Is 338 Win Mag adequate for brown bear?

[Phil Giordano]

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Yes I’ve had several clients use a .338WM for Brown Bear including this one. I like the 225gr Swift A-Frame.

Awesome Bear Scott
You bet that when I'll book a Brown Bear hunt (that is not all that far away), I'll book with you!

 

[Alaska Luke]

More important is that the rifle can handle Alaska abuse. The scope needs to be reliable to. I'd take a weather proof 30-06 over a wood 375.

 

[1dirthawker]

My opinin is that a 30-06 is adequate, a .308 also OK and more important - my Guide felt the same way. Most important is Bullet PLACEMENT, somewhat important is bullet “construction”, least important is caliber.

Hank,

i'm gonna disagree. i think a .308 for a brown bear, not a "interior grizzly" is a bit light in caliber. can you do it? yup. is it adequate, i think it is light. like a .308 win is light on eland. will it work, yup. and a .243 will kill an elk. does not make it an elk cartridge. a .308 is not a brown bear cartridge. my 2 cents.

 

[Phil Giordano]

Hank,

i'm gonna disagree. i think a .308 for a brown bear, not a "interior grizzly" is a bit light in caliber. can you do it? yup. is it adequate, i think it is light. like a .308 win is light on eland. will it work, yup. and a .243 will kill an elk. does not make it an elk cartridge. a .308 is not a brown bear cartridge. my 2 cents.

I agree with you
I have not experience in Brown Bear, but I believe the choosen caliber should be able not only to kill it, but to "stop it"...

 

[HankBuck]

Hank,

i'm gonna disagree. i think a .308 for a brown bear, not a "interior grizzly" is a bit light in caliber. can you do it? yup. is it adequate, i think it is light. like a .308 win is light on eland. will it work, yup. and a .243 will kill an elk. does not make it an elk cartridge. a .308 is not a brown bear cartridge. my 2 cents.

I think we are saying “almost” the same thing - if you want to say the .308 is “on the light side” for Brown Bear/Grizzly I AGREE, and will add it is Not ideal but “adequate” and so is a .270 using heavy & well constructed bullets. All assumes the Hunter places his shot well. No, it won’t drill a bear thru the a-s or hard quartering away shots but on any broadside shot under 200 yrds you should have a dead bear. I’m no expert and only took one Alaska Brown Bear (8’ 5”) and I used .375 H&H w/.270 gr barns TSX. My Guide had no problem with .30-06 or .308 “whatever you shoot well” and my original plan was to use my Sako .30-06... but I purchased the .375 just for this hunt and practiced with it for months, recoil was not too bad and I was confident of placing my shot well. My point (perhaps poorly written) is that too much emphasis is placed in caliber, magnum ballistics and not enough on shooting accurately. Bullet placement is most important followed by bullet construction - now all things being equal Bigger is Better and a .416 Rem beats a .30-06 everytime. But most Hunters can’t shoot heavy recoiling guns as accurately as they can lighter recoiling guns. There was only one other hunter in Camp on my Alaska hunt and he had a .338wm. The guides required us to check our rifles and fire at a target 75 yrds away — resting rifle on snow mobile for a solid rest. Mine was 1” high and dead center, the other Hunter couldn’t place two shots within 9” of each other....he was clearly “afraid of his gun” and had a noticeable flinch. Guide told me they see that often. I know many hunters can handle magnums but most would be better off with less power & more accuracy. Anyway that’s my opinion, and certainly doesn’t apply to everyone.

 

[HankBuck]

The .338 would be a great choice. A friend of mine took a brown bear with a .300 Win mag using a 200gr Swift.
this is what the State of Alaska website has to say about guns for hunting.

Firearms and Ammunition for Hunting in Alaska, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Information on hunting and trapping in Alaska.

www.adfg.alaska.gov

Never saw this article “recommendation” from Alaska website - very interesting and good “practical common sense advice”.....thanks for posting

 

[WAB]

I’ll give you an example from experience. We spotted a nice brown bear on the flats and made a move on him. The wind was in our favor but must have eddied around the point we used for cover and the bear was nose up and walking to the timber at 120 yards when we got into position. My son dropped prone and perfectly placed a heavy for caliber bullet from his .30-06 behind the shoulder. The bear roared, bit the spot, and took off on a dead run for the timber. I dropped to a kneeling position and put a .270 gr A-Frame within 2” of my son’s shot. The boar flipped in the air, landed on his back and twitched one leg, stone dead. He was about ten yards from the timber.

