Bear Rifles RE-visited

Now that deer season is over in NYS, my mind is turning back to bear rifles. As mentioned in a recent post, I had sent my .338 Federal to Ruger for some work and recently received it back. I am currently out of 200 grain Fusion loads, however I do have some 210 grain Nosler Partition loads on hand. A couple of boxes of the Federal fusion load are on order and when they arrive I plan on making an afternoon trip to the local range to put the .338 Federal back through its paces.

I suspect the .338 Federal with the fusion load would make a dandy load for black bear, whitetails and about anything one would want to kill with the .338 Federal. IF I were booking a grizzly/brown bear hunt, and using this rifle, I would opt for the 210 grain Nosler Partition load.

With bullets weighing in at 185 grains to 210 grains, the .338 Fed is reputed to give between 1820 to 1920 ft lbs of energy at 300 yards. It does that with less than 9 inches of drop at 300 yards when zeroed at 200 yards. Nothing to sneeze at. I will not begin to try and make a case for this caliber being the equal of the ,338 Win mag......IT ISN'T. On the other hand most of us do not need a .338 Win mag for hunting whitetails, black bear, moose etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qdumOj9W6Q



I am currently considering possibly selling my Ruger .350 Rem mag. I might also consider trading it for  a new 30:06 or even a NEW .35 Whelen. Factory ammo for the .350 mag is scarce and  expensive, however I am looking into finding someone locally that will reload for me and change my mind. Part of the problem is that brass is also limited and expensive and it doesn't appear at this point in time that Remington Arms is going to step up to the plate and start making new brass for this caliber. It is a shame as I  dearly love the ergonomics and handling capabilities of this rifle and fortunately it is very accurate.

I bought this rifle primarily to use with the 225 grain Nosler partitions if I ever got an opportunity and finances to go on a brown bear hunt. Because of the ammo shortage situation, I might resign myself to use the .338 Federal with 210 grain Nosler partitions and let it go at that.

I also have the Marlin mdl 1895 45-70 and for black bear, whitetails etc. I am happy to use the 325 grain Hornady Leverevolution factory loads. They are extremely accurate out to 200 yards which is as far as I have tested them at the range. If I were hunting brown bear with this gun there is an amazing variety of custom loads for this rifle including Garret Hammer Heads that will take anything that walks and also big critter loads from CorBon, Buffalo Bore and others.

In closing I sometimes regret not having the ability to know the future. If I had that power, I would have purchased the Remington bolt action BDL in .35 Whelan instead of the Ruger 77 .350 Rem Mag a few years ago. The only reason being the shortage of not only factory ammo but also brass for the .350 mag. At the same time, .35 Whelan factory ammo or custom loads can still be had through several outlets for a reasonable price. I don't believe the .35 Whelan has any significant performance margin over the .350 Mag per se, it is just easier to obtain ammunition.

Here is a older link to an EXCELLENT review of the Remington Mdl 600 (vs.) the Ruger 77 in .350 mag caliber. The article is by one of my favorite writers, Chuck Hawks:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/compared_350Mag_rifles.htm

EXCERPT:

Conclusion
Both of these rifles incorporate some good features. For rifles of their power they are handy and fast handling, with good portability. The .350 Remington Magnum cartridge is an excellent one. Both rifles are very accurate, more so than they really need to be. At the range there is little to choose between the two, although the Remington's superior trigger (after adjustment) makes it easier to shoot accurately, and its effective recoil pad makes it more comfortable.
In the field it is a different story. Although the Remington 673 Guide Rifle is an adequate hunting rifle, the Ruger M77R Mk. II Standard rifle is superior in most areas. Perhaps the most significant difference is that the Ruger's few deficiencies are easy to correct (principally a recoil pad and a new trigger assembly), while the Remington's problems are fundamental design deficiencies.




(MY INPUT)

I handled rifles in both calibers at the local Gander Mountain store a few years ago and ended up finding a Ruger for sale on line brand new in the box. If I had not found the Ruger on line, I would have choosen the BDL .35 Whelan OVER the Model 600 carbine in .350 mag. Hind sight being 20/20 it seems history would have now proved me smarter in the long run to have went with the .35 Whelan from an ammunition availability stand point. I keep HOPING that Remington Arms will see the light and start producing factory ammo in both 200 grain and 250 grain persuasion again along with selling NEW brass for the .350 mag at a reasonable price.  When they decided to promote the Model 600 in .350 mag again a few years ago, my understanding is they all sold out rather quickly. They OWE it to those of us who snatched up a .350 mag to at least occasionally run a quantity of 200 grain and 250 grain corelokts and make enough brass to keep those rifles going.They already have the tooling for it and I think they would sell the brass and ammo as fast as they could make it.

Dan