Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska A few questions for Mr Shoemaker if I may?

Russ, I knew Andy Runyon well and he was one of the truly great Alaskan bear guides and a knowledgable rifle loony as well. Andy killed as many big bears as any other famous Kodiak guides and after a failing to stop a wounded bruin with his 375 decided to get a bigger rifle. He loved the 404 and 416 calibers. I talk a little about him in an upcoming feature in Rifle magazine on the 416 Ruger.
I only know Ray Ordorica as a part time writer/journalist who wrote a few articles and apparently was fascinated with big bores and Alaska.

As for the 303 and bears, after I gave the 416 Rigby that I kept in our outhouse for bear protection to my son I replaced it with a sporterized 1906 SMLE. As a Lee Speed fan I had no doubt as to the 303's effectiveness and thought having a SMLE in the outhouse had a certain poetic appeal as well.

And I have never seen any reason to use a soft Foster style shotgun slug as protection from animals that can weigh over 600kg but every person whom I have talked with who tried have claimed that they would never do it again due to lack of penetration.