Blockcaver
WKR
Roosie, You are correct in your assumptions...bears are fairly easy to penetrate...easier than elk. Most of the comments on heavy arrows req'd haven't killed many if any bears. And polar bears are thick with a lot if fat and hair, but I still got excellent penetration into the far shoulder....about 29" in fact. The 1 yard long blood trail was easy to follow on the snow too! This was an animal bigger than a year old beef cow. Browns and grizzlies penetrate similar in my experience.
As per rifles on grizzlies....I had a BC old timer now dead tell me that his .270 using deer bullets resulted in faster kills than his .338 Win Mag. Sample size was a few with each caliber.
I had a friend shoot two grizzlies over a 3 year period with his .338 Win Mag and Barnes copper bullets. On both, at around a 200 yard shot distance, he placed the first shot into the shoulder/leg bone area to "break it down". In both cases he had a PO'd bear that lived quite a while and took multiple shots to kill...bionic bears that roared and scared hell out of the two hunters!
Another hunting buddy who is primarily a skilled bowhunter but was sporting a broken arm (Mt bike wreck) shot a grizzly, also with a .338 Win Mag....unsure of which bullets. He shot it back in the lungs like he would arrow a bear. Almost instantly he had a dead grizzly, no muss or fuss.
The Inuits I hunted polar bear with had an iPhone video of a client shooting a bear with a .338 Win Mag. Hunter broke down the bear with two shots to front shoulder area. Bear continued to "pedal" around, sledding on his chest propelled by his hind legs for a good minute chasing the bear dogs. 4 or 5 shots in total before he died. Again....a case of shooting too far forward to "break him down" resulted in lack of killing shots into the lung and heart area.
The assistant guide filled his polar bear tag every year with his .222 Remington and 50 gr soft points...same rifle he bought in high school and hunted seals with. I asked him about shot placement and he responded that he typically would shoot the bear facing him at about 70 yards, penetrating the front of the bear into the heart. He indicated he would usually shoot the bear 2 or 3 times in that spot and that was that.
As per rifles on grizzlies....I had a BC old timer now dead tell me that his .270 using deer bullets resulted in faster kills than his .338 Win Mag. Sample size was a few with each caliber.
I had a friend shoot two grizzlies over a 3 year period with his .338 Win Mag and Barnes copper bullets. On both, at around a 200 yard shot distance, he placed the first shot into the shoulder/leg bone area to "break it down". In both cases he had a PO'd bear that lived quite a while and took multiple shots to kill...bionic bears that roared and scared hell out of the two hunters!
Another hunting buddy who is primarily a skilled bowhunter but was sporting a broken arm (Mt bike wreck) shot a grizzly, also with a .338 Win Mag....unsure of which bullets. He shot it back in the lungs like he would arrow a bear. Almost instantly he had a dead grizzly, no muss or fuss.
The Inuits I hunted polar bear with had an iPhone video of a client shooting a bear with a .338 Win Mag. Hunter broke down the bear with two shots to front shoulder area. Bear continued to "pedal" around, sledding on his chest propelled by his hind legs for a good minute chasing the bear dogs. 4 or 5 shots in total before he died. Again....a case of shooting too far forward to "break him down" resulted in lack of killing shots into the lung and heart area.
The assistant guide filled his polar bear tag every year with his .222 Remington and 50 gr soft points...same rifle he bought in high school and hunted seals with. I asked him about shot placement and he responded that he typically would shoot the bear facing him at about 70 yards, penetrating the front of the bear into the heart. He indicated he would usually shoot the bear 2 or 3 times in that spot and that was that.
