Brown bear Rifle

[fta0303]

I carry a Ruger Alaskan in 375 Ruger that was rebarreled to 23" and it has been a smooth-feeding, reliable and very accurate rifle. I have shot many groups that hover around the 1/2" mark.

Mine has good accuracy, not that good but close. I had it Cerakoted and put into a Pendleton stock. I'm amazed every time I think of that rifle - comfortable one hand carry and arguably good for anything on Earth. I think Ruger knocked it out of the park with that rifle/cartridge combination. I've always been tempted to get a .416 Ruger in the same rifle, but, having the .375, am always stopped by inability to answer question: why? The iron sights work well, too.

 

[Lee Goodwin]

338 WM is an awesome cartridge.
275 grain bullet going ? fps...
Might feel good if a big brown is near.

 

[papa bearjd]

Planning on a once in a lifetime brown bear Alaskan hunt in a couple years. Have a 300 Win Mag that shoots 220 Nosler partitions and 200 Nosler partitions quite well. Don't really want to buy another rifle but should I move up to a 338 class? Thinking of either a 33 Nosler, 338 WM or 338 ultra??? Opinions???

.375 H&H Mag, or .416 Rem Mag Take your .300 with you too. and maybe a couple extra scopes.You may have to hunt in the Rain,or not hunt at all. At least in SE Alaska. Kinda rough on equipment. The .300 will kill any bear in Alaska under ideal conditions. But, I would not want to bet my life, on it's ability to stop or turn a charge from an angry Brown Bear! Good luck on your hunt. Stay safe.

 

[INVICTUS]

Invictus: You say ALL the guides you talked to carry 6.5 PRC rifles when hunting or guiding (?) brown bear. That is simply remarkable. How many guides did you talk to? Do they all hang out together, compare rifle performance, etc? Just curious. Thanks.

All but two of the guides that I spoke to were at a big outdoor benefit dinner at the one of the hotels in Anchorage. I was serving as the Garrison CSM at JBER and was asked to speak briefly. The table I sat at had 8 others who were all guides that were sponsoring the event in part by auctioning a hunt with their services.
So I probably talked to 10 or so guides at that particular event and they all had the same answer.
Your question is a good one and I did not get that detailed with it. I assume that was their choice for a hunt or when guiding.
I will add this. The deputy garrison commander was a Colonel who had spent 16 total years there and is now retired in Anchorage. He hunted all bears and moose with a 338 win mag. His words were something to the effect "when you hit them with 338, they go down. If they don't go right down, they're moving real slow and you can hit them again easily."
I thought that was hilarious.

 

[INVICTUS]

I think this bear mount was 19" across the body. The reason I measured was to understand how much penetration is needed on an animal this big. Even at angle, most rounds will be adequate.
It is an interesting discussion for sure.

 

[griz375]

Do not know where yet but will attend several sport shows to get a read on guide and service face to face if possible. We be quite disappointed if a guide opened up on a bear that I hit well. Might end up on one of those boat hunts in the ABC s . Do not need a 10 footer but a nice representative animal and a great adventure would be a winner. Will be looking at the peninsula also.

You need to make that clear to the guide. Most won't shoot unless absoluty necessary. But a couple things to keep in mind. The law requires that a guide do whatever is necessary to avoid the loss of wounded game, second the law requires that the guide provide adequate safety and security to the client. All that said, you won't be the one crawling through the brush looking for a wounded bear.

This bear was taken with a 54 cal flint lock, I think you'll be just fine with your 300.

 

[Coldfinger]

Planning on a once in a lifetime brown bear Alaskan hunt in a couple years. Have a 300 Win Mag that shoots 220 Nosler partitions and 200 Nosler partitions quite well. Don't really want to buy another rifle but should I move up to a 338 class? Thinking of either a 33 Nosler, 338 WM or 338 ultra??? Opinions???

I highly doubt that the bear is going to care what caliber you kill it with! If you can't kill everything in the world with a 300 winnie and 220 grain bullets there's more going on than the rifle.

 

[Quintus]

The list of suitable cartridges that will efficiently kill a large brown bear is long and I am sure getting longer every year. The real discussion should be more around what bullets are available in what calibers that will create the desired effect at a given impact velocity. From that list a person can choose the delivery vehicle by component availability and desired rifle options. Back when SD stood for sectional density long heavy for caliber bullets were desired not for the high BC, but for the hi SD and deep penetration. Bullets back in the O'Connor and Keith days were terrible. A grey wad of dense mush slid into a poorly drawn piece of copper. Even with great mass at moderate velocity there was a good chance that old power point was going to achieve so much frontal diameter before even defeating the rib cage that penetration might be limited to less than 10". A 6.5 PRC still would not be my first choice for a brown bear hunt, but I would take a well built 6.5 bullet driven hard over a 200 grain 30 caliber conventional CnC or a 270 or 300 grain .375 I couldn't shoot well 3 times fast. We have bullet options these days that really allow the hunter to do more with less. Now, take those same bullet advancements and apply them to the heavy hitters and we have some real shock and awe available, but you also still have the heavier gun and recoil that go with it. I would say be honest with yourself about how much reoil you can handle (including lots of practice) and then choose your bullet wisely.

 

[Reemty J]

No matter how this thread started, it has turned into a wealth of knowledge and experiance, well done everyone! I personally would take a coppermono, specifically a Hammer HT, the one and only Brownie I killed ( so far ) the 338 210HHT was awesome, 41-42" of penetration, it started @ 3462 fps, hit the bear at 178 yards, total wreckage of the lungs, could not be more pleased….. keep the opinions, experiance and stories coming guys, really great thread!

 

[lachoneus]

Mine has good accuracy, not that good but close. I had it Cerakoted and put into a Pendleton stock. I'm amazed every time I think of that rifle - comfortable one hand carry and arguably good for anything on Earth. I think Ruger knocked it out of the park with that rifle/cartridge combination. I've always been tempted to get a .416 Ruger in the same rifle, but, having the .375, am always stopped by inability to answer question: why? The iron sights work well, too.

That's what I like -- one rifle arguably good for anything on Earth. One of the professional hunters I hunted with had the Ruger Alaskan in .416 Ruger. I shot it and to me it felt like it had considerably more recoil. His was in a factory stock, though, and mine is in an unknown, but very good, synthetic stock (I bought the rifle second-hand) and that might account for some of the difference.

 

[lachoneus]

when you hit them with 338, they go down. If they don't go right down, they're moving real slow and you can hit them again easily."

I can say this about the 375 Ruger as well -- almost any hit anywhere really slows the animal down if it does not immediately incapacitate it.

 

[PastorHunter]

When I went on the ABC Islands, minimum caliber allowed by my guide was 300 win mag or 300wsm. He preferred the Barnes bullets. I shot mine with 300wm and 190gr TTSX. Worked just fine.

 

[PastorHunter]

I should add, my partner used a 416 Rem Mag. Head guide carried a 458 Win Mag. Bears shot with 416 and 300 were equally dead. YMMV

 

[MOA or bust]

ABC Islands as in Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire?