Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles You're Rifle Of Choice For Alaska Big Game Hunting?

Ive only hunted Alaska once, for caribou , so not a lot to pull from. But Ive hunted a ton of stuff elsewhere and after being exposed on this site to Phil Shoemaker, his opinions and guns, I would be inclined to take my Interarms MarkX in .30-06 with heavy bullets.....for everything.
Its kind of like a mini version of his old ugly .458....not as ugly, but I did some home 'customizing' on it, so its getting there!

Ingwe,

Would you like to own a like-new Mark X 30-06? I'll sell you mine. It's like new in every way. Nice walnut stock.

You can hunt ak with a blued rifle and pretty piece of wood on it. Every year I been hunting in ak my buds forget to bring gun oil except for me I bring a tub rem wipes to keep guys who brought blued guns including my daughters from rusting in bad weather. If you remember to bring the basis gun cleaning supplies you can use whatever up here. Now you guys who cringe dragging your pretty pre64 through alders and other stuff I can't help you their probably should left it in the safe.

No, but thanks.Mine has a wonderful 'patina of use'...

I don't think I have a favorite rifle. Had a good number of 700 Remington's, couple each Rem 660's, Rem 788's. few Parker Hales, couple 98 Mauser's. several Sako L61R's, couple Win Mod 70's and have a sporterized 03 right now. I loved my L61R's but they were heavy. My present mod 70 is the best one I've owned. Only ever saw one 700 I could not make shoot. Liked the Parker Hales but grew out of the roll over cheek piece, the older 1200.

If I had to get down to just a few rifles, my present mod 70 would stay, 6.5x55, Probably keep my 788, 308, and much as i hate to say it, my 700 ADL, 243. As far as scratch's and dings, just a fact of life. If you use them they get dings. Never owned a stainless rifle and never will, butt ugly for my taste's.

I think that a 30/06 would be good enough for everything except BB on Afognak or on Admiralty Island. I would want something bigger for those situations.

The rifle that I use the most here is an HS Precision in a 300 wsm. 168gr TTSX is by far my favorite load.

kaboku: Is there something special about those two locations that makes you want something larger or just the brown bears in general?

I ask because I have hunted Admiralty and just wondering.....I carried a 375 and 338 up there myself.

Brownies on A and A; big, labile temperaments, and dense foliage... "holy sh*t, where did that bison come from???"

AKwolverine nailed it. An 06 with 220 grain partitions can do a lot. However, both environments revolve around 50 yard shots in brushy terrain. There are openings in both. However, big bears appear where they are least expected. I would feel better in both locations with my 458 Win Mag.

Sincerely,
Thomas

A K/Kaboku: Got it....yes Admiralty is kinda thick in there...

Ruger 300 or 338 RCM

Winchester stainless classic in 30-06 and a McMillan Edge. It should go about 7.5 lbs and would cover everything from sitka deer to brown bear. Most likely, I would be after moose and caribou more than anything. I would prefer two or three rifles but that is my pick.

Ingwe married up.

This.

kwg

Had to go back through the thread to figure out WTH you were talking about... And I don't know Ingwe ... but that's some d*mn funny stuff!

Generally, on a topic such as this, I think about the caribou hunting I've done, the moose I've killed; it's not about bears. As long as the rifle could bring down a bear with quite adequately, that's all I need for bear. The main thing is the rifle needs to carry well and handle well. I've carried and used a M70 375 a few times for caribou. What I much prefer and have carried a whole bunch more for caribou, wolves, moose, and even bear have been 20" barreled rifles like the 7mm-08 and 358 Win on the Model Seven platform. That or the M70 Featherweight 6.5x55. And the standard weight M70 has done its share for caribou and certainly plenty well on moose. Every rifle is a compromise in some ways for all applications. A rifle that isn't too 'tall', weighs around 7 1/2 to 8 pounds all up, with a 20-22" barrel is about where I like to be. A magnum barreled rifle isn't too much, but a safari barrel (like the M70 375) gets to be more than I like on a sling across my back when I'm astride a machine going to or from. The plain old 30-06 isn't all that interesting in its standard work clothes, but it makes a good general purpose utility rifle for all around use. (Stainless is nice since its easier to clean the rust stains from. )

375 Ruger Guide Gun would be my choice of rifle.

Can't go wrong with a 30-06 but I go back to the Alaska F&G link which to me makes a whole lot of sense and has been preached on the fire for many years, the right bullet in the right spot trumps all else

PS-for me I like the 7mm's so a 7mm-08 or 280 in a 7lb package shooting a tsx or partition would be my choice. A 140 or 160 in 7mm-08 or a 160-175 in the 280, most accurate load I could work up.

I catch hell frequently cause my wife is better looking than me...here she is with the 30-06 in question...