Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Alaskan Big Game Rifle?

This has definitely been an interesting and informational read. I really appreciate everyone who responded, as there is certainly a lot of experience represented here.

It took reading through this thread several times for me to realize that I just might already have the perfect Alaskan Big Game Rifle......



I think when the purge happens that I will have to keep this .350 Rem Mag. Adding a McMillan w/Edge would fix the only hang up I have with this rifle and that is, that it's a wee bit butt heavy/barrel light. I'd think a 7lb .350 Mag launching 200gr TTSX's @2900 would be pretty dang hard to beat for Alaska?



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I’d run 225’s, but ya it would be a 🔨

Trying to picture a single "island" on the entire pipeline...

Coming up empty. Of course I have only been down the length of it as many times as I have been up it... that would be a bunch...

>>this old marine work for them on the islands and inland too ,I didn`t say there was I pipeline there ! maybe reread what I wrote on the post ? <<

yep sure is easy to be cocky and negative on a keyboard !

Words have meanings... punctuation helps...

There is no way to get away from your run-on sentence that does not include islands, pipeline, and bears all together.

You mean Brenneke's .............




are supposed to go all the way through both shoulders.......




..of such giants?


(Disclaimer: No bones were seriously harmed in the shooting of this projectile. The same can't be said for two subsequent 300 grain slugs from a 45 Colt carbine however.)

BTW, we still keep that 20" 870 at camp. I do have some rubber projectiles, however, since they are supposed to bounce off more reliably.

This guy was telling me, back when Thredwell (or whatever his name) was killed by bears, that some of the shotguns used by F&G to kill the bear (s) were loaded with slugs, and that several of the slugs used failed to penetrate deep enough to reach the vitals. I have no idea if the story was true, but I have heard of old hunters saying that bears with wet (out of the water), or ice-covered hides during the winter, can at times slowdown bullet penetration. I don't hunt bears, so I have no idea if those stories are true or not. But I personally prefer a .45-70 loaded with heavy card-cast slugs, than a shogun.

Something else I forgot to mention as follows: I assume that a guide is going to use whichever gun he is most confident with to back his or her clients. I also imagine that there are times where one would want more reach than what a shotgun would offer. But again, these are my assumptions only.

Shotguns are great around camp since they can be adapted to none lethal methods so readily. Cracker shells, fine birdshot, rubber slugs or buckshot, even soft Foster slugs, if there are rocks to splatter, can be effective. Splattering rocks near bears has been a very effective method of getting them away due, I suppose, both to the noise and the fine rock dust and particles that they experience. But a rifle can also be used for the same purpose, and I much prefer a gun I can aim well. Close personal protection means being able to point well enough, but I am generally more concerned with protecting family members as well, and that might mean having to aim precisely at distances well beyond 50 yards.

I seem to have 'niched' many of my weapons in an effort to justify my 'needs', consequently, my bear defense weapons (or fishing, berry-picking, meandering rifles) tend to be less all-around in their configuration. As I tend to carry them much more than shoot them, my bear rifles tend to be short and handy.

Like this one:



But I will readily admit that a 375-350 Rem Mag (or 358 Win or Norma, or 375 H&H) are hardly my choice as all-purpose rifles from muskrat to moose.

I carry a .45-70 loaded with hard-cast ammo when berry picking. Used to carry a .454 Casull (has a 7-1/2" barrel), and this is fine too, but the Marlin .45-70 is a easy to point as a kid's rifle. Never had to use it, knock on wood

Have used the .454 to put three moose out of their misery. One for a friend of mine, and two of my own. By the way, it saddens me having to shoot to finish a moose, and only do it if I have no choice. I love moose meat, but also love seeing them enjoying their moose lives, at least off the moose season.

I know a camp that had a run in with an agitated Tundra Griz a decade ago. It just shrugged off the AR 223 and kept coming. A 7 Mag with 175 gr. Partitions put it down.

I had the pleasure of honeymooning in AK several years ago island camping from a kayak. A Rem 870 Marine with alternating slug-buckshot rounds in the tent helped us sleep well.

That slug/buckshot thing has been around for a long time... about as goofy an idea as there is...

Used to employ a lil short barreled pistol grip moss 500 for digging wounded bears out of the alders

Switched to a gg .45/70 as soon as they became readily available Not much longer than the afore mentioned 12 ga. But better penetration with hard cast hot loaded slugs and way mo betta for a retreating bear

Some guys have to pee on the electric fence. I trust Mark/klitarik when he says it burns

It's a phase. A lot of guys do through it until they learn better.

Is "slug/buckshot repeat" any goofier than a honeymoon in an Alaskan kayak?

Just curious... how do you load your shotgun for bear?

LOL.... there's always that one guy who displays risky behaviors................ not referencing self either.......... maybe.


Speaking of those handy Mossbergs, a good friend who I guided for on a 'fertile' stream used to send the knowledgeable/independent clients out with one of them. One fellow, a semi-pro (income generating) trumpet player had a critter encounter and forgot about pointing the thing at a safe distance.....pulled it right up and gazed down the barrel when he touched of 3 inches of vavvoom! Ouch! (Kind of hard on one's chops.)

Love the honeymoon idea, ours was in AK too, just not kayak.

I'm not even a pimple on an experts azz when it comes to bears. But no shotgun of mine would have buckshot in it. If I were to use a shotgun. I MIGHT have a round or 3 of birdshot if I wanted to buzz a far off bear that was acting stupid, but they won't be in the chamber or in the mag even... just around.... and I seriously doubt the use of such ever but I've been known to buzz a bull down here at times when they are tearing up a fence. Usually works on them. Shot in the azz with 8s from about 50-60 steps or so they generally get the idea.

Having actually used a shotgun on both black and brown bears more than a few times I had better than average results for quite a while. It was when it started going south a couple times that I realized a shotgun is a very poor substitute for a rifle.

A long time ago I posted here about a Kodiak bear shot at very close range with spectacular results from Brenneke slugs. If I was to use a shotgun again for bears it would be Brennekes all the way.

Most folks talk about alternating slugs and shot to alternately blind and kill the bear with the each shot. Knowing how fast they come I want every shot to be lethal.

I also posted photos here of OlBlue's Kodiak bear scapula on a sunny day. It was fleshed and posed with an orange-handled knife behind the bone. It was visible through the bone, so I do not fall into the league of clowns believing bears are bulletproof. While guiding I used a 300WM for back-up mostly. I have switched to a short-barreled 375AI for the last 15 years or so and have shot bears with it and watched others do the same. It penetrates far better with 270gr TTSX bullets than anything else I have seen.

Lots of guys have opinions on shotguns / buckshot for bears, but few have used the combo. At extremely close range buckshot is as lethal as anything I've ever used. I've killed 3 bears with it over the years, and every one was an instant kill. They literally dropped in their tracks. There was an 11 year old kid in Hoonah a few years back that killed a big brown with #7 shot, again at spitting distance.