Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska If you were to have just one caliber ?

Quit making sense, chw2

I haven’t seen a kimber talkeetna in years… the stainless model 70’s pop occasionally.. standard 375 with RL15 and 300gr tsx is all you need.

One of those two has become a safe queen at this point, Mike. The old girl is decisive on anything it's aimed at, make no mistake. The Sako 375 w/20"" bbl, mickey stock and trg package seems to kill just as much... but not the shoulder so much Carries easier and shoots little tiny groups close to the .338. It is still reserved more for the Ursus crowd, though the moose brothers go down without much fanfare.
To the OP: What chw2 said. . .

Depends where you live and hunt, if in the states 30-06 will do with bullets ranging from 150 grain to 220 grain, if in Africa of course something like 375 H&H. We're spoiled today, in the old days they only had one gun and one caliber and all the game was killed with that one rifle, but since they only had that one rifle and were dependent on it for food and survival they were proficient with it, unlike many today that have multiple rifles in multiple calibers and are mediocre marksmen. Sometimes I think of the old timers and wonder if I shouldn't just settle on one rifle and one caliber and use it for all my hunting, but then the voice inside says "perish the thought and enjoy all your rifles and calibers".

If i lived in Alaska it'd be the 338 WM, 250gr A-Frames at 2750 would do it all from 0 to 400 yards.

.338 WM for US, .416 Rigby for Africa. I can live with that.

But some lightweights are just too heavy...

Back for resupply. Been too warm. Fking blackflies everywhere, low moose population.

Lotta gibberish in this here thread so pay attention:
375 h&h is a piss-poor do-all for Alaska.

Most are too long and heavy for hunting in the mountains. Winter caribou by dog team, too bulky. Too much recoil for extended shooting sessions, sharpening your skills for the longish, treeless alaska shots. Not ideal hoofing mountains.

A 9.3x62 would be much better "all-rounder". But very limited choices for lighter bullets for extended range practice. Still too heavy for the Mountains. In light guns, too much recoil. Still too much bullet for 30 mph winds/treeless alaska winter caribou.

.338 calibers:
About ideal one-gun. Scores of high bc 225 grainers that buck winds very well. Low enough recoil that you can get decent practice in light-weight guns.

Anchoring shots on moose, where the big bulls need to be on the dry bank, not seconds later in a muskeg swamp or in the river, to be blasted into a wood pile up, lots of good 250 grainers. I run the 275 grain a-frames, which are a great moose bullet for big bulls called to the river.

308/30-06. Very few available 220 grainers like the .338's. At 225 grains, the 338's are just getting warmed up.

For anchoring big bulls on the dry bank and bear protection in spring/summer:

I have a massive pile of 30 caliber 220 grain partitions, and those fkn things costed more than 300 grain 9.3 a-frames, or 250 grain a-frames, or 275 grain a-frames. Currently, there are none in stock, anywhere.

180 grainers: good for extended range practice with tolerable recoil, great for mountains, winter caribou, spring bear, calling in wolves etc.

For youth guns and mountain rifles, the 308 winchester edges out the 30-06.

With lever revolution powder, the 308 winchester gives an easy 2700 fps with 180 grainers, 2600 fps with 200 grainers, and 2480 fps from 220 grain partitions. All with minimal recoil from a 6 lb. mountain rifle.


Below 308 winchester/30-06: no fkn thank you. Not really an "all-rounder"


Lightweight 338 win mag, 338-06, 338 rcm or 338 rpm (that new weatherby), about the most ideal Alaskan calibers ever made.

What's usually kicking round my dog sled or canoe as general purpose stuff:

308 winchester/220 grain partition, 338 rcm 225 grain interbond/225 grain fusion, 338 rcm 275 grain a-frame, 9.3x62 300 grain a-frames

A .375 H&H doesn’t have to be long, heavy or bulky. I think it is perfectly adequate as an all around AK round. Sheep are about the only species I think that keeps it from being near the best and that is only because they’re often shot at ranges that I wouldn’t consider the .375 H&H with normal bullets good for. It is fine on deer and caribou sized critters though a sometimes caribou can be out there a ways too.


I carried my .375 H&H into sheep country a few times this year and didn’t find it too terribly heavy. I was after bear though and didn’t expect to have to take longer shots. The two days I was specifically after sheep I carried an even heavier rifle that that.

Like most anywhere else, I think the best all around rifle for AK is a 22” barreled .264, .284 or .308 cal of some flavor with a 6x scope, simply so it can reach out a bit easier but is also good for up close stuff.

Ok, here we go again, and here is what I've been packin since 1995, I have this and a Custom 06 built in 1985 that I still Hunt with.....
LJ in Alaska....

I’m certainly glad that my .375 doesn’t fall into the too long, too heavy group!

Yes, my rifle barrel could be a bit shorter than 24”…..but, unless all of your hunting is done in Alder Thickets, 24” is quite practical!

However, the 24” barrel on my 9 pound AI makes it a pretty decent long (er) range rifle for caribou and or sheep. A 270 grain LRX @ 3000+ makes for a prettt decent “all around” package! memtb

0.45

This one. ^^^

My only other exception for a bush gun is a K98, 8x57 with a short barrel.

kwg

I'd worry about scratching up a nice rifle. Not this one. It's strictly utilitarian.

With the fluted 21" tube, not overly heavy. I didn't like it much with the heavy OEM 24" barrel, this version mo better, IMO.

DF

Sako 9.3x62

Until you have gone into a real alder thicket with a 24" barrel you have no idea how ridiculously long it is...

Isn’t that the damn truth!

Sitka, not to mention, where the fk could you put the dmn thing on a snow machine or dog sled??

After rolling a widetrak lx on an icy ravine, I bent a 24" barreled pump shotgun beyond repair, years ago.

I ended up never bringing another long gun except an over/under shotgun/rifle that folded in half. I stowed it safely in the under-seat storage.

When I switched to dogs and freight sleds, it was so bad (space wise), could only store rifle inside a gutted caribou carcass in the freight sled. The ONLY safe place where a gun will survive a crash, is vertical scabbard, UNDER the handle bar.

Before I built my custom freight sled, I was desperate enough to consider bullpup rifles.

With my new freightsled: 40 inches, max length on rifles.

24hourcampfire, where lower-48 do nothing pipe-dreamers school Alaskans, everyday.

In southeast, the best all around rifle I’ve found is a 9.3x62 with a 20” barrel. A 300 yard shot is rare, and either the 250s or 286s witless do that. If I lived in the interior I’d be tempted to use a .300 win/wsm with a 22” barre because bears seem to be less of a concern and it seems like everything is at least 300 yards away.

Sadly, the other .416 that was beerhuntr-inspired is now an orphan.