What would be the best milsurp bolt gun to take into grizzly or brown bear country

Boys cal .55 anti-tank rifle or a Lahti 20mm anti-tank rifle:D

And what's the big deal about shooting a cow with a .303? From what I remember about my year in Thailand during the war, water buffalo were pretty docile. (And, as much as I hate to say it, pretty tasty, too.:D)
 
And what's the big deal about shooting a cow with a .303?
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It's about stopping power ... not pi$$ing power. Having shot Cape Buffalo in Botswana and shot Wild Buff in Northern Australia I can tell you there is a huge difference in temperament between domestic Asiatic Water Buff and the Wild type. Any experienced hunter who knows his butt from his elbow will tell you Wild Asiatic Water Buff and African Cape Buff are equally dangerous and deadly.

So yeah ... shooting a domestic cow is no big deal - you shot a cow, not wild game. :rolleyes:

Tiki.
 
We used to be able to buy heavier factory .303 british ammo , 215 gr saftpoints but nowadays all I see are 180 gr softpoints.

The old timer prospectors and geologists I knew always used the heavier ammo on problem black and grizzly bears and they never felt undergunned.
 
Mosin M-38 or M-44
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This one has my vote too. Pretty small package, all things considered, but packs a heck of a whollup with some 180gr. soft-points. And if you happen to miss with the bullet, you still might kill 'em with the muzzle flash :D.
 
As an owner of several mosins and Enfields....Alot of mosin actions are just too sticky and slow/tempremental/ slow to reload with the low quality stripper clips that seem in such supply(compared to the better ones)
For me to consider them ideal (didnt say it couldnt be done) to rapidly bust caps on something 35feet and closing fast( and thinking i'm going to taste just like chicken) I would much rather be doing it with a Lee Enfield if I had to do it. Butter smooth and rapid, twice the onboard ammo supply. Nothing like having five rounds when the job took seven......
 
As an owner of several mosins and Enfields....Alot of mosin actions are just too sticky and slow/tempremental/ slow to reload with the low quality stripper clips that seem in such supply(compared to the better ones)
For me to consider them ideal (didnt say it couldnt be done) to rapidly bust caps on something 35feet and closing fast( and thinking i'm going to taste just like chicken) I would much rather be doing it with a Lee Enfield if I had to do it. Butter smooth and rapid, twice the onboard ammo supply. Nothing like having five rounds when the job took seven......
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What he said... though I wouldn't feel under-gunned with a good mauser that has a slick action. Kinda like my Yugo 24/47 :D (You'd be amazed at how fast you can work the bolt... not as good as a enfield, but pretty darn good none-the-less)
 
The Mosin action isn't bad to work when you've got it cleaned up and worked out. The reloading isn't great, though, kind of slow. The Mauser and Enfeild actions work like butter, generally, but nothing's going to be faster than a K31 or K11. Straight pull bolts are gonna work a lot faster than most bolts.
 
Really, when loaded with proper bullets any of the full-power cartridges that milsurp bolt guns typically come in would be sufficient (though admittedly 6.5 Swede, Arisaka, or Carcano may be a tad light for Grizz). Personally, I'd probably go for a K31 or Lee-Enfield due to the faster cycling bolts.
 
So yeah ... shooting a domestic cow is no big deal - you shot a cow, not wild game.
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I never said I shot anything in Thailand; I was stationed there during the Vietnam War and the water buffalo were everywhere, including roaming town streets.

Apparently you are telling me that you shot some vicious, wild variety of water buffalo. I know Cape buffalo are very dangerous game, but yours didn't look like a Cape buffalo to me, hence my statement.

Having said that, .303 is one of my favorite calibres, and the Lee-Enfield rifle is one of my most beloved shooters.
 
Apparently you are telling me that you shot some vicious, wild variety of water buffalo. I know Cape buffalo are very dangerous game, but yours didn't look like a Cape buffalo to me, hence my statement.
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Mate ... I've hunted Cape Buff in Africa and I have also had experience hunting wild Asiatic Buff in the Northern Territory. Ask any game hunter who knows buffalo ( I'm one ) and they will tell you Cape buff and Wild Asiatic Buff in Australia are equally dangerous. To be making the statements you are making, I get the impression you don't really know much about the subject matter, but by all means feel free to come to the NT and head bush to shoot Buff with that attitude - it's a fast way to end up dead.

My point? The .303, hand loaded for hunting will stop pretty much anything THAT big, THAT was the point of the picture. Since that point is lost on you and you think it was about what looks more dangerous to you, maybe I'll go back and photo shop some fangs on the Buffalo to press the point home. :rolleyes:

Tiki.
 
You said you shot a water buffalo and showed us a picture of a dead water buffalo. So we thought it was a water buffalo. Then you tell us it's a Wild Asiatic Australian Water Buffalo, the ferocity of which is unmatched by any but the Cape Buffalo. Sorry, we thought it was a water buffalo. Like you originally said.
 
Asiatic Buffalo ARE a Water Buff, just a specific type of Water buff found in the North of OZ; the distinction must be made between wild and domestic of course and there are different types of Asiatic Water Buff also. Rather than keep pace with this three ringed circus, suggest you go do some research on Buff hunting in the North of Australia and learn about the dangers, if you doubt there are any.

I made no statements in my initial post about the hunt being INCREDIBLY dangerous and vicious or any other nonsense. Until somebody likened hunting a wild buff to shooting a domestic cow in Vietnam, my only point was the .303 will take down big game reliably, it still is ...

I'll leave it here thanks ... sheesh.
 
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Ask any game hunter who knows buffalo ( I'm one ) and they will tell you Cape buff and Wild Asiatic Buff in Australia are equally dangerous. To be making the statements you are making, I get the impression you don't really know much about the subject matter
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You are 100% correct about that. I was going by the appearance of the animal and my own experiences with (apparently) another, more docile species of water buffalo. Sorry to offend.
 
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