300 win mag good enough for...
- Thread starter bearslayer56
- Start date
Logan_Lamothe
Regular
- Location
- Big River, Sask
Yup, and grizzly, eland, water buffallo and polar bear. The kick hard but shoot well. What make model are you thinking of?
Even if you can hit sh1t, 2 things are still against you:
- momentum
- pis$ed off grizzly
A 308 is fine for bear. Catch them off guard, and make your shot count. Tick them off with an ubermag, and you just have a ticked off predator coming at you while you are cleaning the recoil out of your eyes, and unfu@king yourself.
I agree. And not to mention the fecal matter filling your shorts may distract you from making that first shot and if your lucky second shot count.
Dorian Gray
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I kinda want to steal this as my sig line.
As for the OP, I don't know where you live so i can't really give you great advice one way or the other. The only thing i can say is that if you're in alberta or BC then the 300 mag might not be a bad choice if you're shooting from one side of a mountain to another but if you're shooting 30 feet to 300 yards a 30-06 should do the job just fine. It all depends on your area that you're hunting in and what kind of distance that you're comfortable with. Good luck in whatever you decide.Dorian
WOW, not sure if this is an anti-semi-auto/pro bolt action thread, or a bear thread?
Any cal legal to hunt bear with will kill a bear, depending on where the bear is hit.
Semi's are new technology, so bolt guys will try to tell you that they jam and aren't accurate. Same guys have been around for hundreds of years going agaisnt any sort of new change such as "the automobile," "flying machines," "the microwave ovens," "the interweb" and so on. After awhile they'll switch and figure it all out.
As far as semis go, I've owned them all. If you want a 300 mag, the two best are Browning and Benelli. Neither will jam, unless you totally neglect your rifle. The Browing is more accurate, shootting to easily hit a nickle @ 100yards. The stupid flloor plate can easily be switched into a fully detachable mag too, and you can drill out the stopper to hold one more round (only done this on 270/3006, never on mag). The Benelli feels the best, but will only hit a tennis ball at 100 yards.
Anyways, hopefully this helps
Any cal legal to hunt bear with will kill a bear, depending on where the bear is hit.
Semi's are new technology, so bolt guys will try to tell you that they jam and aren't accurate. Same guys have been around for hundreds of years going agaisnt any sort of new change such as "the automobile," "flying machines," "the microwave ovens," "the interweb" and so on. After awhile they'll switch and figure it all out.
As far as semis go, I've owned them all. If you want a 300 mag, the two best are Browning and Benelli. Neither will jam, unless you totally neglect your rifle. The Browing is more accurate, shootting to easily hit a nickle @ 100yards. The stupid flloor plate can easily be switched into a fully detachable mag too, and you can drill out the stopper to hold one more round (only done this on 270/3006, never on mag). The Benelli feels the best, but will only hit a tennis ball at 100 yards.
Anyways, hopefully this helps
shortaction
CGN Regular
- Location
- Manitoulin Island, Ontario
300 Win Mag in a Semi-auto should make a nice bear rig, or any other kind of big game rig for that matter. The semi really helps tame down the 300 Win Mag.
Go for it!
Go for it!
If you are inexperienced enough to ask this question, you are likely inexperienced enough that a .300 Win is not what you should buy, at least not just yet.
Tolerance to recoil is something you need to learn, and you need to learn it on things that don't recoil that much. It is a mistake to start out with too much cartridge because the bad shooting habits that may well result will be very hard to overcome. There are many, many calibers that are perfectly adequate for black bears that are far easier to learn to master. Many of those are quite capable of taking grizzly as well.
If I have mistaken your experience level, I apologize, but I think you should start with something much more middle of the road.
Tolerance to recoil is something you need to learn, and you need to learn it on things that don't recoil that much. It is a mistake to start out with too much cartridge because the bad shooting habits that may well result will be very hard to overcome. There are many, many calibers that are perfectly adequate for black bears that are far easier to learn to master. Many of those are quite capable of taking grizzly as well.
If I have mistaken your experience level, I apologize, but I think you should start with something much more middle of the road.
Why does a guy like "Bearslayer" have to ask if any rifle will take a Grizz? Your bare hands, guts & determination will take down any animal you encounter... A sharp stick, as few might point out; no pun intended....
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
We don't know the depth of your shooting or handloading experience, but if it is from the shallow end of the pool a .30/06 or a .308 might be better choices until you get your feet wet. Aside from the obvious recoil and blast issues, factory ammunition costs increases exponentially when you move from a .30/06 to a .300. Personally, if I chose to put up with .300 magnum recoil, I would opt for a larger caliber with heavier bullets. IMHO bore size trumps velocity, so if I need more than what I can get from a .30/06 I look at a medium or a big bore rifle. A medium bore can produces .30/06 trajectories, but will produce larger wound volumes, and penetrate deeper. This "advantage" is pretty much lost on North American game in hunting scenarios, but it "might" give you the edge if you are engaged in protection work. Under normal hunting conditions, if the '06 doesn't do it, the .300 won't either. Where the .300 shines is when shooting at extended ranges.
Just to reiterate though, while I often use a larger rifle, I don't feel unarmed when I'm packing a .30/06 rather than my .375 for bear work. The combination of bullet weight, velocity, and recoil makes the .30/06 the best choice for my wife to use for bear protection, as opposed to bear hunting.
I prefer bolt action to gas guns, but clearly the semi-auto has certain advantages. Not the least of which is less apparent recoil, and an action that will cycle reliably regardless of the state of mind of the shooter.
In the end you are going to buy what you want, but again I would council you against a .300 magnum. If you choose to ignore that advise, I would urge you then to consider handloading so that you can tailor your ammo to your comfort level which will enable you to pay more attention to practical marksmanship and less to the mystical qualities of the .300. When you can shoot 4" groups at 200 yards from field positions, you ready to hunt with your magnum.
Just to reiterate though, while I often use a larger rifle, I don't feel unarmed when I'm packing a .30/06 rather than my .375 for bear work. The combination of bullet weight, velocity, and recoil makes the .30/06 the best choice for my wife to use for bear protection, as opposed to bear hunting.
I prefer bolt action to gas guns, but clearly the semi-auto has certain advantages. Not the least of which is less apparent recoil, and an action that will cycle reliably regardless of the state of mind of the shooter.
In the end you are going to buy what you want, but again I would council you against a .300 magnum. If you choose to ignore that advise, I would urge you then to consider handloading so that you can tailor your ammo to your comfort level which will enable you to pay more attention to practical marksmanship and less to the mystical qualities of the .300. When you can shoot 4" groups at 200 yards from field positions, you ready to hunt with your magnum.
