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Any of those guns are quite descent- it's where you hit them. Black bears are not difficult to kill & they die easily with a proper hit with the first bullet. they aren't grizzlies or cape buffalo and young ones, little 2x2's we call then - 2years at 90 pounds to 2 1/2 year olds that run only up to about 175 pounds die very easily and are likely to lay down with a leg shot and just moan. Good thing too, or more guided bears would be lost, I suppose. Lots of time the guide can't see if it was a good hit, or even if the bear was hit, so doesn't have an opportunity to back up a shot. Whatever you bring, make it adequate, but that you can shoot it without closing your eyes & yanking the trigger.

I've seen people have difficulty killing bears with .30/06 a number of .300 mags - Oh - even a .338 - guys, it's where you hit them that counts. FPE is meaningless at the best of times and absolutely useless if you miss or worse, wound. Punch both lungs with a .243 or even a .22 hornet with a descent bullet and it's a bear rub in very short order. Give him time to lay donw and stiffen up. He'll stop if not chased and lay down, put the wound to the cool ground. Mess it up, and well, it s a job for the dogs to find and a mess when you find him.

All of these hunters knew they'd him in the lungs: so we go back to camp if it's close and wait - minimum 3 hour wait, then the couple hours of tracking with dogs over hill dale creek and and more hills or dales, then cornering the bear was finally killing him and then, some even claim the double shoulder and lung shot is their's when the skinned bear on the table. See- THAT's where I hit him - don't know why he ran so far, though. They don't. Those low, bruising brisket clipping shots and/or paw or leg shots must have been the guide when he caught up to it, I hit him in the lungs! Oh misery is us - sometimes. Other times, it's pow - done deal - good shot!- Way to go - nice bear - I'll buy you a beer for that one and the celebration begins!

I've a couple friends who were overjoyed I picked up another Hornet. Oh boy, they said - we're going bear hunting. One fellow uses one of those little 9mm pistol ctg. shooting semiauto rifles and the other, a .25/20 M92. No - none of them are bear ctg.'s nor would I use one for them - however - I/we could & they do - I just don't hunt with them. Too much can go wrong and for me, it usually does. It's a fact you can use what I consider an inadequate round, when you can go for a drive in the spring and see 50 bears in an afternoon, you can pick your shot and make it right - right broadside and right through an eyeball into the brain. Even rest on a bipod on the hood of the truck - no, that's not hunting, it's filling the freezer. Something a lot of people do up here. Most use a .30/30 M94, .303 Mark 3 or an '06 P-17 Enfield, none of which has ever been cleaned.

You have to put a descent bullet (not a high order for bears)in the right spot is all. A rifle that is of adequate accuracy and adequate power is the proper bear rifle for you, whether it's a .243, .308 or .300 mag. Another friend of mine uses nothing but his .22/250 with downloaded 70gr. Speers - or 55gr. Sierra Spitzers - he's had good luck with both. He stockpiled thousands of the Speers when he found a 3,200fps load would print into 3/8" to 5/8" at 100 meters. He uses the odd one on wolves, but mostly, one in the spring for a lean 3 year old, about 175 pounds and one in the fall for a 2 1/2 year old, fat at about 175 pounds. Why does he shoot a .22/250? It's more accurate than his .35 Rem Marlin and kicks less than his moose rifles, a .444 Marlin and a .35 Whelen Rem.- besides, he might see a wolf while hunting for his spring or fall freezer bears.

Those three rounds rate high in my books, .35 Rem, .444 with 265gr. or heavier bullets and the .35 Whelen. Of course those ballistics cover a lot of different rounds. I don't hunt bears with .22's or even 6 or 7mm's. I like the 9.3x57, 8x57, .30SS(my own wildcat) .308, .30/06, .375Winchester, .375/06IMP, 9.5x68, .44 mag. Rem M788, .44 mag Marlin, .444 Marlin, .45/70 Rolling Block, .458 2", .458 Alaskan & .69 English Sporting Rifle - killed bears with them all, except the 9.3x57 - but I know the 9.3 will work - there is no question. It doesn't take much, just an adequate bullet in the right place. Oops forgot - .45 Auto, 260 Speer at 960fps out back behind the jail on night working prowl duty while working - now THAT was a lot of years ago. I wouldn't suggest the .45 Auto - but it worked, one in the side of his melon as he came around the corner of the building, looking for me - range 10, maybe 12 feet - done deal- adequate bullet in the right place - works every time. Nice bug garbage bear, too, not a 2x2. I was called in to shoot bears that fall as they were chasing the other prowl officers around the yard at night - shot 7 - sometimes one gets to test a number of different rounds on bears when you're the firearms instructor. The yard lights didn't make it fair for the bears, but then, it wasn't a game - for the bears.

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V