There are no simple answers when it comes to selecting a firearm and accompanying ammunition. How accurately you shoot is far more important than the type of rifle, cartridge, and bullet you choose. Alaska has some very large game animals, including 1600-pound mature bull moose and 1500-pound coastal brown bears. Moose or brown bear hit in the gut with a large caliber magnum rifle such as the popular .338 Winchester� Magnum is wounded and just as likely to escape as if it had been hit with a small caliber rifle such as the .243 Winchester�. The bore size, bullet weight, and velocity are of secondary importance to precise bullet placement in the vital heart-lung area.
Originally Posted by ADF&G website
The two most common complaints of professional Alaska guides are hunters who are not in good physical condition and hunters who cannot accurately shoot their rifles. Because these hunters do not practice enough they cannot shoot accurately enough. They miss their best chance at taking their dream animal or worse yet, they wound and lose an animal. Most experienced guides prefer that a hunter come to camp with a .270 or .30-06 rifle they can shoot well rather than a shiny new magnum that has been fired just enough to get sighted-in. If you are going to hunt brown bear on the Alaska Peninsula or Kodiak Island, a .30-06 loaded with 200- or 220-grain Nosler� or similar premium bullet will do the job with good shot placement. Only consider using a .300, .338 or larger magnum if you can shoot it as well as you can the .30-06.
MH, You might be surprised at the number of people who come bear hunting who do not shoot the bigger stuff especially well.
Originally Posted by 458Win
Calibers like your 375, and my 458, may help compensate for more marginal hits or put the big bears down a little quicker and keep them down a second longer, but they are certainly no more lethal.
A person (guide) who is compelled to finish a botched harvest (wounded bear) is well served by the use of a rifle with more �oomph� than what a hunter might use. A wounded bear can be a whole different creature than even an aware and wary bear. A bear that isn�t hit well might as well have been darted instead with a heavy dose of adrenaline.
I am generally an �enough gun� advocate but excellent placement of a proper bullet always rules #1.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
