Kodiak brown bear rifle

[fta0303]

200 yards in, Heart Shot! Really hard to run without a heart! Of course a great scope, a steady hand and polished shooting skills are essential!

...might run for near a minute with heart shot out, might not. Takes time to bleed to death or to die of O2 starvation. Brain shot will kill instantly.

 

[JiggyIi]

Frank, that is the reason that we chose the .338 WM as my wife’s rifle…..the planed Alaskan hunts. We figured it would also work well on most of the African game!

Her rifle never go to travel to distant lands……but, has served her remarkably well right here in the lower 48! It’s simply…..just a darn good cartridge! memtb

I’d love a Browning BAR in 338 if I lived in Ak

 

[comfisherman]

Kinda surprised the lack of autoloaders up here. Have often wondered about the benelli r1 in 338 win mag, but have maybe seen less than a couple in a decade and a half up here full time.

 

[RH300UM]

Kinda surprised the lack of autoloaders up here. Have often wondered about the benelli r1 in 338 win mag, but have maybe seen less than a couple in a decade and a half up here full time.

Auto loaders have their own issues to deal with.
Alaska would be the place to show those issues.
I have a couple in the ‘06 platform. Remington 742 and Browning Bar.
Both have failed in extreme weather.
Remington froze and the action refused to cycle which caused a major issue for the hunt. I had to wrap my clothes around it next to my base layer to thaw it out to continue the hunt.
Browning failed due to snow buildup in the action. Caused the gun to jam the next round.
I do not think I could or would use either for dangerous game.
I never had any issues with a bolt gun in extreme situations as above.
Maybe others have had the same issue?
Maybe it’s a different issue ?
Also the I just remembered how big of a PIA it is to disassemble both rigs to clean throughly!!

I gave the 742 to my son and the Bar sets in the safe.

 

[Pdvdh]

I would only use a semi-auto for bear defense if bears carried and shot them. The most unreliable firearm action, IMO.

For multiple quick shots, a pump action would be a much more reliable firearm.

 

[BigDon]

Auto loaders have their own issues to deal with.
Alaska would be the place to show those issues.
I have a couple in the ‘06 platform. Remington 742 and Browning Bar.
Both have failed in extreme weather.
Remington froze and the action refused to cycle which caused a major issue for the hunt. I had to wrap my clothes around it next to my base layer to thaw it out to continue the hunt.
Browning failed due to snow buildup in the action. Caused the gun to jam the next round.
I do not think I could or would use either for dangerous game.
I never had any issues with a bolt gun in extreme situations as above.
Maybe others have had the same issue?
Maybe it’s a different issue ?
Also the I just remembered how big of a PIA it is to disassemble both rigs to clean throughly!!

I gave the 742 to my son and the Bar sets in the safe.

Action reliability? Look to Africa - I've never seen an autoloader on a dangerous game hunt! Taking one to Alaska seems like a sure recipe for disaster.

 

[comfisherman]

Usually the snow and extreme cold comes without the bears....

Only have time on a Remington pump, don't know if I'd take that over a modern autoloader.. years ago an r1 showed up on my door step. It had gone back and forth as it didn't shoot all that accurate. The compromise had been a 300 wsm barrel to replace the 270 wsm barrel. Neither produced what one would call shockingly accurate, but it provided a cone of fire solid enough for short range shooting. I'd finished some barrel velocity tests and at the time had acquired some absurd amount of 270 wsm brass. Owner explicitly said he'd like to see us smoke the barrel, and we obliged. Don't remember a hiccup, didn't find a load that could get under 2 inches but never remember a single malfunction.

Moot point my bolt guns work fine, for as much as autoloaders have taken over almost every other aspect of the shooting sports. It's still kinda surprising how little has permeated higher power hunting rifles.

 

[dennisinaz]

If they can handle rain they'll be alright on a bear hunt
Not sure I see the need for all those rapid shots though. I know a couple of guys who regularly use winchester 1886s and the other big lever guns.

 

[Reemty J]

And you just killed a number nice brownie this spring didn’t you Dennis?

 

[fta0303]

If they can handle rain they'll be alright on a bear hunt
Not sure I see the need for all those rapid shots though. I know a couple of guys who regularly use winchester 1886s and the other big lever guns.

Of course the lever action is faster than a bolt, nearly as fast as a pump.