Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Latest caliber strategy for Alaska

I do find the hatchet haft a little on the “clubby” side. Just haven’t taken the time to work it over.

I’ve only hunted with .338WM, 7mm mag, & 7mm-08

Never felt undergunned, they all shoot decent.

I’ve not killed as much game as some AK posters as I spent best part of a decade in the company of some fine outdoorsmen watching them kill game.

Saw a wide variety of calibers used & a wide variety of proficiency in marksmen, my seasons were 4 seasons long as in the field on average 40 days.

My conclusion from this experience?


Shot placement, shot placement, shot placement. Use enough gun, use a great bullet.

Because it is overglorified in it potence, a huge number of gundummies @ nates cannot be swayed with crisp, clear data of the lousy ballistics, they cry "45-70" yet have zero clue of it's uselessness for ALL hunting conditions.... limiting themselves to rock throwing distances and tracking for hours into the night and often into the next day ... to be shot with a fkn 270 Win

Swamplord,
Let's tote ah gun that weighs more than most scoped bolt actions, nueter oneself to 44,000 psi loads and shoot bullets that have a trajectory of a fkn Iowa slug gun.

Last but not least.........A 30 mph wind ( common in Alaska) drifts the bullets enough to clearly miss or cripple at 200 yds.

That is the 45-70.

I would say your set up well with your 338 Win Mag as its quite versatile for all your needs. 160-300 grain bullet choices for any game and most any occasion. With 160-225 grain loads you are shooting as flat as a .30 Mag with better SD and BC. Shooting 275 A-Frames at 2,550 fps is flat and very potent out at 300 yards with big time SD projectiles and serious penetration. If more is needed there are Woodleigh 300 grain SP at 2,450 fps. I don’t believe you’d be under gunned with that load at 200 yards on brownies. Can’t think of another gun at 8lbs scoped that gives a .30 Mag trajectory and can almost match .375 H&H magnum bullet weights in speed and certainly the 338 Win Mag has much better SD projectiles with upwards of .375 on the .33 300 grain bullet.

I wish I had a dollar for every thread like this... which basically goes nowhere and convinces no one.

But in defense of the 45.70, I have killed my last two moose for our school's cultural ed hunt (2019, 2020) with a .45.70 and neither made it more than 10 yards from where they were shot. Distance for both shots was between 40-50 yards. If I was shooting across a wide glade or pond I'd probably like to use my .308, but close up is how I like to do things these days and so the 45.70 is more than adequate for the task.

But then I would not hesitate taking a moose with either of my .300 Savages either... just like hundreds of Alaskans and Canadians used to do without a great deal of thought.

Suum cuique.

To help make your point I bought three bowling balls at a yard sale today and promise to carry all three at once and continue to shoot a 30-06. seems a fair trade, no?

Scratching my head... sorry.

It’s funny to me that you say “explore other options before I settle on the 30-06. It’s my favorite cartridge and I don’t own one. I’m constantly considering all sorts of alternatives to my two gun battery that a 30-06 would do perfectly and cost effectively. Right now I’m day dreaming of a light-ish 300 H&H just because I like the cartridge so much, but the honest response is still ‘06

So its useless for all hunting situations? Tell me you've never used a 45-70 without telling me you never used one

In reality the 45-70 with modern powders and bullet technology is a real effective cartridge on large game and easily can be used out at 200-250 yards w/400 gr A-Frames and Barnes Buster Solids. Zeroed at 125 yard it’s only 4.5” down at 200 yards and 6” down at 250 yards. Wide meplats equal wide wounding channels, deep penetration and significant trauma. I would not feel handicapped or undergunned in any way with one at those distances and a 2.5 power fixed scope.

Ross,
If you were to accompany winter caribou hunters in the treeless, windswept regions above the Arctic circle, you would come home empty with your supposed shots at 250 yards.

The 30 below zero would render your useless 40,000 psi loads, even more useless. The prevailing 30mph winds on moving animals at distances, would lead to clear misses and cripples. The distances are also deceiving.

I'd rather hunt winter caribou with 223, than a 45-70. Some places in the winter, the caribou is the only viable animal you have. A lb of dog sht/beef hamburger cost $18 in some of these villages.

Narrow points of view, hypothetical thinking out loud, and ignorance, from suburbia America, will never compare to what many remote Alaskans experience everyday.

Treeless, windswept Alaska in pursuit of caribou, handed me my a s s, even with a 9.3x62. I missed many shots.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/13302195/3-caribou-by-dog-team

It wouldn’t be my first choice, just saying it’s not worthless under many situations and certainly not a pumpkin hever. My first post was all about the versatility of his 338 Win Mag loaded and used under just about any situation. Caribou, no problem with the .33 way out there using 180 or 200 grain Nosler BT or Hornady SSTs.

My max game range is paper plate distance. The distance that I can't hit the plate with every round thats my maximum. (Using field positions)

That's the most sensible way of looking at it,, on my last sheep hunt I had to pass on a monster ram because of high wind and 515yds. My shooting at pie plates goes to hell over 350yds.

Man these threads are entertaining. There's a section in the Frank Glaser bibliography where he talks about hunting rifles for Alaska. Paraphrased, "shot placement is many times more important than caliber..." which may or may not be worth listening to, considering that he killed more Alaskan big game than probably anyone who is currently alive.

A spicy .308 handload with 150 grain TTSX is plenty for moose at sane distances. Blacktail, 120 grain TTSX or Hammer Hunters out of a handy 7mm-08 mountain rifle is about perfect. Stretch the stalk, not the shot.

I'll have to disagree with that. I have worked with men who have for many years, harvested 30 to 40 Alaska Coastal Brown Bears in "TWO WEEKS". Or harvesting 300 Black Bears a year. Or shooting 50 or 60 Caribou for Bear Bait. It is a giggle how naïve current sport hunters are.......I guess that is for the best, overall.

I would like to talk to the guide who harvests 300 black bears per year. I know some people run those hunt aboard vessels but that is a bit of a stretch for any one person to do.

I did NOT say nor indicate that was a guiding operation........(Think "GALLBLADDER")

Not the first time he has blown gaseous colloids up a ticklish orifice.