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30-06 with 220 grain bullets = plenty of knockdown

For Lions I use a Remington Marine 12 gauge shot gun with mild slugs, no running, jumping etc; Just death.
Bears 30-30 Marlin stainless 170 grain Hornady.
Spot and stock bears 300 win Mag 168 grain barnes xxx

I shoot a 44 magnum. tuarus raging bull. with a 240 gr. lead cast bullet 22gr of 2400. Hand cast all of are own bullet.

Dick Harrison HARRiSON BULLETS Were online at Recobs target shop.com

A .41 mag with hornady 210 semi's, loaded medium range. a good amount of pop with pretty good acuacey, and its lighter then a rifle.

Marlin .35 Rem. with Hornady Lever evoloution 200 grain loads.

bearhntwi wrote:Marlin .35 Rem. with Hornady Lever evoloution 200 grain loads.

thats what i use also same setup. those leverevolution bullets with that gun does the trick. wouldnt trade it for any gun on bear although i do use a 300 rem. ultra mag if im gonna be doing any distance shooting

dsodstiks wrote:

bearhntwi wrote:Marlin .35 Rem. with Hornady Lever evoloution 200 grain loads.

thats what i use also same setup. those leverevolution bullets with that gun does the trick. wouldnt trade it for any gun on bear although i do use a 300 rem. ultra mag if im gonna be doing any distance shooting

Yea it's unreal how much more punch the Hornady has compared to a 200gr. Remington.

bearhntwi wrote:

dsodstiks wrote:

bearhntwi wrote:Marlin .35 Rem. with Hornady Lever evoloution 200 grain loads.

thats what i use also same setup. those leverevolution bullets with that gun does the trick. wouldnt trade it for any gun on bear although i do use a 300 rem. ultra mag if im gonna be doing any distance shooting

Yea it's unreal how much more punch the Hornady has compared to a 200gr. Remington.

yeah totally. leverevoutions are the way to go

bearhmtwi<or whatever

You shouldn't talk to much about that 300 Ultra we may think you are horizantaly challenged. LOL! I watch all these hunting programs on TV with thes folks shooting a 300 Ultr or somthing like that with a 6X18 scope to knock off some spindely legged white tail buck that may weight 160 pounds at 200 yards I crack up.


Good grief we shoot them fed up pot bellied types with a 22 Hornet why waste the meat. As for black bear I prefer the 30-30 for ease of carry but a 22 Long Rifle in the hand of a person who can shoot is fine with dogs.


You like big guns? I am fine with that. I shoot prairie dogs with my 358 Norma Mag. for kicks,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but it is not the best gun for the chore.

If you want a gun that's easy to carry/handle and will kill a bear DEAD.......the Marlin 45-70 is my choice, every time! I have witnessed many a bear kills with this caliber and im here to tell you, when that ol girl cracks she's night night.......period.

I wouldnt have any one shooting a bear, or a lion for that matter over my dogs with a .22. I beleive in a very quick ethical kill, and a .22 just isn't the right choice for big game in my opinion. I just think we owe it to the game we hunt to make that kill shot be what it is to be, instant.

You can pull a 30' stock trailer with a half tonne pick up if you want..........but that don't mean its the best choice for the job............

My thoughts

Thank you LBell, It's just hard to beat the 41mag. My personal favorite hand gun. Lots of pop deeper penatration and less recoil. What more can you ask for???

I think though that any caliber with the wrong bullet is pretty much worthless. I've seen some pretty large guns with sorry bullets that had hell killing a white tail deer. The other thing is bullet placement.

You can kill almost anything putting the right bullet in the right place.

Mike Leonard wrote:bearhmtwi<or whatever

You shouldn't talk to much about that 300 Ultra we may think you are horizantaly challenged. LOL! I watch all these hunting programs on TV with thes folks shooting a 300 Ultr or somthing like that with a 6X18 scope to knock off some spindely legged white tail buck that may weight 160 pounds at 200 yards I crack up.


Good grief we shoot them fed up pot bellied types with a 22 Hornet why waste the meat. As for black bear I prefer the 30-30 for ease of carry but a 22 Long Rifle in the hand of a person who can shoot is fine with dogs.


You like big guns? I am fine with that. I shoot prairie dogs with my 358 Norma Mag. for kicks,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but it is not the best gun for the chore.

300 mag? What the hell are you talking about? I said I like a .35 Rem with iron sights,which aint any different than a 30-30.I don't actually own any "big" guns.Sorry.

I got you and the 35 Remington is a great caliber for this and better than the 30-30 to my notion.

I don't know if any of you know this but Dale Lee's favorite saddle gun was a Marlin 336 straight grip in 35 Remington. He is shown in the picture on his book with a model 94 winchester but that was a gun Clell had there at the ranch and not Dale's own. All of them used a 30-30 a lot in the early days as well as a model 92 in 25-20. But after they made several trips for jaguar the were exposed to the 35 Rem. in the old auto Remington which was notorius for hanging up but Dale said with the reliable Marlin he was always confident with the factory 200 gr. When bounty hunting Dale shot nearly all his lions with a Colt Woodsman 22 Long Rifle and high speed ammo. He lost it one time on a wild chase after the hounds and he got a single six after that but never did like he said and it was hard to hit anything with it for him.


Jay Bruce the famous California Lion and bear hunter shot his lions also with a 22 Colt woodsman.

Shorty I like the 41 Magnum myself and have killed a few bear and lion with it and seen a lot more killed with it. But like you say it is all about the bullet and the nut behind the bolt. I saw two clown one time each armed with a 41 Ruger Bisley put 17 shots into a big bear before they got him to fall out of the tree dead.These guys were so excited that their lame dogs finally did make one climb they were standing on their hindlegs spraying lead, and shaking like a dog $hitting peach pits. I bet that taxidermist had a job on his hands. LOL!


No the reason I threw in the quip about the 300 Ultra is not becasue it isn't a fantastic long range gun becasue it is. but some of these outdoor show guys would have you beleive that you are undergunned for deer with a 30-06. LOL!

I watched an Afican plains game show the other day, and this guy went on and on about how tough African plains animals were compared to North american game. He said Wildabeast were notorious for be able to take a good hit and keep going. He was shooting a 300 Ultra, and he shot a blue one first at about 150 and it kicked up and took off at a run and the trackers had to trail it up about 200 yards it was hit in the rear of the lungs. He shot a black one a little further and it too ran maybe a little further before they found it. but the funny part was he had his 15 year old daughter along and she was shooting a Remington youth model 700 in 7mm-08 using Hornady light magnum 139 Gr. ammo. She dropped her blue like a rock at 160 yards with a high shoulder shot. then she shot a huge black bull at 300 yards with the same hold and dropped in his tracks.The kid had practiced and knew where to hold. Not that the litte seven is anywhere near as powerful as the big 300 but it is more about putting the pill where the pain is.

I totally agree about the outdoor shows Mike,they've always got the biggest gun possible for shooting a deer or prong horn.

454 casul when bayed 12 ga 3 inch mag slugs when treed Spine shot when possible