Need advice on 7mm-.08

[Catfish]

A big slow bullet is a better stopper than a small fast one, so if there will be grizz in the area I would recomand the largest cal. you can handle, unless you`ll have a reliable back up at all times. I argee with the others, .308 absloute min., and Savage are excellant for the bucks spent.

[PJgunner]

There was a woman who lived in the Canadian wilderness who's husband was hardly ever around. She had to fend for herself and her kids as best she could. Her first name was Olive as I recall, but I'm not positive on her last namr. For some reason I'm thinking Frederickson but I could be wrong. She wrote up her adventuers in Outdoor Life many years ago and they made a movie about her called I believe Silence of the North. Now what all this roundabout gab is all about is her moose gun was a Winchester m94 in (GASP!) 25-35. She was definitely in big bear country and IIRC, did have a run in with Grizzly Bear. I don't remember if she shot it or not.
Gun writer John Barsness wrote an article not too long ago about his shooting a moose with a 7x57 Mauser using IIRC, a 160 gr. Barnes TSX. The moose dropped at the shot as I recall.
A max load of H-414 for the 160 gr. Barnes MRX-BT is 2601 FPS using 44.0 gr. of powder. Naturally Barnes cheats a bit and uses a 24" barrel. That's the fastest load for that bullet for a 7-08 in that book. That should be good for a moose to at least 200 yards. I think that's the heaviest bullet by Barnes that would be suitable in the 7-08. The 175 gr. bullet would be way too long and take up too much powder space.
FWIW, the worlds record Grizzly Bear was tied by a Canadian who had to shoot it with a 30-30. He punched one right though the skull. B&C refused to recognize it because of the bullet hole in the skull.
Paul B.

[YukonGirl]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I guess I'll have to reconsider my options.

I was telling a friend the other day, if I ever get rich and I'm looking for businesses to invest in, I’m going to buy several gun stores and places that sell chainsaws. And then I’m going to let people try them out to make sure they like them before they buy. I mean, it’s only reasonable. You can’t know if the thing will work for you until after you pull the trigger/start rope and then aim it and cut/shoot stuff up. Hasn’t anybody ever thought of this before?

My motto will be, “We put the Customer back into Customer Service.”

[PJgunner]

Yukon Girl. I neglected to mention that the 7x57 Mauser that John Barsness used is in the same class as the 7-08. My bad. A guy named Bell used to do elephants the dirty deed with a .275 Rigby which was nothing more than the 7x57 under another name. IIRC, he did something like 800 elephants out of hit toal of 1,100 with that .275 Rigby. Seems like the British didn't like using the German metric designation so changed the name. Of course, shot placement was extremely critical.
Paul B.

[skeet]

Don't take this wrong but you really do need a bit larger caliber. If you can handle the 7-08 you can handle the 308. And there are lots of loads for the 308. Ol WDM Bell might have shot a lot of elephants with a 7mm..but he had the luxury of being able to set up all his shots for the most part..not many were comin after him. And ol Olive Fredrickson used the 25-35 for one simple reason..it was what she had. It wasn't the best for the job.. Get the best for the average use that you have. The 308 should fit the bill. I hunt around the nasty ol grizz and I now carry 'nuff gun myself..

BTW we had another kid attacked by a grizzly the other day..out in a sage brush flat where no self respecting grizzly would be. The boys were shooting jackrabbits with handguns when she knocked the one boy down and started in to chewing on him. He actually killed her with a 357 handgun from what I heard.. She did of course have some young'uns nearby. Last I heard he was in ICU in Billings. Not a good thing for certain.

[MtnMike2]

YG,
I know this is stretching it a bit from what you're saying, but if there's any way you could handle a 30-06 I would recommend it for your part of the world. Great all-around caliber. If not, the .308 already suggested would work. Just my 2 cents....

Mike