Andrews had heard quite a bit about Kodiak Bears, so he decided to try his hand at hunting them. As I recall, this was prior to WWII.
He is hunting along a beach on Kodiak Island, and a bear pops up from behind some driftwood. He is carrying his favorite rifle, a Mannlicher-Schönauer in 6.5mm. He shoots, and the bear disappears behind the driftwood. He gets a little closer, and the bear pops up again. He shoots again, and the bear disappears.
As he gets close enough to the driftwood pile to see over it, he sees the bear running away, so he shoots again, and the bear piles up.
He climbs over the driftwood and is surprised to find a dead bear on his left. He looks to his right, and there is another dead bear. The bear that was running away is also dead. Three dead kodiak bears with three shoots from his 6.5MM.
I do not see why a .243 (6MM) would necessarily be such a bad choice...
My 6MM Swedish Mauser is the most accurate thing I’ve ever fired at a target over 200 yards. As for killing bears, it’s all about shot placement which is something you can easily direct with yards being your friend. Close in with a bear who is charging you, or another person, I’ll go with the hand cannon and full clip, thank you very much!
Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell killed several thousand elephants using the 6.5 Swedish or a 6.5 MS or 7mm Mauser.
The reason for his success was he used the heavy for caliber 160 grain fmj round nose parallel sided bullets which were common military ammo for the late 1800s. He used the same type 175 grain bullets in 7mm Mauser.
Those bullets penetrate better than any other type. Bell knew where to shoot them and those heavy bullets went right through them.
Back in the old days when Field & Stream was worth reading they had a monthly feature of stories of survival in the wild in cartoon format. One I remember was an old woman who lived in the wilderness. Every morning she would grab her bucket and her .22 pump rifle and trudge out to the well. One morning as she is walking along looking at the ground she comes upon a shadow and at the bottom of the shadow are two rear feet of a bear standing on its hind legs. Without looking up (it's bad jiu jiu to look a bear in the eye) she worked that .22 and pumped ten shots straight into the air above her. As she is running back to her cabin she hears a noise and looks back to see the bear flat on its back breathing its last.
I am still kicking myself in the arse for passing up a Valmet Hunter in .243, years ago for $650
Use Enough Gun: Robert Ruark, On Hunting Big Game
[sigh]. Lots of fun memories reading Ruark as a kid. Especially the water buffalo parts. (Shudder).
Of course, you can kill anything with just about any rifle. You can also bow hunt for Kodiak near. People do. I wouldn’t. But people do. I’m sure it would make a fine inscription on a headstone: “He killed almost every bear with a .243. Almost”. :-)
I have a number of rifles ranging from Ruger 10/22 on up to M-N 7.62X54R.
While the Mosin is by far the most bang for the buck, my Mossberg ATR in .243 Winchester is the most accurate, flat trajectory and gives you the best chance of landing a high energy load on target. (In my not-so-humble-opinion.)
I knew I was going to love this rifle when out of the box, with the iron sights I shot a 2” group at 100 yards. Now that it’s scoped and bore sighted, it’s not uncommon for the shots to overlap holes on the paper.
To top it off, the rifle, with sling and scope was only a hair over $300. (Although that was a few years ago.)
No one I know who hunts big bear uses calibers as low as some here offer up
Given most bears like lions are shot within charge range ....pinpoint pronghorn accuracy is not a factor
Energy displacement is
Just out of curiosity, I checked Gun Broker right after I made that last post.
That same Mossberg ATR in .243 Win is going for around $280, rifle only and $320 with scope.
Seems the price hasn’t changed much at all.
I can also attest to the fact that Mossberg (made in USA!) has excellent customer service. I have had two occasions to interact with them, having in all five of their products and I’ve been very impressed with how they stand behind their stuff. And the turnaround is fast!
My daughter - posted on Kodiak with her Coast Guard hubby - is going out tonight ‘stalking bears’ - with a camera.
NOw I'll be up all night with visions of that huge claw filled paw in that photo - and since they're 4 hours behind us, time wise, I won't hear from her until late morning!
Sorry I am going to have a 44 magnum or more with a grizzly bear. I plan for worst case. A .243 is not going to stop a charging Grizzly or a Kodiak.
I was talking to a helicopter mechanic in Alaska. He often had to fly out to grounded choppers and carried an Uzi, fully automatic. He liked to have it across his back while he worked in the field.
I said, “A .45 caliber round won’t stop a grizzly, will it?” His reply was “No. But 30 of them will.”