If I were headed on a mixed-bag hunt to Alaska tomorrow for sheep, moose, caribou, and grizzly, I'd take my .300 Win. Mag. loaded with 180 gr. Nosler Partitions, which has served me well before in Alaska. I like the old .300 Win. Mag. better than the .300 WSM simply because it delivers more velocity, it's more widely-available, I don't care for the way short, fat cartridges feed, etc.

For coastal brown bear, I'd take my .416 Remington with no second-choice........

AD

MLG,

Being non-resident hunter, I believe (I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong) that a guide is the law for Brown Bear. With that being the case, I have read that most guides will not take you out with anything less than a 338WM. If they do take you out with a 300, I would venture to guess that they may not advise you to take some shots that would be advisable with a larger rifle. I hope to go some time in the next 5 years and it will be with a 338 or 375.

Deke.

Have you ever seen a brown bear up close? For coastal-in the-brush up-close bears if I was going to pick a fight with one I would start with a .375h&h. For moose in bear country or interior bears where the country is more open and the ranges longer, lots of folks use a .338 A .300 has killed many of both but again if you're talking coastal, heavy cover, big bears, you may want more.
Also .375h&h, .338 winmag and .300 winmag ammo is available anywhere. Handy if you somehow become seperated from your ammo. Probably the only state where the discount fall ammo sales include .375 H&H!
My .02

Eric

Deke: Most guides will let you use from a .30-06 to as big a gun as you want to use, as long as you can shoot it well and have the right ammo/bullet combination. What most guides don't want you to do is to start shooting before they let you know when to do it, and always hope that his or her client can shoot the vitals as told. What a guide doesn't want the clients to do, is to bring rifles they can't shoot well, since that increases the likelihood of having to track an injured bear into the brush.



The .338WM, as well as the .300WM kill more bears than most other cartridges up here, perhaps because they are so popular with Alaska hunters. The .30-06 has been used here for many years, and back then it was the "big kid in the block" with Alaskans. I would not use a .30-06 to take a 200-yard shot on a big bear like the one shown at huntamerica (below). Alasken's client shot his bear with a .33WM. Two guys at the same forum just came back from Russia, and each killed a Russian bear with one shot each, one from a .338WM and the other with a .300WM.



Take a look at this bear:



-------------

This is from the NRA's January 2001 issue, American Hunter: "The Alaska Department of Fish & Game hunter safety staff in Anchorage tallied the big game rifles sighted at the Rabbit Creek rifle range for the 1999 hunting season. The top three cartridges were the .30-06 (21%), .300 Win. Magnum (19%), and the .338 Win. Magnum (18%). These were followed by the 7mm Rem. Magnum (9%), .375 H&H Magnum (6%), .270 (6%), .308 (4%), and .300 Wby. Magnum (4%), .45-70 (1%), .280 (1%), and a host of others, including many wildcats. Comparable data are not available for hunters who live in the bush."

--------------------- Huntamerica (big bear picture)

Ray,

30-06 will kill lots including large African game w/proper bullets and placement, but its not recomended and certainly not preferred in many of those situations. What I am trying to confirm is what is prefered minimum in any situation without going overboard. Based under the premise that the client/rifle/load are up to the task, the Brown could be the biggest the guide/client could encounter, the distance is the farthest that the guide will allow, the angle presented requires the maximum amount of penetration the guide is comfortable with, what is the minimum cartridge required? From what I have read, this would be in the neighborhood of a 338WM. Don't forget that the author of this post and I would be traveling a long way and probably only once in a lifetime and would want to be as prepared as reasonally possible. BTW, if it seems I am partial to the 338, I don't even own one, I am just trying to answer some of the same questions.

Deke.

Deke,

The hunt you are proposing is going to be both expensive and memorable. Phone rates are miniscule by comparison to what you'll pay for your hunt. Get a list of guides and outfitters, call them and get their opinions. The outfitters and guides expect you to be proficient with whatever you shoot, but, until you're close to a big coastal brown bear................ well, it adds new meaning to the word close. As Ray has stated, a .338WM is a great choice. Larger is good too. If you're close to your bear, recoil will be the last thing on your mind. Long shots are just bear shooting...........getting close is bear hunting.

Joe

My choice is the .338 Win., its my favorite caliber on the big stuff on this continent and I have used it plenty, even killed a few cape buffalo with it, and its a super Brown bear round...

The secret to shooting anything really big is the 300 gr. Woodliegh RN or PP at near 2500 FPS..that is a real killer on all the big stuff that bites , scratches or wants to roll on you!

for everthing else the 210 Nosler at 3005 FPS with a dose of 4831 will serve your every need...

You just cannot beat the 338 Win. IMO..

My good friend and whom I boot hunts for, Alaskan Master Guide and Gun Scribe for several magazines, Phil Shoemaker, praised the 180 gr. Nosler in the 30-06 for years as brown bear medicine, until one fatefull day, then another fatefull day, now he sings his praises for the 505 Gibbs..a lesson learned by a man who has shot more Brown bear than anyone else I know...take heed to his years of experience...

I understand what you have said Deke, and agree with you. There are guided hunts up here where the shots are taken from 50 to 75 yards, and usually broadside shots. I was reading about these hunts in American Rifleman, but I no longer have the magazine. The guides would allow the use of .30-06 bolt rifles with 200 to 220-grain bullets.

Now, in my opinion, if I was ONLY going to hunt the big bears 99% of my time, I would start with a .416 Rem. and stop at a .458. However, since I mostly hunt moose and other Alaska game 100% of the time, my only big game rifle has been a stainless Ruger CRF in .338WM. Yes, some bears are huge up close, and just in case I always use heavy and tough super premium bullets with my .338WM. The lightest is the 230-grain FS, and the heaviest, 275-grain A-frame. I also carry with me some ammo loaded with 250-grain A-Frame, one of which killed my moose last year.

Did you look at the picture of the large bear (in the URL above) killed by a hunter in Alaska? The hide measured 10'4", and the skull was over 26". The bear was killed at 200 yards with a .338WM and 250-grain Federal ammo with Nosler bullets. First shot the bear spun around, second shot dropped it, and the third shot "just in case." Great hunting story told, a good read.

Ray: I have only heard good comments about the Woodleigh 300 grainers for the .338, loaded like you said, somewhere around 2,500 fps.

Midway had some 250 grainers on quite a good sale, but I don't know if they have 300-grain Woodleigh. Right now a have a few boxes of 275-grain A-Frame, but one of these days I may also try some of those 300 grainers.