What ammo do one usualy find when roaming through Alaska? Is it the same stuff as everywere else, or are they more focused on the heavy side? .338WinMag, .35Whelen, .375 H&H, .416RemMag, .444, .45-70, .458WinMag?
Or do the locals all use .30-06 and dang the rest?

Like, is a .375 H&H common enough so that is a point to bring a gun so chambered in stead of your pet .416 Taylor or .358Norma?

I handload, so haven't done much serious looking for factory ammo. That said, I doubt you'd have much trouble finding .243, .270, 7-08, .280/ 7 rem mag, .308, 30-06, 300 win mag, 300 Wetherby mag, 338 win mag, 375 H&H and 45-70.

If you're concerned about having the option of factory fodder, yes 375 H&H is available just about everywhere ammo is sold, including supermarkets

quote:

Like, is a .375 H&H common enough so that is a point to bring a gun so chambered in stead of your pet .416 Taylor or .358Norma?

I have even found the odd box of factory 358 Norma in a couple of the stores up here

I found 9.3x64 stuff in the Alaska Commercial store in Pt Barrow about 5 years ago. I would bet that someone ordered it and never picked it up.

That or some Eskimo is using it on whales and walrus and shoots enough of it for them to keep it around.

When I was in Aniak AK a couple of years ago they had the following
22LR
223
30-06
300WM
338WM
375HH
12G
20G

When I visited the Tongess Trading Post in Ketchikan in 02 I asked about weapons etc., they explained they don't hunt for sport they hunt for subsistance and survival so their rifles and handguns are chambered for the most popular calibers and for ammo that is readily available.

Sounds like some un gun-educated salesman in Ketchikan.

The 458 ammo is probally the hardest to find on your list.They have 416 up here but its usually $100 a box .There is hardly any cheap ammo up here.Sportsmans Warehouse in Anchorage and Fairbanks are usually the cheapest and have the most different kinds of ammo.I reaload everything I shoot except shotgun and 22 ammo up here.I need a better shotgun reloader instead of the wonderful Lee Loader I have for shotguns.My Dillion 550 gets alot of workout for my ammo needs.

quote:

Originally posted by D99:
Sounds like some un gun-educated salesman in Ketchikan.

DGG I've hunted near lots of small communities like Ketchikan with 7922 people and one learns to come prepared or do without as the small villages don't carry items that seldom are used. ketchikan is landlocked ,not that many stores, only way out is by boat or plane and when the cruise ships leave most everything shuts down for the year.It butts up against the largest US rain forest( 14+ feet of rain a year) the Tongess NF with lots of fish and game.Everything they need comes by ship or by air so the Tongess Trading Post is a general store that carries what the residents need.Everyone who lives there hunts and fishes to stock up for the winter.

I lived in Sitka and Barrow, and spent a lot of time in Fairbanks and Anchorage.

There are more $10,000 guns in Anchorage than most major cities in the lower 48.

Sitka was gun paradise, Barrow had nothing but what was at the AC store. Similar to walmart.

Alaskans are gun people, but the bush is the bush no doubt about it.