Best Alaska Hunting Rifle (Susitna: crime rates, live in, statistics)

[Glitch]

The best Alaskan firearm is the one you are the most accurate with consistently. It is all about gun control. If you cannot accurately place a shot precisely where you want it, then even a canon like the Remington .458 Win Mag won't help. However, if you can shoot 2" groups or smaller at 100 yards, then a .3006 or 300 Win Mag is plenty large enough to drop most large game.

[blueflames50]

Originally Posted by Glitch

The best Alaskan firearm is the one you are the most accurate with consistently. It is all about gun control. If you cannot accurately place a shot precisely where you want it, then even a canon like the Remington .458 Win Mag won't help. However, if you can shoot 2" groups or smaller at 100 yards, then a .3006 or 300 Win Mag is plenty large enough to drop most large game.

ahhh Glitch I tried to rep ya but gotta spread it around...sorry!!! you are so correct. I know what I can control for a weapon and what ones I can't thanks to hubby having me shoot many weapons!! Am very comfortable with 45/70 guide gun and S&W 44mag hand gun.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Well, I normally think yall know all of this already, but.... The Browing A-bolt, equiped with the "Boss" Ballistic Optimizing Shooting System, really does work, if the shooter takes the time to learn the weapon and sights it in correctly. It also reduces felt recoil by about 50%, my .270 has virtually no recoil and can shoot 50 Cent sized groups at 250 yards. Hits right hard too, is a function of force = mass X acceleration, 130 grain, the smallest I shoot, whitetail deer, moves out at 3200 ft/sec, and knocks them for a flip @ 300 yds.

[tomcat6369]

I am thinking the bolt action 30-06 I have will be fine now. I don't have a sidearm and that part worries me. Not that I want to hunt bear but don't want to be surprised and if it happens, I want to be prepared. I will not hunt up there till I can find a friend to accompany, big bad area and new to me for sure. Don't want to be a statistic in the paper "lower 48er not prepared" or something worst!

I have never drawn a moose tag in Washington either but once snow skiing off the trails on Mt Spokane, north of Spokane, I missed hitting one by mere feet. Scared the living crap out of me! They are darn HUGE! But sure taste good!

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by tomcat6369

I am thinking the bolt action 30-06 I have will be fine now. I don't have a sidearm and that part worries me. Not that I want to hunt bear but don't want to be surprised and if it happens, I want to be prepared. I will not hunt up there till I can find a friend to accompany, big bad area and new to me for sure. Don't want to be a statistic in the paper "lower 48er not prepared" or something worst!

I have never drawn a moose tag in Washington either but once snow skiing off the trails on Mt Spokane, north of Spokane, I missed hitting one by mere feet. Scared the living crap out of me! They are darn HUGE! But sure taste good!

Side arms are used only as a backup weapon here. You would have to be very desperate indeed to pull a .44 Mag. or even a .50 cal. revolver or pistol on a brown bear. Don't forget to save the last round for yourself!

I typically carry a Mossberg Model 500 12-gauge, with a rifled barrel and an extended tube magazine as my primary camp gun, and I wear a Ruger .44 Mag Super Redhawk when I'm standing in the river fishing. Carrying a shotgun while fishing really messes with my casting accuracy.

[JohnPF]

Extended tube magazine for how many shells? I have a 12 ga Winchester pump with rifled barrel - 5 shot capacity.

[tomcat6369]

Having a sidearm would ONLY be for last resort. Your camp gun sounds like a good idea. I guess the extended tube magazine is legal up there? Is that not considered for hunting? In Washington you can't have it, well when hunting that is. I guess when fishing might be the time you have bears around, salmon....yummy food!!!! Having a sidearm would be very helpful, at last resort that is and not for combat fishing....

Is it hard to find solitude when salmon fishing?

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by JohnPF

Extended tube magazine for how many shells? I have a 12 ga Winchester pump with rifled barrel - 5 shot capacity.

The extended tube magazine is the full length of the 18.5" barrel and holds seven 3" shells.

Here is one for the Remington Model 870: Extended Magazine tubes for Tactical Remington 870 Shotguns

[JohnPF]

They're cheap too. I guess a must for protection in AK.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by tomcat6369

Having a sidearm would ONLY be for last resort. Your camp gun sounds like a good idea. I guess the extended tube magazine is legal up there? Is that not considered for hunting? In Washington you can't have it, well when hunting that is. I guess when fishing might be the time you have bears around, salmon....yummy food!!!! Having a sidearm would be very helpful, at last resort that is and not for combat fishing....

Is it hard to find solitude when salmon fishing?

Yes, extended tube magazines are legal in Alaska. The number of rounds your shotgun can legally carry depends on its purpose. If you are hunting bird (duck, geese, grouse, etc.) there is a three round limit. Only two rounds can be in the tube magazine and one in the chamber. So you have to put in a dowel or some other device to block anything over two rounds in order to be legal.

However, a shotgun with an 18.5" rifled barrel and armed with seven .65 cal. Brenneke sabot slugs, is probably not going to be used to shoot ptarmigan. So you aren't restricted to the number of rounds that may be loaded.

Yes, it is VERY hard to find solitude when salmon fishing. The Kenai and Russian Rivers are notorious for their combat fishing, and most Alaskans I know avoid the Kenai during peak tourist season. Preferring instead to catch smaller Kings in other less crowded rivers. The only places where you can find solitude on a river is to find one where there are no fish.