Fill the Gap

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amprecon

amprecon

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Ok, here's the situation, having sold off my only high power rifle, Rem 700 in .308 I am left with 6.8 AR's and 7.62x39 AK's.
I feel I need to have at least one high power rifle to bridge the obvious gap. Here's the catch, I don't like bolt actions and don't want any magnum calibers.
I would like this rifle to be powerful enough to fully exceed the 6.8.
I also want it to be adequate for use in AK on the big coastal brownies and of course also for Elk and Moose.
Besides the bolt action, my next least favorite action type is lever action, then pump and then semi which is mostly preferred.
I have been looking at the Browning BAR offerings in .30-06 and .358 Win and the Rem 7600 pump in .30-06 and .35 Whelen. Of course the lever action options are also Browning BLR's in their various caliber offerings.
So what is everyone's suggestions, personal experiences with any of the above mentioned rifles or other options especially used on the big brownies in AK.
 
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Get a single shot rifle in the caliber of your choice and practice placing the first shot exactly where it needs to go. (Actually we should be able to do that regardless of the gun).

Learn to reload by holding extra cartridges between the fingers of your off hand. Once learned it is possible to reload quickly.

As for cartridge it is going to be up to your tolerance for recoil.
 
I've considered single-shot rifles but am having trouble finding one in a caliber larger than .30-06 and don't believe .45-70 has enough range to be considered.
 
If you had gone with Grendel there would be no gap :D

For big bears and meese, hard to say no to a 45-70, though 50 Alaskan from a lever gun would also be pretty sweet.

375 H&H would also fill your gap as well as extend your coverage :cool:
 
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Everything I know about big bears says you want a hard hitting medium bore to hunt them, and a big bore to stop them. Once you rule out magnums (why?) that leaves things on the .30-06 case, which means .35 Whelen. Since there are no .35 Whelen autos I know of, that leaves the 7600.

Not a rifle I'd really want to end up owning, but the only thing that seems to meet your stated requirements. I'd change the requirements and buy a model 70 in .375 H&H personally.
 
Coastal brownies? The 30-06 is probably the safe minimum there, if you have to have an auto the bar or an m1garand would both work. I would go 338 win mag in a bar though, it mitigates some of the recoil and a 338 will work pretty good for big bears, a lot better than 30-06. But Llama Bob has it right, just get the 375 h&h, they are a pussycat to shoot compared to the down range power they create.

Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk
 
Why not a DPMS G2 in 308? That ain't gonna deal with big brownies all that well, but at some point you have to decide how much that specific goal is worth (in terms of size, weight, recoil, etc.)....
 
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There used to be a guy who was making M1 Garands in 458 WM. That would fit the bill other than being a magnum. Single shots are terrible for hunting, if you need a fast second shot you are out of luck. A bolt action in 375H&H or 35 Whelen would meet you needs and then some. But you don't want a bolt action...
 
Maybe a Marlin in .45-70 would be the best option, but the range would be limited.
 
Exclude brown bear and you should buy another 308. You DO NOT want a semi, lever or pump for game that bites back. Not reliable enough. 30-06 loaded heavy beats 35 whelen and 45-70 . If that doesn't feel comfortable skip straight to 375
 
amprecon said:
Maybe a Marlin in .45-70 would be the best option, but the range would be limited.
Click to expand...

Yup, you can stop great bears with a .45-70 but I wouldn't try to hunt them. A .45-70 or better yet .45-90 1886 gives you a bit more reach from hotter loads, but the bullets that are good for dangerous game have horrible BCs, so I wouldn't plan on reaching too far.

In lever guns the .348 Winchester with Hawk or Kodiak bullets in a model 71 offers more reach, but it's a handloader-only cartridge. Grafs and Jamison have brass.
 
jmr40 said:
You DO NOT want a semi, lever or pump for game that bites back. Not reliable enough.
Click to expand...
Absurd. While there is some argument against semis in terms of reliability, the top dangerous game guns in North America are .45-70 lever actions and 12ga pumps with BARs being #3. In Africa it's model 70, BRNO/CZ, and Mauser bolt actions.

Where does this nonsense come from?
 
you have to download for the garand because the op-rod won't handle full power modern 30-06 unless you put in an adjustable gas plug (not a big deal) which makes it no better than a 308.

Why not just get an ar10 of some flavor? they can be had for less than a grand (or garand) and seem to tick all the op's boxes.
 
A semi-auto 358 win sounds neat but I'm a fan of that cartridge. Unfortunately you'll need to be a reloader since commercial availability is spotty

There was a thread a while back were a guy was entertaining the idea of building an AR10 chambered for 358 win. Now THAT would be cool
 
The more I think about it the more the 7600 in .35 Whelen makes good sense. I just can't fully trust hunting semi's.
 
A .35 Whelen with the 250gr Partition load wouldn't be bad. Should be within it's operating window as far as you'd want to shoot.
 
I like the Winchester 100 in .308. Great looking gun that with a little trigger smoothing and light bedding is capable of very tight grouping.
 
When you can afford the total cost of an Alaska bear or moose hunting trip, then you can afford to buy a rifle specifically for that trip... Seriously, it's expensive enough that you won't want to be hobbled with a marginal rifle when the time comes. In the meantime just get a 30-06 of your preferred flavor for Texas hunts.


The other option is a 1874 Sharps. I heard that Texans favor them, and they're powerful enough to kill a horse... According to Marshall Cogburn. ;-)
 
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I personally have had FAR more malfunctions from manually actuated rifles, than from semi-auto's. A good semi auto rifle will run thousands of rounds without failure. I've had bolt, lever and pumps malfunction at a MUCH higher rate, on a failure to rounds fired comparison:scrutiny:.

That said, I'd look into a .338. Big enough to drop anything on this continent. Anything more is just overkill, on your shoulder, wallet and meat.
 
DaisyCutter said:
When you can afford the total cost of an Alaska bear or moose hunting trip, then you can afford to buy a rifle specifically for that trip... Seriously, it's expensive enough that you won't want to be hobbled with a marginal rifle when the time comes. In the meantime just get a 30-06 of your preferred flavor for Texas hunts.


The other option is a 1874 Sharps. I heard that Texans favor them, and they're powerful enough to kill a horse... According to Marshall Cogburn. ;-)
Click to expand...

Exactly this.... except the Sharps part. Are you REALLY going to go to AK on the spur of the moment and have to choose a rifle from only those in your cabinet to hunt coastal grizzlies with? Probably not, I would buy a .30-06, maybe a BAR and use that wherever you hunt most often. If a real chance to hunt grizzlies ever materializes, you'll probably be able to pick up a dedicated rifle for that trip. Why hamstring yourself during your normal hunting to satisfy the requirements of a theoretical AK grizzly bear hunt?
 
I agree with DaisyCutter, and gtscotty. I've owned a BAR in .308 since 1986, and it has been 100% reliable. I'd suggest a BAR in a magnum caliber, but since you don't want that, get the .30-06 and worry about a dangerous game caliber when/if that ever happens.
 
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