Was my son’s shot fatal? Absolutely. Was it sufficient to keep that boar out of the timber where a follow-up could have gotten sporty? No way.

Another thing to consider on interior vs coastal griz. Interior griz are smaller, but they tend to have a much more disagreeable disposition. A friend was on his porch in Fairbanks when his dogs came out of the bush with an enraged griz on their tail. He had a .45-70 inside the door and dropped that bear just off the porch. I’m sure those dogs had a lot to do with it, but when we lived on the coast, the brownies that wandered through town did not seem to get into it with the local canines.

 

[HankBuck]

I’ll give you an example from experience. We spotted a nice brown bear on the flats and made a move on him. The wind was in our favor but must have eddied around the point we used for cover and the bear was nose up and walking to the timber at 120 yards when we got into position. My son dropped prone and perfectly placed a heavy for caliber bullet from his .30-06 behind the shoulder. The bear roared, bit the spot, and took off on a dead run for the timber. I dropped to a kneeling position and put a .270 gr A-Frame within 2” of my son’s shot. The boar flipped in the air, landed on his back and twitched one leg, stone dead. He was about ten yards from the timber.

Was my son’s shot fatal? Absolutely. Was it sufficient to keep that boar out of the timber where a follow-up could have gotten sporty? No way.

Another thing to consider on interior vs coastal griz. Interior griz are smaller, but they tend to have a much more disagreeable disposition. A friend was on his porch in Fairbanks when his dogs came out of the bush with an enraged griz on their tail. He had a .45-70 inside the door and dropped that bear just off the porch. I’m sure those dogs had a lot to do with it, but when we lived on the coast, the brownies that wandered through town did not seem to get into it with the local canines.

Sounds like some “good shooting” under real hunting conditions... and your well placed bullets = dead bear.

 

[Phil Giordano]

I’ll give you an example from experience. We spotted a nice brown bear on the flats and made a move on him. The wind was in our favor but must have eddied around the point we used for cover and the bear was nose up and walking to the timber at 120 yards when we got into position. My son dropped prone and perfectly placed a heavy for caliber bullet from his .30-06 behind the shoulder. The bear roared, bit the spot, and took off on a dead run for the timber. I dropped to a kneeling position and put a .270 gr A-Frame within 2” of my son’s shot. The boar flipped in the air, landed on his back and twitched one leg, stone dead. He was about ten yards from the timber.

Was my son’s shot fatal? Absolutely. Was it sufficient to keep that boar out of the timber where a follow-up could have gotten sporty? No way.

Another thing to consider on interior vs coastal griz. Interior griz are smaller, but they tend to have a much more disagreeable disposition. A friend was on his porch in Fairbanks when his dogs came out of the bush with an enraged griz on their tail. He had a .45-70 inside the door and dropped that bear just off the porch. I’m sure those dogs had a lot to do with it, but when we lived on the coast, the brownies that wandered through town did not seem to get into it with the local canines.

Perfection.

 

[Alaskantracker]

I’m work as an assistant guide in AK with 20 plus years of experience with Browns. With proper shot placement on a bear that is not already fired up with Adrenalin a 338 is more than enough, that being said, once the adrenalin gets going that are as tough as it gets. I use a 375 ruger with 350 grain woodleigh bullets to backup clients, another guide in camp uses a 458 and yet another a 405 Winchester. And we have a rule, if the bear does not go down on the clients shot we insist of backing them up, after all we are the ones stuck going in after a wounded one and it is not something any of us care to do.just my 2 cents.

 

[Jim Golden]

I would like to go to AK and hunt brown bear. I also want to go to Africa and hunt cape buffalo. I built one rifle to do both: A .375 Weatherby, on a Model 1917 Enfield action, with a Douglas barrel and an MPI replica of an A-Square Hannibal stock. We chronographed it at 2889 ft/s with a 300gr. About 5600 ft-lbs. More than a .458 Winchester. The A-Square stock cuts the recoil in half. It "kicks" less hard than my 700 BDL .338 Win Mag which has much less power. I saw on one of the forums a guy took a factory Weatherby DGR in .375 Wby to AK and basically poleaxed a brownie. So I'm sure I've got the power. I have shot it off a box on my ATV and can hit a 1" rock at 80 yards with it. It's surprisingly mild for the amount of power it has. I'd really like to take it to AK. But the .338 is a great cartridge in its own right!

 

[Jim Golden]

Here is my Enfield. Actually turned out nicer than a factory A-Square rifle. They were always in and out of business when I wanted to buy one...so I built my own