I would submit though that the difference between stopping a bear as a guide and in a non hunting situation is that you're going to be dealing with an unwounded and non angry bear. About the program requirements, an inviolable one was it had to be licensed to be made by CC or another domestic mfg, so that ruled out a lot of otherwise contenders. A Remington 7 in .308 in a B&C stock would come in sub 6 lbs, a bit more with a DM conversion I assume, never tried it. My 7-08 model 7 with a 1-4 leupold and talley rings is 6.75 lbs, 6 lbs with just the irons. I could live without the DM and would in fact prefer it. They make em in stainless. Add a sako extractor if you're paranoid and that should fit the bill.
In the "get off the boat and bring something in case" scenario, a light 5 and a bit pound rifle that has like three feet of penetration and minimal recoil is a good fit. Perfect from stopping a bear perspective? No. Better than a heavier and longer rifle? Probably. The Rem 7 in .308 or even better .350 Rem mag would be a great choice too, but I also have the consideration I'll have inexperienced shooters along who will need to be comfortable with it as well. I didn't think bears climbing aboard was remotely realistic until I saw exactly that happen.
If you're in a situation where you have to "stop" a bear in my circumstance, you've already #### the bed a few times. You should be laying into it long before a charge. You should be using intermediate weapons long before laying into it. You should be avoiding or not going ashore before using intermediate weapons. If a charge happened, frankly I don't think any rifle would make a difference for me - I won't be in the mindset to expect it all the time.
I strongly suspect the unit cost for the C19 would be 1k or so. I'll see if I can have someone look it up on CFSS. I do know that the same C7A1 selling for 2k on the retail market is less than half that replacement cost on CFSS. Not including the C79 ELCAN of course.
I used the .375 H&H hunting in Africa a fair bit, but I honestly preferred the .416 in the M77. It was such a sweet rifle. I was 16-17 using the .375 and early 20s using the .416 though so that probably played a part. But 400 grains at 2400 I found better than the .375. Snap shooting gallon milk jugs at 25 yards was a blast with the 77, and it would cloverleaf bullets at 100 yards... though I guess that's not so impressive with holes that big
. That thing was a friggin tack driver and totally pleasant to shoot. I don't regret selling the gun, no need for it anymore, but it was a sweetheart. I believe BUM still has it. Anyway, I have zero experience shooting bears with hard cast, just deer. Indeed most of my shooting stuff has been either 7mm (x57 or 08) and .416, I have zero experience stopping anything with typical NA calibers.
In the "get off the boat and bring something in case" scenario, a light 5 and a bit pound rifle that has like three feet of penetration and minimal recoil is a good fit. Perfect from stopping a bear perspective? No. Better than a heavier and longer rifle? Probably. The Rem 7 in .308 or even better .350 Rem mag would be a great choice too, but I also have the consideration I'll have inexperienced shooters along who will need to be comfortable with it as well. I didn't think bears climbing aboard was remotely realistic until I saw exactly that happen.
If you're in a situation where you have to "stop" a bear in my circumstance, you've already #### the bed a few times. You should be laying into it long before a charge. You should be using intermediate weapons long before laying into it. You should be avoiding or not going ashore before using intermediate weapons. If a charge happened, frankly I don't think any rifle would make a difference for me - I won't be in the mindset to expect it all the time.
I strongly suspect the unit cost for the C19 would be 1k or so. I'll see if I can have someone look it up on CFSS. I do know that the same C7A1 selling for 2k on the retail market is less than half that replacement cost on CFSS. Not including the C79 ELCAN of course.
I used the .375 H&H hunting in Africa a fair bit, but I honestly preferred the .416 in the M77. It was such a sweet rifle. I was 16-17 using the .375 and early 20s using the .416 though so that probably played a part. But 400 grains at 2400 I found better than the .375. Snap shooting gallon milk jugs at 25 yards was a blast with the 77, and it would cloverleaf bullets at 100 yards... though I guess that's not so impressive with holes that big
. That thing was a friggin tack driver and totally pleasant to shoot. I don't regret selling the gun, no need for it anymore, but it was a sweetheart. I believe BUM still has it. Anyway, I have zero experience shooting bears with hard cast, just deer. Indeed most of my shooting stuff has been either 7mm (x57 or 08) and .416, I have zero experience stopping anything with typical NA calibers.
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