It involved asking around fifty professional hunters, guides and trappers their opinion of killing power of various rifle cartridges. Their terrain was more or less open extremely mountainous country where longer shots were the norm.
The following is a summary of their almost universal opinion.
They listed the two most suitable cartridges as the 30-06 with 180 grain bullets and the .270 Win with 130 grain bullets. Notation was made that with telescopic sights and in the hands of a good and cool shot, they hit and kill excellently out to 350 yards.
Next up was the .300 Savage (popular in the Savage lever action rifles when I was a kid) then the .348 Winchester and the .35 Remington in lever and pump action rifles were entirely satisfactory out to 150 or 200 yards.
The .250-3000 Savage was suitable for smaller animals but for bear, elk, and moose only where the hunter is a good and cool shot and was good to 200 to 250 yards.
The 30-30 Winchester, .32 Win Special and the .303 Savage were rated entirely satisfactory for deer and sheep to 150 or even 200 yards, but not recommended for anything bigger.
Lee Enfield rifles in .303 British caliber were treated on a par with the best 30-06 and .270 Winchesters.
The above recommendations and evaluations were based on hunting GRIZZLY, black bear, moose, sheep, elk, caribou, mule deer, goat and wolves.
We can speculate and argue that they used what they had and didn't miss what was not yet available, however they apparently killed all manner of big game without fuss with these rounds in 1949.
I remember reading of Jack O'Connor shooting a grizzly with a 30-06 using 180 grain core lokts and reporting the bullet went through both shoulders of a large grizzly bear and kicked up dust on the far side of the bear.
In many big bore magnum rifle circles this would be listed as a STUNT today as opposed to the norm.
I am by no means suggesting that anyone turn in their .300 Win Mag or .338 Win mag or .35 Whelen, .375 Holland and Holland . .338 Ultra mag, 7mm mag etc. for a .300 Savage to go on a grizzly bear hunt (see my last post).
It does however add credence to the old adage of "Where you hit them, is more important that What you hit them with". It also allows one to understand why the ought six still gets the job done today on the same animals (and with better bullets than existed in 1949).
I stand by the opinion that if someone shows up for a grizzly bear hunt with an accurate 30-06 and a top end scope and knows how to shoot it and is familiar with it, he is better off that the guy who shows up in camp with a .338 Win mag that he has NEVER shot and it is only bore sighted by the store that sold it to him.
If anything, rifles today are available with better bedding, synthetic stocks, stainless action and bbl, better optics, smoother actions and much better triggers (like the Savage Accu-trigger) and better recoil pads. The premium bullets available today are the finest projectiles we have ever had.
The following photos are from our local Sportsman's Club hosting Savage Arms a few years ago. Range shown is approximately 200 yards to far bank.
Dan
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