Sheridan

jeepkid,
Is that the real deal?
7MM and you have to stay in camp, because you can't "play" with the big boys?
Then, 338 is a pea shooter in Africa.

All these "Old Timers" tell me it's bullet selection and placement(!)(?).

Brought my 243 into get the scope mounted,a trigger job and the barrel "hand" lapped; $155 plus tax I'm sure.
All recommended (biggest bang for your buck)- What do you think?

BigHawken54

Depends on what you mean by grizzly...Are you talking about the inland, mountain grizzly that weighs 400-600 pounds or the coastal brown bear that will tip the scales at a 1000? A 7mm Magnum will work fine on the smaller inland bears and would likely suffice on the bigger bears as well as long as you could pick your shots. Most guides would rather you have a smaller rifle in the 30-06 class that you can shoot well than a huge magnum that makes you flinch. Remember, you are talking about a hunting rifle not one designed to necessarily stop a charging bear. My personal favorite for antelope to moose is the 280 Remington. It does everything the 30-06 will do a little more efficiently and everything the 7mm Mag will do with less bark. Personally, also know inland grizzlies that have been taken with 270's, 280's, 30-06's and 7mm Mags.

If you want true upper end verstaility, and you like Remington, why not go with the 300 Remington Ultra Mag. The ammuntion now comes in 3 power levels, Level 1 matches the 30-06 in performance, Level 2 matches the 300 Win Mag. and Level 3 is the full blown performance level that will handle most anything on either side of the pond.

jeepkid

I personally wouldn't go after grizzleys with any thing smaller then a .338 cal, and it seems most hunters/guides think the same. If you don't include grizzleys then the 7mm Rem mag, or any of the others would be just fine.

Bullets selection and placement have a "HUGE" part in it. But even a good shot with something smaller (that you feel more comfortable with) and the bear can still come after you. When you hunt "dangerous game" (aka stuff that can eat you) I would rather practice with a bigger gun, even it I can't shoot 1/2 MOA with it, and use it. When a bear is coming after you, it doesn't care if you can shoot a dime a 100 yards off a bench.

The .243 sounds great! Did that include mounts and rings?

bigbulls

Sure a 7mm mag will certainly kill a Grizzly and I am all for hunting things like elk and moose with .270's, 7mm-08'sand suchBUT if I am taking on an animal that can easily kill me with a single swipe of the arm or bite to the head then i want a little more gun than a 7mm mag.

I have yet to hunt Grizzly but when I do it will be with a .338 or larger.

Sheridan

Here is my dilemma;
Where we go tobig game hunt we always run the risk of "running" into grizz (inland or coastal). If/when we put an animal on the ground we increase our chances of "running" into grizz.
I know bullet placement is important.
I know bears have fell to 270, 280, 30-06 and 7MM's.
The 7MM is at the beginning of the "belted" magnums without bring a cannon.
They say it shoots as flat as a 270 and hits as hard as a 30-06 (and it's a magnum).

If in fact I was out looking for Grizz, then by all means I would make sure to bring enough gun.

Jeepkid - I brought those Burris zee rings and new Burris XTB weaver style bases with me.
The $155 is for scope mounting, trigger job and barrel lapping.

jeepkid

The .243 should be a real shooter when you get it back! Keep us updated.

If grizz isn't the primary animal you are hunting, then I would just carry a big pistol just in case a bear comes along...

Do you reload? Lately I am really likeing what I see about the .280 Ackley Improved...

Sheridan

jeepkid,
I have a Ruger 357 Security Six but that's strickly back-up.

I expect the moneyis well spent, but since I never shot it prior to the touch-ups it is going to be hard to tell just how much.
These little tweaks were the recommended "biggest" bang for your buck.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/affordable_accuracy.htm

As you can tell, I like this guy.
It's funny, I don't always agree, but I still like to hear what he has to say!(?)

I don't reload and my feeling is there are too many "tried and true" cartridges.
They seem to be burning up barrels with a lot of the new wsm's.
The one that does interest me is the 204 Ruger (seems a little lite fora windy day).

jeepkid

The thing about the .204 is this, it seems most of them don't shoot the 40gr's good. So your stuck with the 32's. On top of that, the powder the factory uses is different then anything you can buy to reload, and if you use different powder you will burn out that barrel real fast. So you are limited to factory .32gr ammo. The .223 is a lot better imo.

Forgot you don't reload, so it doesn't really matter...

BigHawken54

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that a 270 or 7mm Mag is the ideal grizzly gun but it can work well in the right hands. Again, there is a difference between hunting a griz and stopping one that is charging. I imagine if you are going to be hunting grizzly in Alaska or moose for that matter you will have a guide. I bet your guide will have a big gun. With that being said...going to Alaska seems like the perfect excuse to by a new rifle and buying the biggest rifle you can shoot effectively seems like a good idea.

Worc

I only need three rifle cartridges to cover any game that are in North America. On the low side is the .223 rem. It could also be the .220 swift or 22-250 rem. In the middle is the .308 win. It could also be the 7mm-08 rem or .260 rem. On the bigger end is the .300 wby mag. It could also be the .300 win mag or .300 wsm.

Since you already have a .243 win. You could tighten it up a bit with four cartridges. On the low end it could be the same .223 class as above. Then your .243 for the low/mid. Then you could go with something like the .270 win or the .280 rem for the top/mid. Then for the top end you could go with .300 mag class above.

My boss has takennine different bears that range from black to the big Browns. He's shot them here in the lower 50, Alaska, and Canada. He's only used a 7mm mag rem and .300 win mag on all of them.