Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Second rifle choice

I currently own a Winchester M70 in 30-06 and I am quite comfortable carrying/firing it. I want a second big game rifle for Alaska and would like to hear some of your opinions. At this point I am leaning towards a .300 Win Mag but have considered going larger and purchasing a .375 Ruger or .375 H&H. This rifle would be used for moose, sheep, goat and brown bear.

You'd gain little in going to the 300.

Either get a second 30-06 just like the one you've got,
or get a 375.

Your '06 is sufficient for all big game in Alaska. within reasonable range- say 500 yards. Or more if you are capable of it. Either sell it and get the 300 Mag, or skip the .300 and jump to a .375. (what I would do, as there isn't that much difference between the .300 and the '06 for all practical purposes within 500 yards, Or do what I have done over the years - just buy one of most everything......

I really gotta get me a Winchester 70 in .375 - never had either..... kill 2 birds, etc. That said, once I get back to the Kenai and get my lathe set up, my current-use '98 '06 is probably going to be converted to .300 mag. Never had one of that caliber either... my sole reason to do it.

I have several '06s, a .338, as well as a .243, .260, .30-30, and have had several other calibers over the years. Ain't no damned difference with a properly placed bullet sufficient to the task. The .243 has taken a moose , several each of caribou, sheep, and black bears. The .260 has taken several caribou, an elk, and a wolf. My first moose (20 some ago) was taken with a .30-30. I'm hoping to take a moose with the .260, maybe next year - this year I'll be using the '98 '06 again, as I have for the last three years, taking 9 caribou and one moose. I'm using it for caribou also again this year. The two moose prior to last year's were taken with a 17 inch bbl RU77 '06 (not it's first) and a RU77 .338Mag (also not its first), respectively. For that matter, that 12 Ga slug did a fine job on a moose as well...

As I said - no diff - just what I happen to be preferring, or have available at the time... If you have an '06, anything else is really "want", not need.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, he says....

I've got a 30-06 and .375 in similar M70's, it makes for a pretty good combo...provided I get to shoot some big stuff at some point. The .375 is a 30-06 and a half, power wise, and has the same trajectory. If you are just looking to hunt, not a loony, it's a pretty hard combo to beat in my opinion.

Or you could go the other way. I love the .260, tho store-bought ammo is both expensive and fairly hard to find at times. Makes a dynamite lightweight, shooter-friendly, mountain/packing rifle.

Everything I've shot with it, including the elk at 150 yards, and several caribou over 300 yards have been bang-flops, using 140 grain Corelokts. My particular rifle doesn't like anything but 140s (any flavor), but others have very good luck with lighter bullets.

The 7-08 is another good one. Dang, I've never had one of those either!

What I was looking for when I stumbled on the .260 barrel.....

I have considered picking up a 7mm-08 or .308 for a deer and black bear gun. Probably a Kimber Montana, seems to be a good lightweight backpacking rifle. My 30-06 M70 is the Extreme Weather edition. So far the most extreme thing it's done is kill a wild pig in Southern California. I'm looking forward to adding to it's list of accomplishments. Perhaps I'll move to Juneau, take a job at Alaskan Brewing Co. and hunt the ABC islands. Not a bad life.

Generally speaking, folks go for a lightish rifle for the bolded items, and generally speaking, you want a little weight in anything that starts with .375.

The solution is easy - you need more rifles.

Enabler...

Goats are pretty tough. Many sheep have been taken with 22-250.
I think 30/06 is good for nearly everything but I would get a 458 Winchester Mag in a CZ for possible Bison, Brown Bears on Afognak or just when some dumb jerk tries to steal your generator or your 30/06 and then let the thunder roll. (Especially 500 Grain bullets)

I have a Mossberg model 590 12 GA for anyone who thinks they can take what is mine. It holds nine 2 3/4" or eight 3" mag shells. I currently refer to it as my "urban hunting weapon". If they get out of buckshot range there's a 20x Nikon on top my heavy barrel .22-250. Hard to out run that.

FWIW, I don't own anything big big.

338-06 is go to moose round, have a couple bigger, but rarely think of them.

In your situation, bare bones minimum, shotgun for game. Something for defense. Large handgun. Small handgun. 22 rifle- 22 handgun might cancel the need for a 22 rifle, but my 10-22 with can serves a lot of purposes fairly quietly- but the can fits on the 22 pistol too..... 06 and then a 375 or 416 ish would suffice IMHO. Or again IMHO, you could sell the 06 and get a 338 win mag and let it do all the big game issues. My buddy ran one as a guide even on sheep stuff for so long I don't remember when he picked up a 416 ruger for bears finally... 338 stopped/helped stop a couple of big brown ones on the coast for clients as needed.

I have a light 284 if I ever get the chance to climb high for white things... I would not pack heavy for that...

A good Lever Action in 45-70. Your 30-06 will cover the sheep and goats.

thats another decent choice!

Agreed, a Marlin gg or XLR in 45-70 is perfect for Alaska.

I'm with DakotaDeer, you would gain little going with the 300 Win Mag owning a 30-06…and a really like my 300 Win Mag. If it were me, I would consider a 338 Win Mag or a 9.3x62. The 338 WM is good for anything in NA including the big bears. My hunting buddy uses his for deer, hogs and elk. The same applies with the 9.3 which I have and have used for elk and hogs.

Since you already have the 30-06 the logical partner to it would be the 400 Whelen.

I would get a .300 and .375.. But I already have those..

A 9.3x62mm chambered rifle is a good option.

Read up on what Phil Shoemaker and Finn Aagard say about it. Plus the CZ550 is a quality rifle at a reasonable price. $600-$900.

Hornady makes the ammo here in America. Plus imported European ammo is available

.30-06, .300WM, and .338WM are the most popular cartridges in Alaska.

If you want to go bigger, pick a .338WM.

Ray, Ray, Ray....

You know he needs a .375 flavor.