Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska 308 for a "do all" Alaskan rifle?

Any argument against a 308 for a do all Alaskan hunting rifle?

It'll be on a 700SA. Currently a 243, thinking about finding a 308 take off barrel.

I Could be swayed to another chamber, but factory ammo is likely a given.

Thoughts or suggestions?

It’ll work.

I figure it's worked a whole bunch before, and 308 take off's seem reasonably common. As does(did) the ammo.

Just open to other suggestions.

Nothing wrong with the .308. And then there is the "Beware the one-gun, man...." you know the thing.

Nothing in Alaska that ain't been dropped with a .243 Win. or the equal older cartridge. If you can't get it done with a .308 Win. Find a place to hide.

My sister lives in Alaska and her "do-all" is a Winchester M88 in 308 I got for her about 30 years ago. She shoots 180 grain Partitions I load for it and so far everything she's shot had died and so far I think she has had to shoot 2 times only once. She did hit one moose 2 times, but I have killed moose with a 375H&H and even hit with that, they often don't seem to notice all that much for a few seconds after the hit.

Anyway, a good 308 with proper bullets will do the job. If you can keep cool and shoot well, the 308 will do what you ask of it.

My great uncle worked around Dyea , YT from 1898 to 1916, felt well armed with a '95 Winchester in .30 Army (.30-40 Krag to us). But, he probably had 220 gr slugs, no .308 will handle them I guess.

Locals shoot moose and deer in the head and yes a 308 is pretty good at head shots...

Don’t remember the poster from the valley? that put his wife behind a .308 on a Kodiak bear hunt.

One-shot success, so there is that.

If you reload or have a friend that reloads, Jes reboring will take that rifle sent regular mail and send it back a 358 Winchester.
http://www.35caliber.com/2.html

Alot cheaper/easier deal at about $250. Many guys have had this done.
Two of mine had no trouble launching 200 grain ttsx bullets at 2700 fps and 250 grain A-frames to 2400 fps.

The only problem I'd have with the 308 is it doesn't lend itself to using bullets over 165 grains as well as say...the 30-06.

That said, the 308 was the round of choice for our mountain caribou hunt guide in far northern BC when I was 13 (1960). Otto Elden of Chetwind BC carried a Savage 99 FW 308 with open sights as his rifle of choice. He liked how it carried, how fast it was to get pointed at critters, and how well it went into a saddle scabbard.

I believe he used Remington Core-Lokt 150gr ammo. He had used it on moose and grizzly and swore by it.

I load, but the rifle will be for my BIL, who does not. I'll give him a rifle, but ain't going load his ammo and send it up😁

Jes is a good thought. I was leaning 308 mostly for the factory ammo options but I suppose 358 is pretty well represented as well.

Thanks.

That might have be been Luke's wife? I think I remember that, and it was a 180 grain fusion.

Luke and I over 10 years ago, tested out various 200 grain bullets out of the 308 as a bison legal load. We found that the boat tail bullets were too long, but the flat based spitzers did great. We used alliant 2000 Mr using 200 grain partitions, getting 2450 fps from my 20 inch barrel savage. Luke got over 2500 fps from his 22 in barrel Kimber Montana.

I eventually sent mine off to come back a 358. I think Luke sent his off to become a 358 too.

Very true on your first sentence. Here's how I load the 308:




That was for 180gr partitions and 165/168 Barnes bullets.. You really have to stoke the case, but it's still not a 30-06..

My cousin Doug only has one rifle a 308 Win in an Abolt. He has probably 10 rams that book. These are some of the older ones from his shop. The brown bear was from Fidalgo Bay.

By Jove. I believe you’re right.

The ram on the far left is what dreams are made of........

Is that ram in the left, a Stone Sheep?
I have zero field experience with sheep other than seeing Dalls from afar a bunch of times and Desert Bighorns along the Colorado River downstream of Hoover Dam.
That one looks more like a Bighorn than a Dall.

His bigger ones are in the house. It is a dall but he has a woodstove in his shop and he took it about 15 years ago.

My wife thinks her 308 does fine on moose. She killed quite a few deer and a couple elk with it as well before we moved to Alaska. She drew a caribou tag this year so perhaps it will see some time in the field. Specs - BSA Majestic, 150 grain Barnes TSX, Leupold VXII 1-4x.

