.308 for black bear?

Has anyone in this group ever taken a black bear with a .308? I'm thinking that with a well placed shot, I should have no trouble taking one down.

Any opinions on this?

Well, I am by no means an expert on Black Bear hunting but I have killed one. I killed mine with a 45/70. However I did much research before my Maine Bear hunt. I can tell you that any caliber that is sufficient for whitetails is sufficient for Black Bears. They aren't real tough critters. So yes, your .308 is a great Black Bear rifle. The .308 is very, very similar in ballistics to a 30/06 which is capable of taking any north american game including grizzlys. With a heavy grain bullet for good penetration and proper shot placement a .308 is more than adequate for Black Bear. I am going on another Black Bear hunt and this time I'll be using a .44 magnum carbine. Most would agree that it's power is less than a .308. By the way, today (August 25) was opening day of Black Bear season in maine. I'd give almost anything to have been there this evening. Temperature this evening in St. Agatha, Maine where I hunt was 56 degrees. Temperature today where I live in magnolia, Mississippi was 96 degrees. Maine sounds mighty good today.

Go with a Federal's High Energy 180gr. load with the Nosler Partition Bullet.

I can't believe that you did that! You saved $20-$30 and risked loosing your bear. Penny wise and pound foolish and cruel.

You don't want to use the same type of bullet for whitetails and bears. For deer you use rapid expansion bullets such as softpoints/ballistic tip etc. because they are relatively soft animals. Bear are a lot tougher, especially in the fall when they have lots of fat. You should use a controlled expansion bullet, such as partitions/x-bullets/fail safe/corelocks/etc. These will penetrate into the vitals of a tough bear and provide some expansion. The rapid expansion bullets will generally explode on the surface of a bear and do a lot of damage, but it will take a long time for the bear to die.

the 308 is not really a recomended load for black bear iam from the mountains of north carolina and most ppl here carry a 44 mag a 444 win or the 30 o6 a 7mm take it to heart dude a black bear being ran by doggs then hemmed up is no animal to play with ya need a gun that delivers a whaoolp whe ya drop that hammer and a 308 is ok with good shot placment but i would carry a bigger gun ya have to remember that a bear eats all the time and turnd what they eat to fat and most bears carry a thick fat on them and a bullet to go thru all that fat needs to have some energy my friend once shot a blk bear at 25 yrds with a 30 06 the bear had 6 inches of fat on him and weigher 470 lbs if i hadent seen it i would never believed it the first shot at te base of the neck the 06 didnt enev make it thru thee 6 inches of fat it liked bout a 1/2 inch reaching meat the fatal shot was a head shot at 25 yrds

Are we saying here that a 44 mag or a 444 out performs a .308 on black bear?

308 is all the rifle you need,if you put the bullet thru the lungs.