Bear defense with a 308

Factory or hand loaded ammo?

Maybe this should be in the "Ammo" forum and not the "Firearms and Optics" forum?
 
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200 Grain Nosler Partition. [If you can find some, the older semi-spritzer will leave more room for powder in that little case.]

Loaded as warm as is practical. Should flirt with 2500 FPS. That would put a serious hurt on a bruin.

Regards, Dave.
 
Put down a charging 300 pound blackie sow with a BLR .308 using standard Rem 180 Core-Lokt... the bullet entered the back of her neck and went down through the chest cavity and just got through the diaphragm... it was recovered under the skin at the abdomen... at the shot she ploughed humous with her snout and did a somersault and expired at our feet... can't imagine what could have worked better... but if you are talking grizzlies, I got nothin' for ya'...
 
The best defence is a rifle bullet combo you are confident with to be accurate in a stressful situation. Now for me that would be my browning abolt with 150g partitions.
 
As the range is short and the impact velocity high, I would personally opt for a mono-metal, the weight of which isn't particularly critical. To keep things in context, you aren't shooting at a 1000 pound bear, you're shooting at the center of a 100 pound head, so even a 150 gr bullet at 2550 from a carbine length .308 barrel will be pretty destructive, should you need to lobotomize a bear. The loads I made up for my wife's 21" Husky '06 are topped with 180 gr TSXs, where my faster twist Brno does well with the long 240 gr Woodleighs. With a short barrel .308, it might be tough to make 2000 fps with a 240. I keep referring to short barrels because rightly or wrongly, a dedicated defensive rifle will probably be chosen with portability rather than shootability in mind, and .308s with 16" tubes seem to be in vogue at the moment.
 
Use any bullet you can shoot confidently with - i would use a big heavy slow bullet in 308 - they are not hard to kill with a proper shot. My choice is a 12g slug - under 20yds is Thors hammer on blacks...been there, done that....
Since they can fight back, you're best shot would be a side shot thru front vitals/shoulders - Drops them in their tracks
 
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