Wow didnt realize there are so many. Guess I will rank from large to high the more common american rounds. IS the .416 whetherby the largest common round under .50 BMG?
What round does the power of a 3 inch 12 gauge magnum slug compare to? Debating on what to get for Grizzly bear protection.
I think an M1A socom would be a good defense gun but not sure if its large enough for a charging grizzly. The .308 has a pointed tip and seems like it would be good for penetrating bears compared to the flat 45.70. Also like that the trajectory of a .308 is flat.
Next I am looking at the 45.70 but it has a rainbow trajectory. Finally looking at a mossber590A1 but not sure if a slug out of this is enough.
Now we're getting somewhere. Now you have a question that we have a chance of answering.
The Weatherby rounds are not all that common. They're not completely obscure, but they aren't everywhere either, especially the big boys.
Of the calibers larger than .30 calibers, the most common 4 are probably the .45-70, .338 Win Mag, .375 H&H, and .458 Win Mag, and probably in that order. The bigger the round you're talking about, the less need most people have for it, and the harder it is to operate. the .416 and .458 caliber cartridges are built for taking african game that can weigh over a ton, or in the case of an elephant, several tons. Even the largest North American game is nowhere close to that. realistically speaking, there isn't anything in North America that a .375 won't take cleanly, and the same probably holds true for a .338 Win Mag.
For comparison, a 12 GA slug is delivering between 1800 and 2500 FPE depending on the load. A slug is delivering less energy than most of the common .30 calibers.
For bears, the .45-70, with modern full power loads, not powderpuff cowboy loads or stuff that a trapdoor springfield will eat, will far outclass most of the .30 caliber toys. Any hunting appropriate load in .30 is an expanding bullet. if its pointy and non-expanding it WILL NOT WORK ON DANGEROUS GAME. Someone will come up with an anticdote or a new article saying look here, it did this one time so you're full of s**t, but trust me, its true. FMJ or OTM bullets won't stop a bear. Heavy flat faced .458's will.
At ranges you'll be potentially defending yourself from a bear, trajectory will mean NOTHING to you. range is going to be 50 yards in, so no matter what you're using, its going to be flat at those ranges.
A SOCOM is not a good woods gun. They're heavy, .308 is on the bottom end of what's useful for real bears, and they're not legal for hunting in many of the places where you're going to risk a bear encounter. And that's important, because hunting and cleaning a carcass is one of the things that will legitimately draw in a bear on you in the field.
I know a fair number of guides out west in bear country, and more than one of them carry a Marlin guide gun in .45-70 as their backup gun. They're relatively light, compact, and have the power it takes to drop all but the largest coastal and river fed brownies. In places where REALLY big bears might accost you, Kodiak Island brownies, river fed bears, polar bears and the like, the few people I know who play that game generally are packing a .375, and one guy I know has a .458 Winny.
I'll allude to some other recent threads where the truth of the matter is that if you educate yourself about how to operate in bear country, the odds of an encounter are pretty low, and bear spray will probably be more useful to you than a big rifle. But if you're doing something that legitimately creates the possibility of running on to a bear, or drawing one in on you, the rifle you want is NOT a tacti-cool anything in an american service caliber from the last century or so. Get a lever action guide gun, or a bolt gun in a .338 or bigger if a grizzly in a possibility. If its the biggest species around is a blackie, then a .30 is plenty of medicine.
