. I'm building a Savage 111 Trophy Hunter into a .35 Whelen using a E.R.Shaw barrel and a Boyds Stock with a Williams Peep site on the back and a gold Bead on the front. And when I want to use it for Elk I'll pull the Irons and screw my Leupold Vari-X II 3-9X on it and swing by the range to sight it in. Up to a 250gr slug I'm thinking for Bear a 200gr moving as fast as I can get it should do fine. For Elk I'll most likely run a 180-190 gr with a little sharper tip for some range.

 

[djharteloo]

Well as the case may be I am doing exactly what your thinking about. I'm building a Savage 111 Trophy Hunter into a .35 Whelen using a E.R.Shaw barrel and a Boyds Stock with a Williams Peep site on the back and a gold Bead on the front. And when I want to use it for Elk I'll pull the Irons and screw my Leupold Vari-X II 3-9X on it and swing by the range to sight it in. Up to a 250gr slug I'm thinking for Bear a 200gr moving as fast as I can get it should do fine. For Elk I'll most likely run a 180-190 gr with a little sharper tip for some range.

I do have a Winchester Model 70 in 30-06 I had thought about rebarrelling into a .35 Whelen to shoot elk/bears with at the coast but it seems like it would be more money then I was wanting to spend on a project currently.

 

[Goosebrown]

The rifle you get for your black bear is less important than the length of pull in the stock. Bear arms are not as long as ours and although we have a constitutional right to bear arms, I'm not sure it extends to arming bears.

If you have to, I'd go with a lever action with the enlarged lever.

Good luck with your strange request!

 

[Certaindeaf]

The rifle you get for your black bear is less important than the length of pull in the stock. Bear arms are not as long as ours and although we have a constitutional right to bear arms, I'm not sure it extends to arming bears.

If you have to, I'd go with a lever action with the enlarged lever.

Good luck with your strange request!

One way to assure their dedication is to assure them food stamps redeemable for picanic baskets.

 

[thorborg]

Makes a lot of difference between shooting at them from the other hill or stumbling on them around the next bend in the dirt road. I think a leaver is perfect for the latter but something spiffy with a scope and .243 or larger for the hill to hill work. Black bear are no tougher than a Muley, just harder to figure out exactly where your hitting them.

 

[Silver Hand]

350 Remington Magnum out of a Model 600!

View attachment 512231

You took the words right out of my mouth. Remington 660 .350 REM Mag.
With 32 grains of IMR 3031 behind a 250 grain Speer, SP. Knocks there teeth out at 25 feet.
Great combination for killing black bear where you find them.

 

[Certaindeaf]

You took the words right out of my mouth. Remington 660 .350 REM Mag.
With 32 grains of IMR 3031 behind a 250 grain Speer, SP. Knocks there teeth out at 25 feet.
Great combination for killing black bear where you find them.

Lol, or flies at 150 yards.. I used to have a .243 and man was that thing accurate.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I do know that a .54 caliber rifle ( .530 round ball ) will work nicely on black bears....
Andy

 

[Xaevian]

Black bears are considered CXP2 game, in the same category as deer. But, if you want bigger than .30 cal, nothing wrong with that. If you expect longer range shots beyond 300 yds, maybe a magnum is a great choice. For less, you could use a Browning lever in .358 Win, bolt action in .35 Whelan, or a 1895 Marlin in .45-70 for even shorter ranges (<200 yds). Lots of options, but you don't need to fixate on med or big bores if you don't want to.