If you were to buy a rifle today.... (Range Report Added)! post #59

To buy a new one, a new BLR , something existing , my BLR(7WSM). Fixed 6 Leupold.

Why ? It is the rifle that I can shoulder and acquire a target with most speed and accuracy under 200 yards.My confidence trumps any chambering.

I load my own , so would be a Swift Scirocco in anything 7-08 or larger if I went to buy one.

Folks that are saying what they have is too light, reconsider your bullet choices. :)
 
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For what you plan to do...... would look seriously at a Rem 7600 pump carbine in 30/06.. someones looking to put a 'Red Dot' sight on a similar rifle on another thread....that would probably be a nice set-up for 'black' bear
 
Pick a decent quality rifle that you like. Model and caliber won't make as much difference as a gun nut hopes it will. A spot and stalk bear rifle will look a lot like a whitetail rifle, mule-deer rifle, an elk rifle, a moose rifle and a general purpose rifle. Caliber somewhere between .270 and .300 with enough reach to get out to 500 or so without a lot of drama. If you have your heart set on a .25 or 8mm that will work too. I've never seen where black bears were particularly hard to kill, but they are annoying to follow.


I've got a little Kimber in .300 WSM that fills the bill of wandering around looking for stuff.
 
Often black bear that run are lung or heart shot and they run fast. I shoot to disable using a shoulder shot if beyond 100 yards.
Bullet choice is important as well, particularly for magnums and I prefer the good old 30/06. 35 whelen and 7x57, but better yet the .358 Win
all using Speer Hotcor bullets, but I have used Nosler Partitions in the 30/06 with even better results as they really expand rapidly
and if not driven to high magnum velocities they do their job more reliably.

For a decent low cost, effective black bear rifle you could try taking a Remington 783 in .308 Win, top it with a 4x Leupold scope and buy a
Shilen or Pacnor Drop-in barrel chambered in .358 Winchester and load up some Speer 200 grainers and go for it. You can interchange barrels
easily due to their barrel nut like the Savages have...and they shoot very well. Simple to go back and forth between calibers too if that is
your thing.
 
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And the winner is....................., a classic.

Remington 700 "classic" chambered in 35 Whelen. As soon as I can track down a VX-3 1.75-6 with a #4 reticle she'll be ready to roll.




 
GMC403 said:
And the winner is....................., a classic.

Remington 700 "classic" chambered in 35 Whelen. As soon as I can track down a VX-3 1.75-6 with a #4 reticle she'll be ready to roll.

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Very nice rifle indeed! ........ Any idea of the maker of the weaver style bases? I like the front base with the multiple slots w/o hanging over the loading port. Gives good flexibility for shorter scopes.

The 2.5-8 is a good choice as well. I own two and one is going on an upcoming Whelen currently in project mode.
 
GMC403 said:
And the winner is....................., a classic.

Remington 700 "classic" chambered in 35 Whelen. As soon as I can track down a VX-3 1.75-6 with a #4 reticle she'll be ready to roll.
Click to expand...

Well it's as close to perfect as it could be given that the bullet is .008" too small and the action is a push feed. :p But those Classics sure are nice. The Old Man had a Classic in 338WM with the barrel cut to 21" and 1" trimmed off the forend. It looked like a Model 7 on 'roids.
 
SuperCub said:
Very nice rifle indeed! ........ Any idea of the maker of the weaver style bases? I like the front base with the multiple slots w/o hanging over the loading port. Gives good flexibility for shorter scopes.

The 2.5-8 is a good choice as well. I own two and one is going on an upcoming Whelen currently in project mode.
Click to expand...

Thanks,

They are the Burris xtreme tactical bases. I know what you mean, the Leupold ones don't have a slot far enough back. These are steel, finished really well, and have the extra (closer) hole in the rear mount to fit the model Seven as well.
 
Dang, NICE GUN. I was a lifelong Rem 700 hater....................until I owned one. I have come to the conclusion that the bigger , heavier pills like the 35cals and 375's can toss, are the APPROPRIATE medicine for bears. I am not saying that a .243 caliber 100gr can't kill a bear, but the HAMMERSHOT truly comes with the big calibers.
 
GMC403 said:
They are the Burris xtreme tactical bases. I know what you mean, the Leupold ones don't have a slot far enough back. These are steel, finished really well, and have the extra (closer) hole in the rear mount to fit the model Seven as well.
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Thanks ... I will look up a set of those and try them. Not sure why weaver doesnt make a similar one in aluminum.
 
sgt.rock said:
I have shot 9 bears so far. My worst results were with a .30-06, in that even though I hit the bear in the lungs, he managed to run,crawl, and drag itself over 275 yards from
the impact point. Took me a day and a half to find him. That was my last time I used a medium powered .308 caliber to hunt blackies.
I took my .300winmag and used it with great results for the next 3 bears. Now, I have mostly been using my Ruger Alaskan in .375 Ruger. The results are nothing short of breathtaking in how fast these bears eat dirt. Hard to go backwards in power once you see what a .375 caliber using 250gr TTSX bullets can do. It also feels exactly like my .300winmag in recoil. My friends all chide me about using a 375............................until they see it in action.
Click to expand...

Phil Shoemaker disagrees about the effectiveness of the .30-06....
P1000725.jpg
 
Range Report!...... (For those interested) ;)

I squeaked out to the range today after work to try and give it a quick sight in. The old girl didn't disappoint.

For optics I ended up going with a Leupold VX-3 1.5-5 with a German #4 reticle (love that reticle), mounted in PRW rings.
Ammo was a lighter (358 win level) 200gr FTX Hand load (L)
Federal 225gr TBBC (C)
Hornady 200gr Superformance (R).

The handloads were the first shots I tried and I centered the POI after shooting them, the Hornady were up next with a Waaayyy different POI, and the TBBC were shot last with a perfect POI for my needs. All shots were at 100y

With some wisdom from "Double Gun" I was able to set the trigger up with a nice crisp 3lb pull, and by the looks of it I won't be screwing around with ammo or having to do any bedding. I'm sure some handloads or maybe the factory Nosler ammo will tighten up the groups.... But she's good to go in my books!




 
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