It's not a North American sheep.

Maybe Argali.

Granted. But, you could say the same for any 30 caliber cartridge faster than the 308.

I load my 308's the same as you depict with 48.5 gr Varget with 155 Scenar's. I so prefer short action cartridges that I have a 300 WSM & would never consider owning a 30-06. The 30-06 is an ample round, I just don't like it.

I have yet to shy away from any game with my 308's.

Nope its a real Dall. They get that way in a certain part of the Chugach.

You might have to pay for the video that has a couple of his hunts in it.
https://www.amazon.com/HIGH-SPIRITS-Alaska-Sheep-Hunting/dp/B0013QPXES

Vek would tell you about his sheep. (Jerry Vekved)

Where exactly would that be?

The center ram is great. The one on the left is just outrageous.

Whether it works as well or not .. probably true, but what matters is it works **well enough**. Though its bread and butter is the 165 grain Accubond, my little Kimber Mountain Ascent really likes the protected point version of the 180 grain partition and 44 grains of RL15 proving to me that it handles 180s fine as well. Beyond 180s, I'm not choosing an '06, either: mine will be a .300 win mag if I'm shooting bullets heavier than that in .30 caliber.

One that they are cropped at 7 to 8 years now but used to be bananas.

Yeah, but she is a stunt shooter...

Well my wife must be a stunt shooter too,,she's taken quite a few brown bears with a 300 Savage using 165 gr Nosler Partitions @ 2500fps.

Can’t happen! 🤣🤣

James has been on many of those twister hunts as well. He had a legendary area and knows how to get them down!

The 308 is a great cartridge and its obvious that it can get the job done when all goes well. The guides that I have known in Alaska, do not carry .308's as their backup rifles. When I went, I did not take my .308. I think a minimum would be an 06 and even larger if you can shoot it,

Respect.

byhttps://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/tilly358/Diaz_zps6jfxafb3.jpg

That is an absolutely beautiful bear, outstanding. Great !!!!

Thinking you may need to get your hip popped back into joint...

I liked this old quote, "Bob Hagel, You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong. "...

When you read about all the of the 223's and 556's that are are used up there on the all critters big and small the deployment of the a 308 sounds appropriate. Not judging since folks up there seem in many instances to have no fear of using small calibers on medium to large critters effectively I might add!

One of the great 24Hr photos

There's so many cool pics that get posted on this site that I don't usually comment on them, but that one is awesome!

Just to be clear, that’s not my photo. It is the one to which waterrat posted a link.

He "made" her skin it herself, too....

Since it first showed up in the hunting fields of North America the 30-06 was considered a great big game cartridge for every thing. In 2021 we have super bullets and better velocity powders available that easily elevate the .308 Winchester to better ballistics then what the 30-06 could achieve long ago. The great Nosler Partition or Barnes TTSX in 165 grain weight would work on any thing in North America.

I knew an old Kodiak Native guide that carried a 30-30...

If I recall that story correctly, W 'Rat wasn't even there to help her kill that beast. The poor lass was trying to protect the homestead, by herself, and she had to shoot the bear, skin it and handle the carcass by herself.

I truly love that photo. Everything is so serene; the iron lady, the flowers, even the big dead bear looks strangely happy... the pup looks like he's about to blow a gasket....otherwise, very peaceful!

Wow that's incredible! (I was gonna call BS)

I got a Chugach sheep tag for August. Maybe Mike Meekins knows the "secret spot".

He knows the country very well. I would guess though that because Doug flies DS165 and DS160 with great regularity that he would know where you should go. He doesn't answer emails very much because of a very bad experimental aircraft injury. However, you can look him up and call him and he would be the dude to talk to. You could also find him at the Valdez Air Show, not flying but administrating. He has two cubs and my other Cousin Ronal has two cubs down there and they fly constantly.

How many inches is that bore going to be? 4?

I’ve got some of Hagel’s books, and look at them often. He was pretty content with a 7 mag or a 300. He also had no qualms using (much) bigger rounds at times. I think he was pretty recoil tolerant. He is a good read and appeared to have a lot of field experience to back up his opinions.

"Use enough gun".

And that is strictly a matter of opinion. Well, mostly.

IIRC, Bell didn't think the .22 Hornet was much of a rhino gun....

