[chuckles]

Bears= 30.06

Don't get a pop gun.

[FromTheSidelines]

200 to 400 yards? Bear? 30-06 at a minimum. Deer at the high end of that range, a 308 would be fine. Low end of the range a 30-30 would do what you need for deer (I’d still do the 30-06 for bear, however).

Also consider the 300 WinMag - plenty of power, good all-around cartridge.

Also expect to pay pretty heavily for a good set of optics - misses and wounded animals at that range are a real concern.

[imjimbo]

.308 or 30-06 would be acceptable. I personally use a 300 Winchester Magnum for those kind of targets at the range you describe. Regarding scopes, the larger the objective lens diameter the more useful it will be in low light. Hope that helps- not sure how much detail you need-!

[optiguy]

.50 BMG for bear. Think about it, it gives you a great excuse to go ahead and buy one if you have a wife. I like .270 for deer.

[crazyhorse691]

Whatever you get...remember to practise practise practise. And know the limitations. 7mm or 30.06 will generally fit the bill. But, the .300WM could be overkill in some situations.

[c-b 1]

30.06 would be my choice for deer, or bear, it is a good all around caliber, You can buy 30.06 ammo in any sporting goods store any where in the country. Many of the new rifles don't have iron sights on them, if you ever have a problem with the scope, your hunt is finished, if it has iron sights and a scope, if there is a problem with the scope, you can take it off, and keep hunting.

I don't have a preference for a scope.

[Tucker39]

Hunted the close-in brushy mountains of PA and also wide open spaces of Wyoming and Idaho. 30-06 is a great all-around weapon. Depending on the terrain and the game, you can go with a heavier or lighter slug to hunt in brush or for flat shooting over long distances. I used a Remington 30-06 pump with a 3X9 scope.

Dropped a slow-galloping antelope at 400 yards. When the bullet hit him he flipped a complete somersault like a running rabbit when hit with a shotgun. When I checked him out I found that I had led him a little too much. I hit him in the head instead of the chest. The bullet went in behind his right ear and exited through his left eye.

[NavyCanDo]

.223 ?????

What, you trying to make the bear mad?

[Norm Lenhart]

Been a while for me but an .06 is great. If you can deal with the added size/weight and like getting your shoulder kicked by a mule regularly, that’s the way to go ;) Properly sighted in, 2-400 yards yards is not at all close to a problem.

A 308 is a beautiful little piece of hardware as well, but others here are far better versed in recommendations than I.

[Tucker39]

P.S. That was a 3X9 Redfield scope. There are lottsa’ good scopes available.

http://www.opticsplanet.net/riflescopes.html

[Kent C]

Since you linked to Remington. If you go that way consider the Model 700 BDL chambered in 300 Remington Ultra Mag.

http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire/model-700/model-700-bdl.aspx

[NVDave]

It is very difficult to go wrong with a .30-06. With a .30-06, correct choice of bullet and good shot placement, you can take anything in the lower 48.

You can find ammo nearly anywhere, and with a bolt gun in .30-06, you can push the heavier bullets for things like bear (> 190 grains).

.223 is right out. Many states clearly outlaw such a round for large game hunting.

.308 is OK, but if you’re going to use it first and foremost as a hunting rifle, I’d stick with the -06.

7mm - do you mean 7mm Remington Magnum or 7mm-08? Both are great hunting rounds, and the 7mm RemMag has taken a lot of game at extended range. But the ammo is more expensive, and if you’re going to become a good game shot, you’ll need to practice.

That said, I’m not a huge fan of Remington for my hunting rifles, but that’s a whole ‘nuther story.

[LouAvul]

Definitely a 30-06. It has loads the entire spectrum so that you can hunt every game animal on the continent, and bullets are available everywhere, unlike some fringe calibers.

For big game at 200 to 400 yards, a quality 3-9X40 scope will be fine. Remember, you can spend $5,000 on a gun, but if you mount a $50 scope on it, you've got a $50 gun. I'd check out Redfield Revolution scopes on gunbroker. They're now made by Leupold and are quality scopes. Or you could buy the Leupold Rifleman for right around $200.

