My brother moved to Alaska(currently Keni) about a year ago and now is oficially a resident and can afford to go hunting. I want to buy him a rifle but am unsure of what is a good caliber for Alaska. I live in Oregon and most everything can be taken by a 308 win or smaller but I would assume the shots up there would be longer(in the pacific NW 50 yards is a long shot).
You'll need to get the input from Steve and the Moose and AllAlaskan, but if I were you I'd be taking a serious look at one of those Marlin lever actions in .45-70.
I know that the .45-70 is overkill for deer, but you have to plan for the worst possible case when you hunt. In Alaska, that's a Close Encounter of the Grizzly Bear Kind. Contrary to what we human believe, Mister Grizz is at the top of the North American food chain. You need something that can deal with Mister Grizz when you go into the field. The .45-70 certainly can.
But then, in bear country I've always thought the right weapon is an Abrams tank, so don't go by what I think! ;-)
Definitely get hom a rifle in a caliber with the ability to take down just about any animal he might encounter, that's for sure.
Not sure, but I would think either 7mm 08 or 300Win should work fine enough? But then, what do I know, I'm probably way off. And I'm more into taget shooting then anything else. lol
Would you like another brother? I could use a rifle. lol
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Trust me I've done PLENTY of research on this myself.
.45/70 is perfect, if you are a good stalker and can make shots in 150 yards. .30-06 is good out to 200 yards on moose and smaller animals, but I wouldn't try it on grizzly's. .300 win mag is quit good but not one of my favorites. Moose arn't hard to kill or so they say. Grizzly's are another story.
If I had a wad of cash and a choice on guns, I'd look at a Marlin lever action .45/70, even a single shot handi-rifle will do the trick, .300 win mag bolt action or .30-06, Bigger calibers are better sometimes for big bears. If I had the money I'd pick a Ruger No. 1 in .375 H&H
Remington has a 375 H and H dangerous game rifle ,limited adition not cataloged. for around 600.
If you had a box of good shells expensive ,and handloaded cast .you would have something that does it all well. flat trajectory plenty of energy and downloaded you can get 4 to 500 loads out of a 20 dollar pound of powder.I d rather shoot a handloaded 375 than a 45/70 .marlin makes a nice gun but for the same money youd never have to worry if that deer didnt stop running until he was 250 out.
Lots of people buy a 375 and shoot half a box of factories and sell the guns cheap. ive got some guns that I could afford to sell to get the three or so id be happy with when I move. As much as I like my toys I realize many of them are not working guns .look at some 700sps 375 on gunbroker and tell be what you think after looking up some loads and doing a little online searching on the 375. What do you think? Dean
I am a big fan of big bore lever guns. 45/70 .444 Marlin and so on, for those big nasties that try to eat little ol' me. They are fast handling and depenable. But as metioned before, they are not the long distance runners. That is my two cents.
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Yes .45/70 is defiently a short range rifle. 150 yards isn't too much especially after some of the new hornady cartridges have come out.
If he goes with the .45/70 make sure he can stalk his game effectively, because you won't be able to pull off 200 yard shots like you can with other calibers.
Very true. But reloading evens that scale out I was just thinking. Of all the calibers I've hunted with, these are the ones that I have narrowed down to:
6,5x55 Swede
7mm Mag
308 Win
300 Mag
338 Mag
12ga
10mm
44 Mag
I could live with the 6,5 and the 300 Mag, the 12Ga, and the 44 as these are the ones I use the most.
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