Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Rifle for bear hunting in Alaska

Good morning, Phil.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I carry my .375 Whitworth for all the same reasons you carry your .458 Winchester. Following up wounded bears is tricky business. In fact, so tricky, that only once have I taken a client in with me. Otherwise, I just do it myself, so I don't have to babysit someone or worry about myself being shot.

And unless a potential client just can't live without bringing his super-duper mega-velocity magnum or quasi "elephant gun", I always advise customers to bring the gun and the load that they know the best and can shoot the most effectively (accurately). I've had guys kill brown/grizzly bears with everything from .243 Winchesters on up to .460 Weatherbys and they all worked sufficiently when conditions were right and when the first bullet was placed where it was supposed to be.

You can pretty much tell or determine a potential client's seriousness about hunting Alaska game in the first few minutes of a conversation. Generally, when the conversation turns to "what type of gun do I need", you can pretty much weed out the sincere clients from the tire-kickers. A hunter who's sincere about going bear hunting will listen to practical advice without debate and then go on a bear hunt.

Again, the basic bottom line on rifles and cartridges for anyone who's seriously considering a brown/grizzly hunt to the Far North, is to choose any of the bolt-action manufacturers and any one of a number of adequate calibers and just go bear hunting. Everything else is just talk.

Mav

I wanted to take a moment and thank all of you for your informative, and wise advice. It's good to know from those that have been-there-done-that what works. If a 30-06 will work, hopefully I can get it a trim and fit 6.5# ready to rock. Now I just need move on back up to AK

no problem getting a .30-06 in the neighborhood of the weight you're seeking.


but you will know when you touch off a 180 grainer in it!


still a good choice for a multi purpose rifle imo, though never having owned one myself it's the caliber I steered my oldest boy towards when he got his first big game centerfire rifle (I'd already gotten him a bolt action .223, trigger time, trigger time, trigger time)

everything boils down to compromise, you're apt to spend a bunch of money getting your .30-06 down to the weight you desire and then find you have a custom rifle that while a joy to carry is not much fun to shoot. Everyone's recoil sensitivity varies.


I'd be inclined to buy a stock rifle, either Tikka (some don't care for the detachable box mag) or one of the Win featherweights and not have a lot of money tied up in the rifle, but that's just me (who owns a NULA) speaking of if you really want a light wt. '06 a call to Melvin might just be in order

Personal preferences aside, the point being it has/does/will work.

One thing, and probably purely subjective, is comfort level.

Obviously one has to have spent some time in bear country with a certain arm to find out whether it instills said comfort.

To me it starts with a .30-06 and 180 TSX Bullets. It was what I had next to me when I took this pic -



I have also carried a .308 Win (Savage 99) with C&Cs and did not fancy that too much.

9,3x64 with 286 gr. TSX DWM - worked

You`re probably 100% right. But regardless, personal preferences do vary with not all siding towards using a 30-06 as a first preference for big bears.

[/quote]
Personal preferences aside, the point being it has/does/will work.
[/quote].........Of course the 30-06 has, is, and will do the job on the big bears. Never stated it wouldn`t or couldn`t.

But when one has a 375 Ruger and a 338-378 Wby additionally to choose from, either one will get big bear duty before my 300 WSM.

Yes and, how many miles must I carry my gun? Through country teeming with bears?

Yes and, how many bear with said gun must I shoot? Just to see and to know, that its good?

Oh, how many nights must I spent in a tent? With bears spending it outside?

The answer, my friend, is typed on the 'fire, the answer is typed on the 'fire.

***

To the tune of "How many roads..."

And let not those who can not walk, or hold a tune, or never spent a night in bear country be discouraged...

Oh, how many nights must I spent in a tent? With bears spending it outside?



^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

If you're going to be indoors, then them being outside is preferable, right?






[/quote]

Most definetly.

Yeah, me too. Only once have I ever had one enter a tent, but thank goodness I wasn't around at the time. Had a bunch of them stroll right next to tents over the years, but only once had one decide that it was going to see what was inside.

Don't quit your day job.

Who did that song?

Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan.







Let's keep it that way, OK?


I get that from my kids almost everytime I sing.

Timing is evathang!

Meaners...

What's really amazing is that no matter how many times someone posts a "bear rifle" thread we all read it and it gets multiple pages of posts! Including myself

BTW I do a little brown bear guiding and I happily carry a 375 Ruger Alaskan....

I've been reading about hunting Brn/Griz bear since I was a kid and I've come to the conclusion that IMHO the discussion/writing about the selection of the proper rifle/cartridge combo is just one part of many parts that make "the hunt". Seems the same with some other varieties of big game to. Wouldn't have that change for anything. So carry on.