It's important for you to practice and know the rifle's quirks.

[Vendome]

Springfield M1A or Remington 770.

M1A can be used with iron sights to about 800 yrds.

770 should have a Leupold Mark II

[voteNRA]

I have shot many white tails and 2 mid-sized black bears (and even a couple of poor squirrels) with the same bolt-action 30-06 over the last 15 years.

As far as optics go, I have tried many and don't have a particular scope to recommend however in my experience its the one product that price usually is a good judge of quality. Spend the money and get the best you can right away. Experimenting and trying to save money has cost me a ton in the long run, I hope to save you the $$ I've wasted by offering that advice :~).

You could shoot deer with a .223 (check regulations before you hunt) but I wouldn't advise it. In my opinion its way to small of a round to reliably take down big-game in one shot, which should be the objective.

[NVDave]

On scopes:

On my hunting rifle, I have a Leupold 6x42 fixed. A fixed power scope is more durable than a variable power. For 400 yards and under, depending on your eyesight, you really don’t need more than 4 to 6 power.

That said, there’s lots of good variable power scopes out there. I like Leupold because they have a no-BS guarantee. If you buy a Leupold scope and you have a problem, they fix it. Doesn’t matter how long you’ve owned it.

I also like the Nikon Monarch, and use one on one of my rifles.

That said, you need to know that your low-light capabilities are limited by the “exit pupil” of the scope. You divide the front objective size by your magnification power and you get “exit pupil.”

For example, my 6x42 would be: 42/6 = 7mm exit pupil.

The human eye, when young, might be able to dilate in low light conditions as much as 7mm. As we get older, your eye cannot dilate as much.

So when you’re young a exit pupil less than 7 might give your eye less light than you can deal with. As you get older, an exit pupil of 5 might be all that your eye can use. The larger the exit pupil, the more light you will get transmitted to your eye and the less “dim” the scope will seem in low light (morning/evening times).

I would suggest staying away from any scope with a front objective of more than 42mm in the middle price range (say, up to $600). Any scope you see with a “56mm objective” and a low price tag will almost certainly have distortion in that large objective. Getting optics right takes money to invest in quality glass.

Next, you might want to consider a “ranging” reticle in your scope. The military trains our guys to use a “mil-dot” scope, but that’s needlessly complicated for your purposes. Many good mid-range scopes are offered with a big game reticle that will get you in the ballpark for extended range shots. Leupold will put just about any reticle you want into one of their scopes for a fee.

Leupold, Redfield, Burris, Nikon, et al - they’re all making “good” scopes these days. If you pay between $450 to $650, (plus the cost for rings/mounts), you’ll get a pretty good sealed, fog-proof scope.

If you want a superb scope, expect to pay $1200 and up.

[voteNRA]

Adding to my 30-06 advice as a primary big-game rifle, a lever-action 30-30 with iron sights makes a great backup.

Good second gun choice if your primary breaks and is my first choice in a "deer-drive" type hunt or for carrying while tracking a wounded animal.

Buy both - tell your wife you got a deal on the package :~)

[Quiller]

For you -- none of the above.

The questions you are asking, and the way you are asking them, would seem to indicate you haven't spent much time with either hunting or with rifles, and asking the questions here tells me you don't spend time among those familiar with the outdoors or with guns.

Planning to shoot 200 - 400 yards in a hunting situation, at that level of experience, runs a strong risk of a wounded animal. Even if you are Deadeye Dan on the range, putting a live round into a game animal can be an entirely different story.

Bear? Where? Bear in the west can be considerably different than bear in the east -- Lewis & Clark found that out a couple of hundred years ago, but you don't make mention of that (although the "200 - 400 yard" range would suggest you are talking about the west.

