Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Whats the Big Bore Of Alaska?

Traded a fellow (20 years ago?) a half. Ounce of gold for a new in the box Withworth in .458 Win Mag. It still sets in my safe unfired and is being saved for a rainy day. The other on I had was carried on my bear ventures up Tustemena and never got used, though I had 4 or 5 hundred rounds through it. I kept it handy for back up if needed and primarily, kept it for bear watch. The recoil was a bitch at practice. A year later I got the itch for a custom Mauser so had a 416 made. It is plenty accurate. The first time I had to use it was on a fox that had all the signs of being rabid. It worked fine (as one might guess) and the 400 grain roundnose at 2,350 did the trick handily. The recoil was still a bitch but I must admit recoil in shooting that first brownie at 4 steps might have been at a 22 short level for all I remember.

All this time I had an old 338 Win that had been carried for a decade prior to the above. It was/is a veteran of close to 25 bears (of the black tribe) and scores of deer, caribou and moose. It also is a veteran of the brownie sucker that thought it might be a good thing to climb my tree and get ornery. A one handed hold on the rifle and the other to the tree was all that gutter trash needed to go to bear heaven if there is one.

I still have these three but absolutely fell in love with a Sako 10 carbine with a 20” barrel, the TRG action/trigger group and a dandy McMillan stock. So far it is very accurate and very easy to carry or bring into action. This year’s moose was an easy take being only 50 yards away. I did have a very close encounter this last spring where the “cock of the walk” grizz was at 5 feet. But that’s a story for another time. He is still kicking so will try to organize him in April or May...

I am afraid that the other rifles will be used les should and less from here on out. I suspect the.375 is my answer to the OP’s question.

I've never hunted Alaska and never will but was wondering if anyone up there uses the Rem 7600 in 35 Whelen. I owned that combo for a while and thought it might be useful as a quick shooting thumper. There's not much need for a thumper of any sort here in New England.

I knew a lady who lived out in Dillingham who had a 7600 carbine chambered for the Whelen. She claimed it killed moose reliably enough.

Shot my moose with a bolt action 35 Whelen this year. A 7600 would have worked just as well. Keep it clean and lightly lubed and they work fine.

Don't know the answer but the 338 and 375 are medium bores and both see a fair amount of use as all around Alaskan cartridges. Fish & game did some testing on bear defense rifles and decided the 458 was too much for a lot of shooters and slower on followup shots.

We carried riot shot guns for bears in camp at night with Brennekes and 00 buck. Never had to use it but it made me feel better when all I could see was a darker patch of bear at about 15 feet one night. The dogs proved better protection than the fire arms and I yelled to my buddy to not shoot with his 44 mag. as that would have pissed the bear off.

The Whelen and 9.3x62 would be about ideal as a general medium bore too.

I have one in the AI version... a couple bears and moose, caribou, and deer...

Would not be my first choice any more due to concerns about extraction if minor events conspire a bit. Went to small base dies and reduced loads, but then, why bother?

Very happy with smaller bores, lighter bullets, and more speed.

I am contemplating re-boring my Rem 760 in 308 to 358 or even 375 Win for a LW carry carbine. Yeah, "mid-bore" but I think it would have enough oompf. We head to Alaska in Apr 2020.

Or...should I stay with 308 and shoot some tough bullets...?

+1...in a Winchester 71 conversion. Fastest follow up shots, ultimate knockdown power. Marlins need not apply (actions too weak compared to Win).

There, NOW we may close this thread!

Do you really mean .375 Winch? That's a significantly smaller case than the 308 so it will be a rather complicated conversion.

I luv this person >> I have a real problem with this thinking I maybe wrong>> I have heard and >>READ> this rag and rag again and the NEW HUNTER THINKING >>>As bullets got better,bore's lost diameter.

Hint................

So your never under Gunned>> take the new 25-o6 to a brown bear hunt because my new bullet is better !!!>>Mass Kills big things! 22 swift kills GOOFS>> but not Bears>>and that what the rags are saying you take a Knife to a gun fight> NO you take a 270 to a brown Bear Fight >> I would say the Bear will win >> put that on his coffin Rag!

My mistake...I am not sure what I was thinking of.

Maybe I was caught up in the 375-08 (375 Raptor?) but JES doesn't list that as an option.

If only "knock-down power" existed...

I thought there was an incident at Uganik Lake?

I doubt you would find many taking your advice over his... though many might not admit it.

Read two of your comments before. Never saw you before. What I learned from those two is there is a DSMF involved here. And AK Jeff does not fit that bill....

If I may, what country were you educated?

I will also ad, I have no clue how anyone can read more than a couple of rantings posts. Need to send him some grammar lessons and a major RX of chill pills.

This post get my vote !

Most of my time in Alaska has been with a .338WM which did just fine. When I finally moved up to a 375HH it worked fine on the moose we took. But to answer the OP query, I think the 375 is probably the most popular of the "Big Bores" with the people I have encountered while hunting in Alaska. Lots of others out there though.