That said, I'd carry a .308 without hesitation. My walk-about rifle is a M94 in 30-30.

But size does matter sometimes, and placement matters more. Shooting a rifle one isn't afraid of is a good idea.

Thank you for that information.
Like I said, my knowledge is very limited.
That ram is a brute!
I am ordering the video.

I was at Iguigig on a bargeing project at the time,,Marlene had 2 nieces to sort of help the skinning process though. When I got home he was fleshed and in the salt!!

What kind of sammich did she have waiting for you?

I know quite a few Alaskan hunters who use the 308 for all their needs. I also have been told by numerous guides and resident hunters in Spain, Tajikistan & Kazakhstan that the 308 is considered "the best" hunting cartridge.. In Zimbabwe two years ago both PH's in our camp used 308's as their personal hunting rifles.

In fact You could safely replace "30-06" with 308 Win in my statement below.

And did she take the plastic wrap off the cheese slice first?

Spent time grounded there.

You expect him to notice fine details?

Cool photo waterrat. I've been to igiugig, nondalton, illiamna, Pedro bay, Newhalen, kokhanok, etc.

Bears are thick over there. Got driven off a fishing hole on the Newhalen river. A bear wanted the spot more than me it seems.

Mostly maintenance man stuff on water treatment plants and clinics.

On my down time, tried to visit local mushers, to talk dogs.

Did the same work on Kodiak villages and all the villages of the Northwest Arctic some on Prince of whales island and some of AK peninsula.

Wish kk Alaska would come out of retirement and go wrench on water treatment plants with me. Best learning experiences ever, are wrenching with those level 3-4 guys like kk Alaska. Some skilled, calibrated dudes right there.

My opinion after loading 200 grain flat base spitzers to 2450 fps from a 20 inch barrel:

That is on par to what I was getting from my 30-06 k98 Mauser with a 22 inch barrel using blue box federal 220 grain hot cor.. It's about as "bison legal" as the 30-06.

Ever been to levelock?

“ Bears are thick over there. Got driven off a fishing hole on the Newhalen river. A bear wanted the spot more than me it seems.”

Right you are.

Made many trips to Illiamna flying out to any one of the Lakes tributaries. Always enjoyed the Newhalen more as caught the largest Rainbows and Char there.

We had a middle aged boar that earned the nicknamed “3 O’clock Charlie” as he would always appear in the afternoon. My usual companion Karl was napping in the tent after a long morning of fishing. I was close enough to hear him snoring, even though the sound of the gorge was loud enough to drown out mere mortals sleep noise. Just happened to glance back at the sound of an extra loud round of his snoring and saw “Charlie” peering into the open flap at the “symphony” offered. It’s a good thing that Charlie wasn’t a music critic as he snorted, turned around and headed uphill.

To this day, Karl does not believe this happened. That the statement “ignorance is bliss” has been used to describe many different occasion (at the least) seemed fitting to this one. Karl continued to accompany on several trips after without any reservation or concern. Just so others here appreciate this is not an attempt at “thread hijacking” Karl carried his Model 88 in 308 on every trip. He never once fired a shot for any reason. He was always comfortable packing it, certainly.

Akpendude,

No sir, at the time they were out of my service area. I think my old boss goes there now. He's done work in the plant and said they always put him on good fishing down there.

Bearhuntr, that's a cool story. Those rapids on the Newhalen were amazing. Wished I could blasted through that sht in ah boat!

He he he...be careful what you wish for😉
That would be awesome non-the-less! Hell, I’m still trying to spear my bear, but cannot convince Ironbender to set on my bait barrel. One only lives once . . .😎

😳

I'm about dumb enough to try a spear if the set up was correct...


Anyway back on topic.

When a client shows up with a 308 I have a lot of confidence. I'm not saying I don't when the mags show up, but one never knows how the shooter is with them. And frankly I"ve seen better bullet performance from things like 308/168ttsx than I have from some of the mag bullets.

Just something about a person that knows how good the 308 and even 30-06 are for all around use that makes me smile inside. And know that I can trust the clients ability most likely. In fact most 308 guys have a distance limit that makes sense. Lots of mag guys don't. And when in side conversations about wind speed, bullet drop etc... you kind of start hoping if and when you get a shot its close..