But to engage the question specifically ('cause I like to talk about that stuff) --

When you are talking about one caliber for both animals, you actually mean what round will deal with the heaviest shot you have to make, since a too-heavy round will just spoil some extra meat on deer (and get a few sportsmen shaking their heads), while a too-light round on bear can really ruin your day and put you in the situation of letting a wounded animal go (likely for an inexperienced hunter -- don't take it personally, I'm not singling you out, just sharing an observation), or going after a really dangerous animal under less-than ideal conditions (scenario -- last day of the hunt, a wounded bear, fading light, long way back to vehicle or worse -- close by your camp. Would you go after it? Would you break camp to avoid sleeping in a fabric shelter in the area where a bear has been wounded? If so, would you go back after it the next day?).

Approaching it from that perspective, I'd go with at least the .300 Win Mag, for a hunt in the west, and the .30-06 or .308 (although I might lean more to the .270/7mm cause I like them) for a hunt in the east.

For optics, there are plenty of good, reasonably-priced scopes, but you can pretty much figure on spending around 50% of what you paid for the rifle on the optics. Variable-power scopes are better than ever; in the east I'd look at 2-6 power, in the west, 4-10.

But that's just my thoughts. That's one of the fun things -- batting these ideas around. If you head for a hunt, good luck.

[fso301]

Assuming you are going after black bear, get a Browning BAR in 30-06 and you won't go wrong.

Browning BAR: STILL THE NUMBER ONE AUTOLOADER.

Few hunting rifles in history have achieved the status of the Browning BAR. And no other autoloaders have even come close. Here are a few reasons why.

• Receiver. The Safari model uses a one-piece ordnance steel receiver that is richly blued with scroll engraving and is drilled and tapped for scope mounts. Stalker, ShortTracT and LongTracT models have an aircraft-grade aluminum alloy receiver, drilled and tapped for scope mounts.The bolt release lever is incorporated into the receiver.
• Sights. Open sights on the Lightweight Stalker only. The rear sight is click adjustable. Front sight is a gold bead design dovetailed into a hooded ramp.
• Stock and Forearm. The fluted stock design incorporates a full pistol grip with an undercut and is contoured for use with open sights or a scope. The forearm is full and hand-filling. LongTrac and ShortTrac stocks are shim adjustable for cast on/off and drop. Sling swivel studs are installed in the stock and forearm.
• Safety. Crossbolt design with enlarged head.
• Trigger. Short, smooth, single-stage pull. The trigger assembly can be easily removed for maintenance and cleaning. Enlarged trigger guard.
• Magazine. Detachable box magazine with a unique hinged floorplate.
• Action. The BAR is a gas-operated autoloader with an extra strong, multiple-lug rotating bolt that locks directly into the barrel. Every cartridge that is loaded into the chamber of the BAR is surrounded by a recessed bolt face, which is encircled by the barrel and then surrounded by the receiver. Three complete rings of steel surround the cartridge. A seven-lug bolt and precise breech-to-chamber relationship give the BAR exceptional accuracy and the strength to handle magnum loads. The strong and very rigid action bar/inertia block link-up improves accuracy by reducing barrel vibration. The buffering system reduces wear and stress on the rifle's mechanism.
• BOSS®. The Ballistic Optimizing Shooting System (BOSS) is available as an option on BAR Safari rifles. The BOSS allows the shooter to fine tune the rifle's accuracy to surpass that of any other autoloader.
• BOSS-CR. The BOSS-CR is available for all BOSS-equipped BARs and offers all the accuracy advantages of the original BOSS without the muzzle brake feature.
• Barrel. Individually machined from hammer-forged, heat-treated billets of steel.
• Safety Lock. All Browning firearms are shipped with a free trigger lock, padlock or chamber lock, depending on model, to assist in the safe storage of firearms.

THE HISTORY OF THE BROWNING BAR.

The Browning BAR is one of those key products which have defined the Browning mystique throughout the last century. Much of the fame of today's sporting BAR began through the fame of the original military BAR designed by John M. Browning near the end of World War I.

This rifle, called the BAR M1918, was commissioned by the U.S. Army in an effort to break the stalemate of trench warfare in the battlefields of France and Belgium. It took John M. Browning three months to design it. Browning took this project so seriously that his son Val personally did testing and training of the American troops.

In its short time at the front the sound of a BAR became legendary. At 330 rounds per minute every shot was distinguishable and the sound became uniquely associated with the BAR, a sound that struck fear into the hearts of the enemy.

