Need advice on 7mm-.08

[YukonGirl]

Skeet, somehow I missed your post about the boys being attached by the grizzly. I hope the kid recovers okay and has a story to tell his grand kids.

I've gotten so even if I'm out plinking with my .22 I have the 12-gauge within easy reach just because I'm so paranoid about that sort of thing happening to me too. But those are in areas you expect to see a bear.

Here's the good news-- I spent the morning trying out a .30-06 Springfield-- it was fun to shoot. But I really liked the Winchester 88 .308-- the recoil was quite manageable-- just as you guys said it would be, plus it's a beautiful gun. I liked it so much I bought it off my friend-- he sold it along with the Bushnell Scopechief 6 mounted on it for about $370 US. You should see the grin on my face!

My other gun nut friend is going to size it down so it fits me perfectly. It's about 1.5" too long right now. (He's going to shorten my Mossy 500 for me too-- it'll be like Christmas morning around here!) Now all I need is a bipod and I'm ready for the season.

I had my friend videotape me shooting the .308 and the .30-06 and if the footage isn't too embarrassing I'll upload it to my YouTube site. I'm really looking forward to getting lots of practice with the .308. And then I'm hoping for moose and caribou steaks come fall!

So thanks again everybody. As always, you guys were a big help.

[skeet]

You did GOOD. An 88 Winchester for 370 bucks?? I am jealous. It will be a good tool for you. It'll take care of any game you may come up with. Are the (Hudsons)Bay stores still operating up there? 180 gr ammo for moose and 150's for caribou..or if they have 165's available just use them for everything.

As far as the bear attack. The fellow attacked wasn't the kid. He was a retired cop. The kid didn't get it..he walked right past the bear evidently. This is the 2nd bear attack in the last year in this area. The other was written up in the American Hunter Mag this month.. The mountain lion attack was kinda weird. The guy was cutting wood and the cat attacked him. Bit him on the arm and the guy cut it in the shoulder with the chain saw. They hunted it down with a dog the next day. Lion attacked the dog and was killed. They were afraid of rabies etc but none of that showed up in the tests. It only weighed 100 lbs.

[YukonGirl]

Skeet, you sound very knowledgeable about all kinds of Far North stuff. Have you spent some time up here?

Unfortunately, the Hudson's Bay store chain has gone, well, the way of chain stores. Remember when Banana Republic was a really cool store with all kinds of safari clothing and outdoor gear? Now it's unrecognizable. Same thing with Hudson's Bay Company. In fact, now they just call it "The Bay" to make it sound trendy. They don't even have a Bay store up here, which is just fine for me since it's not what it used to be.

Am glad to get some confirmation that I got a great deal on the .308. And it's in excellent condition, too. A few of my friends are going to set me up for hand loading and said I should experiment with different loads to see what I'm most comfortable with. After sizing the .308 down to fit me and putting a good recoil pad on it, I'm thinking I'll be able to shoot in my sleep without even waking up.

Weird that the mountain lion attacked him *while* he was using his chainsaw. I know they're aggressive, but that's incredible-- and super scary. I've been out felling trees in winter and could hear wolves in the near distance, but I've always figured nothing would come close with my chainsaw running. We're starting to get mountain lions up here now too-- they're following the deer. I think I had one walking around my cabin a few winters ago but not sure. I hope they don't become a problem.