The 300 Savage for Polar Bear

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Seems to me that there is a wee tad of difference between the guy who is skilled at hunting polar bears, and a cheechako who is not.

One's choice of weapon should reflect those differences in skill.
 
Seems like it comes down to that pesky "Shot Placement" theory again...

A 50BMG through the guts and you're dead before the bear is, a 223 through the skull and the bear's dead before it hits the ground, a 300 Savage in the kill zone will do the job soon enough.


You can't use enough gun to suck at shooting.... ducks, deer or polar bear.
 
There you go making sense again....

You can't use enough gun to suck at shooting.... ducks, deer or polar bear

No place for that in the forums! LOL.
 
When I was in the AK NG, I was the XO of A Company, 2/297th Inf, which consisted of natives on St Lawrence Island. One day I landed in Gambell just in time to see a native shoot a polar bear with a 220 swift. One shot, deader then a door nail, not my choice but it happends.

These people (Alaska Natives) are a strange lot, Wonderful People, but..........how do I say it?..................DIFFERANT.

They arn't the greatest rifleman people seem to think, or that they will leave you to believe. Sure there are some who can shoot, had some good ones on my rifle team, but on the whole, they believe in shooting LOTS as oppose to shooting GOOD.

Before going to St Lawarence I was the CO of C Company, I was in Brevic Mission when they brought in a Whale. I asked to boat captain, (who was one of my section sgts) how many times he shot the whale, He says "Box and a half of 458 and 2 1/2 boxes of 222". Now you need to take into account that there were 8 guys in that boat, they used more ammo then an infantry company in a firefight in SE Asia.

These guys seem to be buying up 223s, not because its the best gun for hunting, but because the can swipe ammo from the NG.

Again, they are some of the best people you can be around, but dont base your Gun Choices for hunting, on what the Alaska Natives choose.

But here is a little know fact I learned from the natives in polar bear country. They are safer to hunt then you think, Simple because a polar bear wont turn right. When you chase them on a snow machine, you stay on the right side, they will run, they will turn left, but they will never turn right, Dont ask me why, but its a fact. It took me a while to get up enough guts to try it, but I did, Stay on the right side of a polar bear and you can shoot them all day, with anything, they wont turn right. That has a lot to do with why natives, who hunt them all the time, dont get eaten', regardless of what they are hunting them with.

Its illegal for non-natives to hunt polar bears. I missed out of shooting one because I was chicken of getting caught, but a friend of mine was going to take me out, let me shoot it, then say it was his, have it made into a rug, and then he was going to do some drawings on the inside of the hide, then say he sold it to me, which would be legal for me to possess, but again, I chickened out. Though now I don't see how I could have got caught.

I've went out with these guys walrus hunting, now that was a trip. Interesting to say the least, if you ever get a chance to go hunting with these guys you are in for an experience.

Again, the Alaska Natives are some of the most wonderful people you can hang around.
 
We have a customer, head of an Alaska Native corporation, who calls in moose with a bar straw. He feeds his whole village.

Wildheuses30calsAlaska ™
 
When I was in the AK NG, I was the XO of A Company, 2/297th Inf, which consisted of natives on St Lawrence Island.
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Case y'all dont know, St Lawrence is an 90 mile long Island in the Bering sea that is closer to Russia thab Alaska. IIRC, Sarah palin was out there and therefore, she could see Russia from someone else house:D

WildarcticAlaska ™
 
little diomede island is closer to Russia, you can see the russian navy base on Big diomede from the village,

Little Diomede was one of my villages when I was CO of C Co 2/297.

I have some wierd storys about that assignement too, but I'll keep quiet because I'm not sure of the statue of limitations on some of the dumb stuff I did up there.
 
"Polar bear take dumps bigger than black bear. "


I never knew that a 1000-1500 pound bear could take 800 pound craps. There were three black bears killed in PA and WV that were all over 800 pounds. Freakishly large but just goes to show what they can be under the right conditions.
Those bears were way bigger than normal but black bears simply do not get the respect they deserve. They are definetly not in the same league as the coastal brown bears but they are not very far behind the interior/lower 48 grizzlies at all. Admittedly they don't have as bad a temperment as the grizzlies but they do attack/kill more people than all the other bear species of the world combined.
They should at least be respected. We had several bear attacks here in Colorado this past year including one fatality. When was the last grizzly fatality reported in the U.S. or Canada? I'm sure there are grizz attacks but you are much more likely to be attacked by a black than a grizz. And to be honest, if you live in the inter-mountain west you are more likely to run into a mountain lion.

Just my thoughts.
 
My apologies if you've seen this. Just couldn't pass it up.
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That's funny stuff right there, and it illustrates this argument perfectly!:D

From the linked article:

"An increase in bore diameter of a lousy 0.01" to 0.05" is simply inadequate to keep pace with the rapidly accelerating indestructibility of big game animals. That is why, as a public service to our readers, Guns and Shooting Online has developed the .825 G&S Online Express Magnum cartridge. Proportionally similar to the .44 Remington Magnum in shape (see the approximately life size photo at the top of this article), the .825 could be described as a .44 Magnum on steroids--lots of steroids!"


This whole topic just kills me.....

There are endless discussions in the revolver forum about which revolver is sufficient for deer/elk/bear (take your pick) and, no matter which one you pick, they are almost universally less powerful than even a low end rifle (like a 223 or 243) which are somehow considered inadequate while the revolver round that often generates half or 2/3s of the energy of even a mid-powered rifles is claimed to be overkill by some.

It's insanity.
 
anyone who thinks......

that a 300 Savage handloaded to max with a 150 TSX would not kill any bear with a properly placed shot should talk to my Buddy's wife who took a big mature Bison in 08 with a paltry 270 WCF loaded with the old X 130s.
Broke both shoulders and kept on going, Bison fell over DOA.

Would not be my first choice for big bears but would work just fine in the hands of a HUNTER (getting to be a rare breed)

(Yeah I own six 99s but only 3 are 300s)
 
peetzakilla said:
A 50BMG through the guts and you're dead before the bear is...
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Whoa!! You mean polar bears are armed with 50BMG's now? And they use them on humans? That's just... not sporting of them.
:D
 
Ineuts and Cree folks hunted polar bears with spears for many centuries. When lever action 30-30's became available, they felled even more of these great beasts. Fred Bear took a record book bear with his archery gear although backed up by well armed guide.

What's the point? Shot placement has and always will factor heavily in quick kills. 300 Savage was my Dad's favorite. He toppled dozens of elk with his Savage rifle. None got away. Couple really huge bulls probably weighed close to 800 lbs.

I feel that 300 Savage has same killing power as 30-06 out to about 175 yards or so. Past this distance the larger cased "ought six" has the advantage.

I won't be hunting polar bears due to cost and other factors. I heard the polar bears within Greenland are more aggressive than elsewhere.

Jack
 
Here is my idea of a polar bear gun:

- 444 Marlin loaded with 300 grain Hornady XTP bullets.

Jack



photo_1895.jpg
 
Simple because a polar bear wont turn right. When you chase them on a snow machine, you stay on the right side, they will run, they will turn left, but they will never turn right, Dont ask me why, but its a fact.
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But, what if they make three quick lefts? :eek:
 
Well, there can come a time when ya better have something. .300 Savage is lot's better than a camera with tripod.:D

Just remember--Polar Bears never turn right. Remember that life saving tip, and you can't go wrong. :D:rolleyes::cool::D
 

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