Post
by z375 » Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:19 pm
indian,
For the sort of game you're going after, especially the bears (you failed to mention whether black, brown or grizzly!) I'd opt for a .338 Win. Mag. or a .375 H&H Mag. calibers like these give you slightly better chance of coming back home in one piece from a bear hunt! I'm not side-lining the .30-06 and the 7mm Rem. Mag, they're both great, flat-shooting calibers for medium-built game like deer, and in a pinch they'll drop the biggest bull moose too with a well-placed shot in the vitals, whether or not they'd effectively stop or kill an enraged grizzly or brown bear when things get ugly, is a situation noone wants to be in and I've heard from some friends in Canada that these things do happen, quite often.
Try out a friend's .388 Win. or a .375 H&H or both, for that matter and stick with the one with which you are comfortable and can shoot well. The .388 and the .375 both are hard-hitting calibers with considerably more punch than the '06 or the 7mm Rem. they also have trajectories that will comfortably cover most hunting scenarios upto 300 yards, this depends upon what distance you zero them in for. Hope this helps, take care and shoot safely and responsibly. Please dont use a .22 Hornet on deer again, its cruelty against your quarry and you could be fined, imprisoned, or both and you're hunting permit will be suspended. "Being over-gunned beats the alternative" - Elmer Keith
Cheers!
Zubin
"With solid bullets on heavy animals such as elephant, rhino and buffalo this power is quite apparent but is not so obvious as when soft-nose bullets are being used, say, lion, particularly when is a case of stopping a charge : the .404 will stop him all right, but will seldom crumple him quite so completely as will the .416" -- John Taylor, Big Game and Big Game Rifles, (Ch. IX)