Using years of experience to help chose right hunting rifle

Last week, I suggested the most common type of big game hunting rifle in Alaska for new hunters along with several sighting and carrying accessories to make hunting with the rifle more productive and convenient. Now I’ll launch into that “dangerous” territory I mentioned and suggest caliber choices for that rifle.

When I first came to Alaska, I brought my lever-action rifle chambered in 35 Remington caliber. This is a great “woods” rifle for deer and black bears in the Midwest and Eastern Lower 48. I quickly learned that the average 150-yard range of this rifle/cartridge combination wasn’t the best for caribou or mountain hunting and a little light for brown bears.

My father let me take his Winchester model 70 bolt-action rifle in 300 Winchester Magnum caliber to use and it proved to be very well suited to Alaskan hunting. It was a blued metal/wooden stocked gun, so I had to maintain it properly in the wet fall weather we usually encountered.

For a long time, I thought the 300 Winchester Magnum cartridge was the ideal “one-gun” solution for hunting in the Great Land. The rifle/caliber combination was heavy for mountain hunting and the longer barrel was awkward when moving through thick brush. The caliber, however, with the proper loads and bullet weights, would handle any animal in Alaska quite nicely.

I still wanted a larger caliber rifle for bears and almost bought a 458 Winchester Magnum I found in the used gun rack at a gun store. After discussing the possible purchase with my dad, he sent me his Winchester model 70 in 338 Winchester Magnum caliber. This caliber will definitely handle the really big Alaskan animals, like moose, brown bears, bison, or elk, but it’s a big, heavy rifle to carry around. It’s also gross overkill for the smaller animals like Sitka Blacktail deer or caribou.

After ending up on Afognak Island for nine years with my job, I started using smaller caliber rifles for my deer hunting. Calibers like 7 x 57 Mauser, 8 x 57 Mauser, 30-06, 44 Magnum, 30-30, 35 Remington, 44-40, 257 Roberts, and 45-70 filled the bill. I also used a number of wildcat or single-shot handgun calibers as well. The only time I ever felt under-gunned was when I would check my trap sets carrying only a 22-caliber revolver and encounter fresh brown bear sign.

Since leaving Afognak and returning to the road system, I’ve taken moose, caribou, and bison with either a 444 Marlin, a 7mm Remington Magnum, my 50-90 blackpowder rifle, or a model 870 Remington shotgun with rifled slugs. These calibers were in addition to using some of the previously mentioned calibers for moose (45-70, 300 Win. Mag.) and caribou (300 Win. Mag.) as well.

I have rifles in 7mm-08, 308, 35 Whelen, and 7.62 x 54R calibers which would also work well for almost all Alaskan hunting. However, I have not taken an animal with any of these calibers, so I can’t comment on their efficiency. The 35 Whelen served as the backup rifle during my bison hunt and helped secure the animal, but it was not the primary firearm caliber used.

As my hunting and shooting experience grew in Alaska, I backed away from the 300 Winchester Magnum as the “ideal” one-gun caliber for hunting here. It’s still a great cartridge and if it was the only rifle I had, I would be satisfied. However, I think there’s one better caliber for all-around hunting in Alaska – the 30-06.

Virtually all the firearms manufacturers chamber bolt-action rifles in 30-06 caliber. Ammunition is readily available, even in the remotest villages. With the proper load and bullet weight/style, the 30-06 can humanely kill any animal in Alaska. It would also be an easy rifle to sell if you no longer needed it.

Reloading components are commonly available to develop that special load you can’t find in your local gun shop. With some of the newer bullets now on dealer shelves, the penetration and shocking power is greater than even five years ago. Advances in factory loaded ammunition using these same premium bullets have significantly improved the accuracy and shocking power of this caliber.

If you can only afford one big game hunting rifle for Alaska, I would recommend a bolt-action rifle with a 22-inch barrel in 30-06 caliber. It’s not the perfect gun for every hunting situation, but it’s adequate for any situation with the proper bullet weight and load.

But why settle for just one hunting rifle?