Best rifle to bring to Alaska

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sandy4570

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What is the best rifle to bring to Alaska for short term stay (like a few years ) Most likely it will be use for target shooting with occasionally for hunting . I am thinking 30-30 rifle ? I prefer to load my own ammo but I want to be able to pick up some factory ammo from stores as well .
 
The 30.06 or .308 would be good choices. I shoot a .270 Win. It really depends on what you are interested in doing/shooting. The 30.30 was once ubiquitous in Alaska, but now you would more likely find the above three, plus .243, .338, .300 WM, 7mm, .375... and the list goes on. The 30.30 would be fine for brush busting in Southeast Alaska for deer.
 
Yep, we don't have any gun shops up here
NOPE, banned them things, horrible horrible things, harming the bears as they are peacefully eat some tourist (if you keep them on a strict diet of two a week it doesn't hurt tourist rating that much)


Bring whacha got, gonna get more
 
THIS

28vvkhg.jpg

Marlin Lever in 50 Alaskan.

There´s a thread on this exact rifle somewhere on THR.
 
the 30-30 is a great gun. just not in Alaska. there are to many big bears there. moose will also charge, and run you over like a freight train. you need a rifle that will STOP these beasts when they are angry and charging you. i am sorry to tell you this, but a 30-30 is just going to make them MAD. yes, it will EVENTUALLY kill them. but that is not going to do you a lot of good, when your internals are no longer inside of you. big, angry or scared animals have to be stopped. they are doing what comes natural to them. the bigger the critter is, the less chance of the flight response (as in fight or flight) is. and personally, i do not want to be on the receiving end of 2,000+ pounds of adrenaline saturated charging muscle ! if you are going to hunt with a guide, then by all means, the 30-30 will be fine. just remember that you are turning over your personal security to someone else. you had better hope they are willing to DIE for you!
 
My brother, who's lived in Alaska for over 35 years now thinks that a 375 H & H is the only way to go. He's lived a subsistence lifestyle since he first moved up there all those years ago. His yearly routine had him collecting two caribou, a moose (if possible), and other game each year (they haven't bought store meat in many, many years). In the interior of Alaska the bears have learned to associate a rifle shot with a feeding opportunity so you never hunt solo....

By the way, he has three of those 375's.... along with a variety of other long guns and sidearms.
 
A SS synthetic stocked CRF 30-06 with a Leupold VX-2 scope will do anything you need. Load it with 180- 200 gr Nosler Partitions and you are good for hunting anything there and have a perfectly good bear stopper load for Alaska's largest.

If I were hunting the large bears I'd opt for the 220 gr bullets.

The 30-30 is underpowered for what you want to do.
 
There is no "best". This is just going to be everyone's opinion and that's fine. Here's mine.
I like the idea of a .45-70 if you're limited to one rifle. It can be loaded really heavy if you're going after moose or bears. If you want to plink, get some cast boolits and load em up with Trail Boss for powderpuff plinking loads.
 
In the war or the 30 cals I normaly vote 308 over 30-06 (I own both) but in the case of hunting Alaska I would opt for the 30-06, it's long heavy 200+gr bullets really shine on larger game. I keep some 200gr Accubonds just in case I get to go this year :D
 
Anything that exceeds 3000 ft-pds muzzle energy as the start of which rifle to bring. 30-06 sits at the minimum level of Alaskan hunting/woods guns and is what my dad primarily carried and hunted with in Alaska in the 1960's.

I just went out in the mountains of Idaho last week and took my .444 Marlin. I blew up some cans, bottles and cartons. With my Buffalo Bore 335 gr bullets, it is my choice for an all around woods rifle. BTW, we saw the biggest bull moose I have ever seen here or in Alaska. Just a huge moose.

What ever you take, you must feel confident shooting it. Another aspect is what type of terrain you will encounter. Short action lever rifles are great in areas where you will have reduced visibility. For other areas, you will need a rifle that can reach out beyond a couple of hundred yards which the lever guns are limited to.

Many consider a .375 H&H magnum the all around hunting/bear defense rifle for Alaska. Can't argue with that type of thinking at all.
 
Many consider a .375 H&H magnum the all around hunting/bear defense rifle for Alaska. Can't argue with that type of thinking at all.
Click to expand...

Another great option.
Although after thinking about it a second, take a .22lr or some type you are willing to spend ammo on plinking aroud with. .45-70 Gov't, .375 H&H Mag. loads can get pretty expensive to be shooting tin cans and varmints up in Alaska.:D
 
REALLY depends on what you are doing, as for bears, it's a overstated risk, even with 3 maulings in a week, you figure that you have MILLIONS (2-3 times the population of the state comes and visits every year)

at east 2 of which were oblivious, sorry but taking pics of a bear posturing -> hint, walk, don't run away... the other was a uni student heads down collecting samples.

what you need is a gun YOU will use, buying some 'gee williekers, best durn gun...' don't worry about it, if you want something exotic bring it, just may sure you bring ALL your ammo, too. Secondly, a few moose and caribou IS NOT SUBSISTENCE, those are the people in the bush, and trust me, in season they harvest more that that in a DAY. they live hand to mouth and it takes more than that to make winter. there isn't a best round, now that said, you will find everything, but Caribou, a guy who does live the subsistence life, he uses a Mosin Nagant, seems to work fine. MUCH more about your than what gun you lug.
 
Shadow 7D said:
REALLY depends on what you are doing, as for bears, it's a overstated risk, even with 3 maulings in a week, you figure that you have MILLIONS (2-3 times the population of the state comes and visits every year)

at east 2 of which were oblivious, sorry but taking pics of a bear posturing -> hint, walk, don't run away... the other was a uni student heads down collecting samples.

what you need is a gun YOU will use, buying some 'gee williekers, best durn gun...' don't worry about it, if you want something exotic bring it, just may sure you bring ALL your ammo, too. Secondly, a few moose and caribou IS NOT SUBSISTENCE, those are the people in the bush, and trust me, in season they harvest more that that in a DAY. they live hand to mouth and it takes more than that to make winter. there isn't a best round, now that said, you will find everything, but Caribou, a guy who does live the subsistence life, he uses a Mosin Nagant, seems to work fine. MUCH more about your than what gun you lug.
Click to expand...
+1, Great points. I was reading about the student collecting samples and then encountering the bear. She had to get the pepper spray out of the pack which they could not do in time.

http://www.newsminer.com/view/full_...ttle-woman-attacked-by-bear-near-Tangle-Lakes

Point is, whatever your bear defense, pepper spray, rifle, pistol, or revolver, you have to know how to use them and have them ready to deploy. I wonder if the case will make it into the pepper spray failure category? I doubt it will. It seems if you have a gun and can't deploy it, that is a gun failure. But if you have pepper spray and fail to deploy it, it is not a "failure" of pepper spray. Go figure, but brain washing runs deep in these discussions and "scientific" studies.
 
beatledog7 said:
If I were coming along, my rifle of choice would be the Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70.
Click to expand...
If you can handle the recoil of the high powered 45-70 rounds, it is a great choice for bear protection and for hunting at 200 yards or less. Great option for coastal areas or heavily forested areas. Not sure it is the best for some of the tundra and low veg areas which make up a large portion of Alaska.
 
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