Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Minimum caliber for Coastal Brown Bear...

I worked with a guy long ago that had a .300 Win. Mag. made up for a Dall sheep hunt. It had a heavy 27 inch barrel and a big scope and weighed right at 12 pounds. .

I also have a few Model 71s, including a 348 Ack Imp which will handle a 270 gr Hawk bullet. And a 450 AK on a pre-war Deluxe Model 71.
But for coastal big brownies, its a early M-70 in 338WM-375 H&H . Backed up by a 450 Alaskan. Always a good idea to bring two rifles
on a guided hunt up here.

I would prefer a 450 AK with 400 gr bullets and fast reloading of a smooth Winchester M-71 any day. Maybe even a 50-100-450 1886 Winchester if he squares over 10 ft. and is all teeth and claws- & mad.

Bolt actions are SLOW for repeat shots compared to a slick Winchester or Marlin lever action rifle.

Yeah, from reading, I get the .45+ thing. I have a .338 WM Model 70, too... but imagine the slowest person you know with a bolt-rifle... and I'm twice as slow.

If I were buying for an actual bear hunt, I'd probably look at one of the Browning M71s... and then maybe have some fun picking a cartridge to rebarrel to. But that's not gonna happen; I never really had much desire to go shoot a bear in the first place...

And my Winchester Model 71 is a family pass-down, '37 serial number, all the "DeLuxe" features, etc... so I don't want to modify it.

Are you saying the Hawk 270 would be better than the Woodleigh bonded 250, for a "bear watch" M71/.348?

-Chris

I like lever rifles don’t get me wrong. But when the chips, or in a guided hunter’s case the $$$, are down I want things as bombproof as possible. Leverguns inherently aren’t.

I barreled a handful of BLRs in 375 Ruger. Did one up in 416 Ruger too.
Built a bunch of custom 86s and 71s in 450 and 50 AK

A gadzillion Marlin 95s, a bunch of them in 50AK

Could get a magazine full of .510” 450gr Aframes or Kodiaks in the air as fast as most guys could 30/30s. Still when it came time for hunting and guiding I always reached for a good bolt rifle with a good scope. Most times a 35 Whelen stuffed with 250s, occasionally a 458 pushing 350s at 2550.

I like lever rifles don’t get me wrong. But when the chips, or in a guided hunter’s case the $$$, are down I want things as bombproof as possible. Leverguns inherently aren’t.

I'm interested in these statements, and I'd like you to elaborate. What do you mean by "Leverguns inherently aren't [bombproof]"?

They have an extra hole, the loading gate, for “stuff” to get in, IE dirt, mud, leaves and whatnot. And are not as easily field stripable in the case of the Marlin and nearly not field stripable in the case of the 1886/71.

The entire repeating function of all centerfire Marlin lever aside from the Levermatics in 30 Carbine and 256Win rely on a part called the carrier rocker or dog to function. This tiny part is about 3/32 thick with a built in stress riser in the bottom of the hook. One round hung up on a feed ramp or halfway out of the mag tube when the follower seizes because the tube has sand in it and that hook will pop right off the carrier. Leaving you with a jammed rifle that will be a slow loading single shot when you get the stoppage cleared. I bet I replaced a couple hundred of those dogs over the years. The extractor is a little square of sheet metal about 3/16x3/16x.020” brazed onto a piece of spring steel. It generally makes contact with a spot on the case rim about 1/16”wide.

Talked with lots of guys who were dead set on “reliable” iron sights on their hunting rifles. I would guess I replaced 2 dozen front blades every fall and 50 of the factory Marlin rear leaves a year. Can’t remember the last time I heard of someone with a decent quality scope of somewhat recent manufacture fogging up. I personally broke the front sight off of my rifle 3 times during my decade hunting AK, some broken when I took a fall or a rifle slid off where it was leaning. Never had a scope lose zero or fog during that time, including hunting in coastal rainforest and once taking a tumble almost 30 feet off a rock face and landing on my scope with the rifle slung across my back.

There’s a reason no military used lever rifles in any meaningful capacity. They just aren’t as tough as a good bolt rifle as well as being more difficult to keep running in the field under poor conditions.