The 22-250 for bear??

Wouldn't be my first (or second, or third) choice. Heavy hide + big heavy bone....

Before I get flamed, yes it COULD be done (perfect shot, etc), but not what I would take if looking for a bear.
 
Well i dont think it should be used because my cousin shot a bear about a week ago right in front of the shoulder from about 50 yards away with a 270 180gr and he said it went so far he looked for about 7 hours till it got dark and couldnt find it.But yet the 22-250 is legal for bear?
 
The only way I would try it is either a close range headshot, or shooting a bear with hounds. That way you can wait overnight for it to die, and put the dogs back on the trail to track it down.
That said, how many bears and moose have been taken with a 22 rimfire, especially by natives in canada and alaska? Many. About 40 years ago my dads hunting buddy snuck a 22LR bullet behind a black bears ear and dropped it in its tracks. Not legal, but he was after meat, and he got a lot of venison with that 22.

Hey hunter33, where do you find 180gr bullets for the 270???????????
 
One story from a cousin who may or who may not have hit where he thought he did does not offer anything meaningful about one's choice of firearm.

No centerfire .22 is truly suitable for larger game animals. I'm not saying you can't make a kill. I will say that the odds of a clean and ethical kill are reduced as compared to cartridges using heavier bullets of larger diameter.
 
Alaska natives use that caliber for subsistence bear hunting.

I saw Spiff use a Garand for subsistence McDonalds hunting. Put that burger down with one shot.

WildrightspiffAlaska ™
 
No! Unless the bear is eating your wife/children/dog, and there is nothing else available. I've seen people try to use the 22/250 on smallish (100-200 lbs) wild hogs, and even with perfect shot placement, the results were less than stellar. I'm pretty sure that even black bears need more medicine than a centerfire .22 will provide.

JMHO,YMMV, FWIW, other caveats as required.

JWB
 
Heck - we use .22lr on Kiwi Bears here all the time so .22 250 will be sweet as

Possum.jpg
 
I'm wholeheartedly in the "NO" camp. Bears are very tough animals and will run a long ways, you need a good blood trail to follow or broken bones to slow them down. The .22-250 isn't going to be good for either.
 
Wild, a lot of folks do a lot of things. The amount of success depends on the amount of skill and the knowledge brought to the effort.

Look: The last mulie I killed was rudely awakened by me from his noonday nap. I was no more than thirty yards from him. I had what seemed to me to be "all day" to judge whether or not to kill him. I could as easily have center-punched him between the eyes with a .22 rimfire as ruining his neck with my '06. But I've been hunting and shooting for over 65 years. I'm supposed to be able to do the sneaky-snake thing, and hit exactly where I intend to.

hunter 33, by the very nature of his question, seems to be one who is starting out, still on the upside of the learning curve. I'd bet that he still has to learn to deal with all the bits and pieces of that learning, to develop the knowledge and skill that is needed for success at that proverbial clean and ethical kill. I figure he can stay with it, work at it, and do just fine.

This is no reflection upon him, of course. We all go through it. I did, for sure. So did you, Wild, just as you went up a learning curve in gunsmithing. We all gotta start somewhere...

Just as folks don't move from trundling around town in their little Honda to driving a Formula 1 car, folks shouldn't start off in hunting with cartridges that demand an expert's higher level of skill.

My 2¢, anyhow.

Art
 
Dont think 22-250 is legal for bear but if your felling confidnet you can always try shooting one with the 22-250. If I were hunting black bear I would carry nothing less than a 375 Holand and Holand magnum. My personal choice would be a CZ rifle chambered for 458 Winchester magnum.
 
In Oregon, where both Hunter33 and I (and it looks like a lot of other posters) live, it is perfectly legal.

Why? I have no earthly idea. My guess is it is a hold-over from the good old days when we could bait bears and run both cats and bears with dogs.

Since we can't do that anymore, something like 90% (or more) of both bears and cougars taken are taken while someone is deer/elk hunting.
 
Wild, a lot of folks do a lot of things. The amount of success depends on the amount of skill and the knowledge brought to the effort.

Art by now means do I imply that anyone other than the most skilled hunter should take on a bear with a 22-250.

These native guys living out there have skills and a...hmmm...disregard for safety that most folks dont have.

Wildifitisa17itstoobigAlaska™
 
As big a fan I am of the 22-250, I would only use it for bear if it was a self defense shot. And if I were in bear country, I'd probably have something a little better for that purpose on my hip. I would not hunt them on purpose with this round. Yeah, you get enough holes in one, it'l do the trick. 1 good shot to the noodle will probably take one, but I'd advise against it. I've cut Steel T-Post in half w/ a 22-250, so It should bust the skull of a black bea, but again, I'm definitely in the no camp on this one too. I don't know what it would do to a brown...probably piss it off... but it may get it away from you...
 
Drifting a bunch: I've read that Savage brought out the 99 in order to use the .22 Savage HiPower. That's a whole bunch of years ago, long before the varmint hunters got into "wildcats".

Phil Sharpe lists a load for the HiPower that pushes a 40-grain bullet out at Swift speed. Not exactly shabby performance.

Anyhow, some guy in India had one, and killed a tiger. Allegedly only one shot was required for the kill.

But I don't recommend it...

:D, Art
 
Ethics.....................remember that word...........if we hunters ( And fishermen. ) abandon them totally we will be giving over to the PETA types another weapon, a weapon for which we will have no defence.

It is not ethical to do what you propose...............discussing such for entertaiment is one thing but to actually do so, and to do so under the guise of being a "sportsman".............not acceptable.
 
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