New rifle for bear and deer

The 30-06 will be tough to beat, I would buy the Tikka or SAKO these days over the 700. They are built very well. I would then spend the money and shoot 180gr Nosler Partitions from the 30-06, they will drop animal on the continent without issue and they fly great for deer hunting
 
I have a M700 in 30-06 that I did a lot of work on. A friend of mine got one of the Savage rifles that is a tack driver right out of the box. I would think about the Savage.
 
I have a Tikka T-3 Lite in 30-06 and love it. Very accurate! I also love my Ruger #1 action in 45-70! Both will do what you have asked about but the 45-70 will do elk, black, brown, and polar bear much better IMO! I say go with a 30-06 for starters. It's a great round and will do what you have asked about. The 45-70 ruger#1 action is a great hunting gun for deer and hogs on up and you should try shooting one some day. I have a precision fit limbsaver recoil pad on my Tikka T-3 lite and it made a huge differance. I can shoot it all day long and I don't get sore. Then again the hard stock on the Ruger #1 is pretty hard and with super hot hand loads I can still shoot it all day long. I guess I may not be very recoil sensitive.
 
Pure speed doesn't kill.
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And yet, strangely, kinetic energy to punch holes in things is the key killing mechanism of firearms, and as even sleeping through most of a high school physics class reveals there are two ways to boost KE. Heavier projectiles (as was noted, a possible benefit of 30-06 versus 308) is one way, but the better way is to slam those things into a target at higher speed.

Realistically, a .300 Win Mag will not significantly outperform the .308 Win in regards to killing power on game animals.
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Yes it will.

By your logic, 45 ACP makes as fine a dangerous game round as 458 Lott, since it throws a slug of the same diameter (+/- a couple thousandths of an inch).

Now do you need more than 308 for shooting a black bear under absolutely ideal conditions? Maybe not. Does that extra KE from a 30-06 or 300 Win Mag insure greater lethality and a cleaner kill under normal circumstances and better performance when Murphy shows up at the last second and your ideal shot turns into a marginal one? Yes.
 
If you are looking at and comparing new rifles, do yourself a favor and go handle a Browning X Bolt..If you are anything like me, you won't be able to hand it back to the gun shop guy....or gal. I just bought one in .308. I've had guns all my life. I have a large collection of guns. I've never been this giddy over a new rifle. Reading won't cut it. You have to go handle one to appreciate it.
 
No way you could go wrong by getting a 30.06. I am sure the .308 would do ok, but the 30.06 should do better with the heavier bullets if you decide to use them.
 
Its going to be for black bear in minnesota. hunting over bait so its not going to be long shots. this might be a stupid question but how can a 30-06 be big enough and not a 308
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Your right the performance difference between the two is marginal. At best the .30-06 will only get 200 fps faster than a .308 and that is only with heavy bullets. My personal prefrence would be the .30-06 that said it isn't going to do anything better than the .308. The only real advantage I see to the .30-06 is you find them in hunting rifles more, most companies put out Varmint and Tactical .308 rifles before building a hunting weight one.
 
Either the 308 or 30-06 will work just fine for what you need. Lots of Elk, Deer, and Bear have been killed with both.

I would also look at the Marlins they are great rifles for the money.
 
Tikkas are great rifles with very good triggers and great accuracy, same is true for the Savage.

A 30/06 or a 308 either is completely adaquate for black bears. For Elk hunting where heavier bullets at longer ranges might be the order of the day I would go with the 30/06.

Bill
 
Buy the rifle that fits you best..

It does not matter which you get, 308 or 30/06. No deer, elk or bear ever shot with a 308 lived because it was not shot with a 30/06.

The 300 Savage with a 180 grain bullet was once consider a great elk load.

If you feel that a 308 is not enough gun for what you are hunting then a much bigger jump in cartridge size is need, say a 300 mag or 338 win mag.

That a rifle is balanced, fast handling and well scoped has more to do with it's success in the field than it's chambering.
 
Any of the major brands of bolt action rifles that suits you fancy will perform adequately for the hunting you intend to do. As to caliber: .308 will be adequate as well, plus if you decide to cross over to the dark side there is plentiful military surplus for economical practicing.
 
energy = mass X speed squared (E=MC^2)

Increasing speed is a good way to increase energy put on target. As we know it is far more complicated, bullet weight, design, retained mass, penetration, placement.....

I own both a 308 and an 06, if you are recoil sensitive or like a short action the 308 should work out fine if you know your range and skill level.

I have shot deer with 270 Wetherby mag, 308 and 06. All died quickly.

So what did you decide?
 
HorseSoldier, no, I'm not implying that a .45 ACP is just as good as a .458 Lott. If you had taken what I said into context, you would have realized that.

Instead, you took one sentence from my entire post and used twisted "logic" to try to make yourself look better. Your statement that .45 ACP = .458 Lott is a red herring and you know it. The .308 Win and .300 Win Mag are separated by about 400-500 fps, the .45 ACP and .458 Lott are separated by well over 1000 fps and the bullets are of a completely different design, ballistic coefficient, and sectional density. Meanwhile, the bullets used in the .308 Win and .300 Win Mag are almost completely identical.

I said that the .300 Win Mag does not significantly outperform the .308 Win in terms of game killing power. Both have sufficient velocity to put down any black bear or elk on the planet at reasonable hunting ranges (300yd or less, as I said in my previous post). Any game animal hit with either of these caliber will die, almost instantly if the shooter does their job. No animal will live simply because the 165gr .308" bullet was going 2500fps vs. 3000fps.

This is true across all of the .30" cartridge debates. Pure speed doesn't kill. Yes, a decent velocity must be achieved in order to attain sufficient penetration. But the .308 Win does that very well at ranges less than 300yds.
 
Pure speed doesn't kill.

Repeat after me.
Speed doesn't kill.
Speed doesn't kill.
Speed doesn't kill.
Speed doesn't kill.
Speed doesn't kill.
Speed doesn't kill.
Speed doesn't kill.
Speed doesn't kill.
Speed doesn't kill.
Speed doesn't kill.
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WHAT??? Yes it does. It's call hyrostatic shock. Why do you think the Army uses a little 22 bullet??

Go with the 30-06 not the .308. If you want to shoot deer, elk & bear use the 30-06, if you want to shoot people use the .308.

Jim
 
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Go with the 30-06 not the .308. If you want to shoot deer, elk & bear use the 30-06, if you want to shoot people use the .308.
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This makes less sense than anything I have yet to read on this forum.:confused:

Also, if you will do a little research, you might find that the .22 the Army uses leaves a lot to be desired. And it's not all about speed. In fact the .22 caliber that you refer to is only going 2,900 fps with a 68 grain bullet. The 06 and the 308 both do better than that with a 150 grain bullet.

If you think speed kills then you should be willing to hunt elephants with a .204. It is currently the fastest thing out there short of some wildcats. Should have plenty of hydrostatic shock.

Bill
 
Both are adequate for the tasks listed. Many in this forum are 30-06 blind, and they have the right to their predjudice. Hard to fault something that works.

You have made a good choice in caliber, go look for a rifle in either. Buy the one that suits you. For deer use about any 150 grain bullet you can find. Bears may come to the bait big. 400 pounds or more. With thick heavy bones that need to be broken. Use a premium bullet and shoot high in the shoulder. Break him down, in his tracks Spend the money for the premium 165 or 180s. Shots will be under one hundred yards, Adjust your sights for the distance you are shooting. Learn bear anatomy and whack a big one. Return to this sight with an image or two. Most bears shrink when you walk up to them.
 
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