The BAR made a strong comeback in World War II as the 1918A2. The newer version had a higher rate of fire (550 rounds per minute) and soon became an integral part of many American units on every front.

But this Browning Insider report is about today's BAR. Here are a few interesting BAR facts you may never have heard before.

The Browning BAR sporting version is certainly a distinct and separate rifle from the military BAR M1918, but its design is the result of Browning's unmatched understanding and expertise with automatic rifles that started with John M. Browning. His grandson, Bruce Browning, was the driving force behind today's BAR. A large team of automatic firearms experts at the FN factory in Belgium also played a key role in its development.

This group of FN automatic rifle designers, lead by Marcel Olinger, began serious work on the project code named "Carbine 66," with full scale development and testing done throughout 1966 in preparation for an official 1967 product launch.

The original prototypes had the distinctive scalloped receiver, which all early BARs had. The trigger group assembly was reliable, but complex. The design required the disassembly of the buttstock from the receiver to remove the trigger group. BARs at that time came with your choice of a right or left handed safety, but they were not reversible. All calibers were built on a long action length receiver.

The BAR rifle was initially produced totally in Belgium and then assembly was transferred to Portugal in the early 1970s. This was history making for Browning, as the BAR was the first Browning firearm made in Belgium with assembly at an all new Browning plant in Viana, Portugal. Today, the Portugal factory has grown to be a major component of the Browning manufacturing system and is where the BAR continues to be assembled today, as well as the 12 and 20 gauge Gold and Silver autoloading shotguns and limited runs of the Hi-Power pistol. Contrary to what some have said, the BAR has always been made in Belgium and assembled in Portugal from the beginning.

The BAR has evolved slightly for over four decades. Rifles before 1976 are usually called Type 1 rifles. Between 1976 and 1992 they are often called Type 2 rifles, but these rifles are very similar to the original models. 1993 marked the introduction of the Mark II versions, which are still in production today.

Not well known to many was a special project in the early 1970s to produce a BAR version just for law enforcement. This rifle featured a slightly modified, high capacity FN FAL magazine and was chambered in 308 Winchester. However, the rifle never made it into production.

The product development team on the Mark II included a young engineer named Joseph Rousseau. It was on a trip to Browning's Morgan, Utah offices in 1988 that Rousseau fell in love with the Utah mountains and Utah hunting. Rousseau eventually moved his family to Utah and today he is the Vice President of Research and Development at Browning's Morgan, Utah headquarters.

The Mark II included several significant modern upgrades. A trigger assembly retained by cross pins was included for easy disassembly. At the same time the gas system was redesigned for greater reliability. A slide stop was added as a separate lever allowing you to keep the bolt in the open position with or without the magazine inserted. At this time the BAR received major improvements in both reliability and accuracy. According to Rousseau, the Mark II was originally qualified with a fully detachable magazine, but the change was never put into production. The BAR Mark II kept its original hinged type magazine found on the originals.

Few people recall the pump action version of the BAR introduced in 1997 and called the BPR. It was offered in seven calibers in both long and short action versions, including magnums. It provided many of the distinctive advantages of the BAR Mark II, but in a version that could be used in states that were not enthusiastic about civilian ownership of autoloading centerfires. At the time Browning management was worried that this could become a trend, but luckily this did not happen. In 1999 another variation, the Acera, made its U.S. debut. Originally developed for the European market, this straight-pull bolt-action design based on the BAR hit the U.S. market with minimal fanfare. The BPR and Acera are among the rarest of BAR variations and highly sought-after by Browning collectors.

Today's BARs come in the new ShortTrac and LongTrac variations. Built with lightweight aluminum receivers and modern styling, they offer all the advantages of the originals. Both the Lightweight and the Safari - based on the Mark II configuration - are still in the line as well.

If you demand fast follow-up shots from your deer rifle then look no further than time tested, reliable Browning BAR.

Browning BAR Rifles

[ScreamingFist]

You want a .308 Ruger Scout. You will not regret it.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=246495779