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

North America is not Africa and in todays world for almost all of us the grizzly/brown bear is the dangerous animal to hunt. The sow with cubs is the most dangerous animal to surprise up close. The great Three Seven Five has always been the yard stick for big bores in North America, even though it is a medium bore. I know a couple of guys that use a Three Seven Five as their "go to" and one guy who uses a .458 Winny and he shot his sheep with it. Other then that, most of the hunters I know use a .338 Winny, a .300 Winny a .35 Whelen a 30-06 and a .270 Winny as their "go to".

When I was in my mid teens back in the 60's I used to love stopping by old Fred and Inez Bronochis place on Nabesna Road, "I may have misspelled the last name". They had a 5:00 Happy Hour and some other old guides often stopped by to swap stories. Bill Alice, Don DeHart, Avery Moore, Bud Conkle and others I can't remember. In Anchorage I was friends with the Perkins family and old "Perk" introduced me to Roy Biffel, Keith Johnson and Dunchan Gilchrist who Perk helped to get into guiding in Alaska. I also met the sheep hunter Frank Cook through Perk and marveled at the heads in his accounting office.

Any way, the only ones that used a Three Seven Five were hunting polar bear out of Kotz and brown on Kodiak or the Ak. Peninsula and backing up wealthy clients. Other then that they carried a .300 mag of some flavor, the 30-06 or a .270 Winny. None of them desired to carry a heavy barreled Mod. 70 .375 for miles on end chasing sheep in the Wrangell's.

I often carry a modified Mag na Ported Marlin 1895 45-70 stoked with 7 big heavy slugs from Alaska Bullet works. Their Super Bonded Heavy Jacketed 350 and 400 grain bullets have a good reputation for close encounters with bears. I also carry a modified Vang Comped ported Rem. 870 and 600 grain Black Magic slugs. I know they will work on bears as many have proven, to include Alaska's Fish & Game folks.

Lots of calibers to choose from for big bears and bullets are better then ever. Just for the record, if I chase brown bear this spring I will take my .338 Winny and leave my 6.5 Creedmoor at home!

But but but ... slugs won’t work on bears!!!

Nice contribution and thanks taking the time. I’d love to have had the opportunity to have met some of those legends.

Kawi? Is that you?

The only reports I could find about bears and Brenneke is that they leave exits.

I met one guide who followed up with Brenneke slugs and another who used 00 buck. Both liked their choice.

If better bullets make diameter less significant what happens when you use a better bullet in the larger bore?

Mindblown..............

FWIW I was in Anchorage last summer. Had some time to kill and went into some GS as well as Walmart to kill some time.

Looked at what ammo was available...of course the usual 06, 308, 300's, .338.

.375 H&H and .375 Rugers. Even had the Ruger .375s in Walmart. From what I could gather it may be the most popular big bore in Alaska.


Lefty

That's interesting, and not what I would have expected. Planning on spending most of next summer in Alaska. Some river fishing, some day hikes, etc.... Not planning on taking a handgun as we will be driving through Canada. Was considering taking either a short barreled 870 with Brenneke slugs or a Marlin 1895 with 405gr hardcast at about 1900fps. For those of us without the experience, could you expand on that please. Thanks.

Bring the Marlin for piece of mind.

What configuration are the hard cast in?

You have two options to bring a handgun... one is with the proper paperwork and the other would be to send it ahead to either an AK address or FFL just inside the State. Neither is particularly expensive.

405 to 420gr (although some are convinced 465s are optimum) are ideal with an 1895, but you can mitigate the recoil by loading them ~1700fps and you'll be fine. The extra velocity is of NO benefit.

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The shotgun is a fine choice, as is the GG. I've killed grizzlies with both. I remember old Ed Stevenson swore that the Brennekes were about perfect for browns. Our F/G kill a pile of bears each summer with a 12 gauge @ slugs.

They are Beartooth LFN.

I've found Wolfhawk shipping just inside Alaska on the Alcan. Ever heard of them? The research I've done on taking handguns into Canada has led me to believe that transporting through on the way to Alaska isn't an option. I could only take a handgun into Canada if taking it to a scheduled competition. I'd be happy to be wrong, but that's the way I understand the information on Canada's sites.

Acy: I thought the same thing about transiting Canada with a handgun but was corrected and directed to the Customs Canada website where the rules have recently been changed. Try asking your question on the Canada forum of this website.

Thanks. I'll look into it some more.

I have not heard of them.

As was already posted there is no competition requirement unless you want to use it in Canada...

Goofy question... depends what yer having for dinner, if its big and hairy with claws, take the biggest broomstick you can shoot WELL.

The problem with shipping your handgun, from the state you live in, to Alaska and expect to pick it up once you get there, you are mistaken. They can only transfer it to a resident of Alaska. Your best bet if you want a handgun in Alaska is to fly and bring it with you.

I’ve seen guys ship a handgun to a gun shop in AK for $20 worth of “custom work” and pick it up in person once the “work” was done. Don’t know about the legality as that wasn’t always a priority of the shop in question, but it might be.

Sorry Marlin, but that is not true. You are simply sending a package to yourself, from yourself for them to hold. They are not even allowed to open the package, the shipper/receiver must open it. There is no requirement that an FFL be involved at all and there is NO transfer of possession.

That could cover more than one shop in Anchorage and paying $20 for "Custom Work" would be overpaying!