Do you think this would make a good black bear rifle ???

[Big Tom]

Well lets see......I killed fourteen Black Bear persomally with a bow and arrow    
My partner Andy and I ran a Bear Guiding service in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for seven years before the "politically correct" lottery went into place. :evil:
800 lb Black bear in the wild lower 48 are so rare they are Mythical :-D

Your .280 will kill any Black Bear on earth....with a 150gr bullet in the boiler room. Every bear I double lunged with an arrow(12) over the years went 75yds MAX! The other two were one lung and a liver and were recovered next day within 400yds.

Yes.....a .300 WSM in a 16.5" barrel will killa black bear.... :roll:Actually that little scout rifle woulda been real handy back in 1964...in Viet Nam...with a 30 round clip! :blaster:

[tanoose]

New York Hunter you would have no problems with that caliber/ rifle combination. You are well over 30/30 winchester ballistics and i consider the 30/30 a good bear rifle for NY. I hunt in Arkville NY where the bear get plenty big and this year i will be hunting with a new rifle i chose the Ruger compact in 308 winchester. And if i can get to that 600 pounder thats running around on our property before anyone else does i'll let you know how that compact rifle did.

[Dana C]

I own a 45/70 Marlin Guide Rifle, sort barrel, in which I shoot Buffalo Bore
400Gr. flat points.  It will kill anything that walks in North American and with a different bullet has taken the big 5 in Africa.  While it kicks like a mule, it absolutely anchors bear.

I also hunt with a 375 H&H, it again will drop anything on this continent or any other but is a little light for elephant, not that I plan to get to Africa any time soon.  By the way I just bought a 458 Lott CZ just for plinking and just in case I am attacked by a truck :-)

[Slamfire]

I'm still really torn as to what to do. I mean for years the 270 Win., 280 Rem. and the 30-06 were North America's "all round rifles cartridges"

So what is different now? The magnums are certainly not new. Has North American game grown tougher? I doubt it.
Here is what I think is the differance between now and then. It's the internet. Just a way for deer camp B.S. to spread faster. Any joker with an opinion and no facts to back it up can post, and somebody will believe it. The old time gunwriters, except for maybe Elmer Keith, were much more truthfull about what they wrote about.

I'm quite certain Elmer's bullet proof ram story had a bit of prevarication in it. There was a pretty hot exchange of columns concerning it between Elmer and Jack O'Connor.

As for the rifle. Some of the toughest riflest to shoot were the Remington 600s in 6.5 and .350 magnums, but the .308 wasn't too bad, and neither would the .260 or 7/08 be. I've got a 19" .260 and like it.

[jro45]

The first time I went B. Bear hunting I used my 300 Win Mag shooting 220 gr bullets going 2750 fps.  This black bear hunt I'll use my 338 RUM down loaded with 250gr round nose bullets going 2730 fps. I beleave in use enought gun. There are guys that like to shoot black bears with the 25/06
but not me.

[Big Tom]

While I admire your courage(for shooting a 338 RUM) :eek:
It simply is MAJOR overkill on Black Bear. I live in Black Bear country...they are seen even in town and occassionally hit by cars here.
Out of the thousands killed in upper michigan(1000-1300 per year)...the state record is 608lbs...BTW killed by a 65 yr old woman with a .30-30. :lol:
A local gal, Carol Kurtz, has 7 or 8 one shot kills with an old .250 Savage 99. :roll:

[Archblackmage]

The frontier rifle is based on a jeff cooper design scout rifle, iI would prefer the 243 or 308win to the short mag.  I myself plain to transfer my 357mag marlin lever into a scout setup.    
 
Now on to bear, the polar bear is the species of bear that starts to hunt you during the hunt unless of course you run into some rogue other species.
My former Vo-deck teacher used a 300mag to take his black bear, I heard stories from my former college roommate out of Johnston PA about bears charging and not going down after a 7mm that it took a 338mag, I was also told a story were a bear absorbs 1 turkey load, 6-357mag hot loads and cased a friend to soil himself.  
 
Now I consider my 270win to take a bear as long as i use large bullets and i would of course back myself up with my 44mag srh, or my Mosi M-44 7.62x54R with the long bannet would help, I have seen guys in trees shoot bears with arrows and even saw a crazy old add for a bear spear hunt.  Spear hunt not my style expecially now that we have all these advanced rock-chuckers now a days.

[Big Tom]

I heard stories from my former college roommate out of Johnston PA about bears charging and not going down after a 7mm that it took a 338mag, I was also told a story were a bear absorbs 1 turkey load, 6-357mag hot loads and cased a friend to soil himself.

Those are STORIES....STORIES.... :-D  :roll:   and pretty hilarious at that!
Wild Bears are quiet, curious, shy towards humans and avoid confrontation...We're not talking about half domesticated National Park/campground bears...those are the dangrous ones!

FYI...there's probably as many bear killed by Bowhunters these days as with rifles.

[James B]

Believe me your 270,280 or 30-06 will kill any Black Bear anywhere. I have used it on some big ones in Canada. Load a good 175 or even 160 grain bullet and have at it. I like the 45-70 for Black Bears but the 280 will do it up right.

[Buckskin]

If your going to be over bait and not spot and stalking, use a bow.  
Rifle is way to easy and unrewarding.

[Big Tom]

While I have no problem with a hunter choosing to kill a bear with a firearm I would fully agree. After killing 14 myself and being in on many bowkills of Black Bear it would be like blasting a cow coming into the water trough. :?