Firearms and Armament

There are no simple answers when it comes to selecting a firearm and accompanying ammunition. How accurately you lot shoot is far more important than the type of rifle, cartridge, and bullet you lot choose. Alaska has some very large game animals, including 1600-pound mature bull moose and 1500-pound littoral brownish bears. Moose or dark-brown bear hit in the gut with a large caliber magnum rifle such equally the popular .338 Winchester® Magnum is wounded and merely as probable to escape as if it had been hit with a small caliber rifle such as the .243 Winchester®. The diameter size, bullet weight, and velocity are of secondary importance to precise bullet placement in the vital heart-lung area.

It is important for the hunter to have a good knowledge of game beefcake, the power to correctly guess distance, the discipline to accept just shots that tin be made with certainty, and the ability to shoot accurately from sitting, kneeling, and standing positions. You should be able to reliably place a bullet in a circle the size of the game'southward eye/lung zone from hunting positions at the distances y'all expect to exist shooting. As long as the caliber is reasonable and a quality bullet is used, hunters kill game quickly and humanely with precise bullet placement.

Select a quality bullet

Photo of ammunition

Winchester (left to correct): Partition Golden® 7mm, .thirty-06, .300, .338, Fail Safe® .375

If you lot presently own a rifle chambered for the .270 Winchester, 7mm-08, .308 Winchester or .thirty-06 and can place all of your shots in an 8-inch circle out to 200 yards from a sitting or kneeling position y'all can be a successful Alaska hunter. To be as effective equally possible, these cartridges should be loaded with premium quality bullets that are designed to pass completely through a big game fauna, if hitting in the heart-lung area.

Big Magnums Not Needed

The rifle you bring hunting should be 1 with which y'all are comfortable. Because of the presence of chocolate-brown and grizzly bears, many hunters take been convinced that a .300, .338, .375, or .416 magnum is needed for personal protection and to have large Alaska game. This is simply not truthful. The recoil and noise of these large cartridges is unpleasant at best and evidently painful to many shooters. It is very difficult to concentrate on shot placement when your encephalon and body remembers the unpleasant recoil and noise which occurs when you lot pull the trigger on i of the large magnums.

The two most mutual complaints of professional Alaska guides are hunters who are non in skillful physical status and hunters who cannot accurately shoot their rifles. Because these hunters do not practice enough they cannot shoot accurately enough. They miss their best chance at taking their dream animal or worse yet, they wound and lose an fauna. Most experienced guides adopt that a hunter come up to military camp with a .270 or .xxx-06 burglarize they can shoot well rather than a shiny new magnum that has been fired just enough to become sighted-in. If you are going to hunt brown bear on the Alaska Peninsula or Kodiak Island, a .30-06 loaded with 200- or 220-grain Nosler® or like premium bullet will do the job with skillful shot placement. But consider using a .300, .338 or larger magnum if you can shoot information technology every bit well equally you tin can the .30-06.

It is very popular now to buy large magnum rifles equipped with a muzzle brake. Near muzzle brakes are very effective at reducing recoil. A .375 magnum with a muzzle brake recoils much like a .30-06. Before convincing yourself that you lot should utilise a muzzle-braked rifle, consider its disadvantages. A muzzle-brake increases the muzzle smash and noise to levels that speedily damage the ear. Even when but sighting in or practicing, anybody near you at the range will observe the blast and noise bothersome. Anyone near the muzzle brake when the burglarize is fired may endure hearing loss or physical damage to the ear. An increasing number of guides will not allow a hunter to use a muzzle brake because of the danger of hearing loss.

Burglarize Weight Reduces Recoil

Rather than rely on a muzzle-brake to reduce recoil, use a burglarize heavy plenty to reduce recoil. If you are planning on packing out moose meat, caribou meat, or a brownish bear hide weighing hundreds of pounds, you tin carry a 9- to 11-pound rifle including scope. A rifle of this weight in .300 or .338 magnum tin be mastered with a lot of practise. You tin can too avoid using a muzzle-brake by selecting a cartridge that you lot can shoot comfortably and enjoy shooting plenty to practice with oftentimes. For well-nigh hunters, the upper limit of recoil is the .30-06 or 7mm Remington Magnum®. A majority of hunters are more comfortable with a .308 or .270.

Recommended Type of Activity

If yous are choosing a burglarize for hunting in Alaska, you should strongly consider a modern commodities activeness rifle fabricated of stainless steel bedded in a synthetic stock. A bolt action is recommended considering it is mechanically simple, can exist partially disassembled in the field for cleaning, and is the nearly reliable action under poor atmospheric condition atmospheric condition. Stainless steel is excellent for about Alaska hunting because information technology resists rust acquired by rain or snowfall. Even so, stainless steel will rust with fourth dimension and so must be maintained after each day of field employ.

Cartridge Selection

Alaska big game varies from the relatively small (deer, goats) to the largest game on the continent (brown bears, moose). In general, hunters should select a larger caliber for the largest game. Cover type should besides play a role in cartridge pick. Sheep and goats are almost always hunted in the mountains where long distance visibility is the dominion. A smaller, flat-shooting cartridge may be best here. Deer in the littoral forests of Southeast Alaska are oft shot at less than xx yards. Moose in the Interior may be shot at intermediate distances. Select your cartridge based on the expected circumstances.

Circular-nosed versus Pointed Bullets

A high quality burglarize bullet placed into the center or lungs of a big game beast at approximately 2000 to 2800 feet per 2nd will expand or "mushroom" and destroy the vital organs. The shape of the bullet has no straight result on its office, its accurateness, or its ability to impale. A "round-nosed" bullet that penetrates and destroys a vital organ is just every bit effective as the virtually streamlined of bullets.

However, a pointed bullet does not lose velocity as quickly as a round-nosed bullet. For instance, a .30-06 firing a 180-grain pointed bullet which leaves the barrel at 2700 anxiety per second, is travelling 2300 feet per 2d at 200 yards. In comparing, a circular-nosed 180 grain bullet at the same speed will accept slowed to 2000 anxiety per second at the same distance, because the pointed bullet can cutting through the air with less resistance just like a sleek fighter jet. Under actual field conditions, this volition make no difference between a good hit, bad hitting, or miss. At distances beyond 200 yards, a pointed bullet volition not drop as quickly every bit a round-nosed bullet. Most hunters should not shoot big game at distances further than 200 yards.

Bullet Quality versus Shape

Diagram of a Nosler Fail Safe Bullet.

Nosler Combined Technology
Fail Safe®

Diagram of a Nosler Partition.

Nosler Partition®

Diagram of Nosler Ballistic Tip.

Nosler Ballistic Tip®
Hunting

The bullet shape is not as important as the quality of the bullet and how well your rifle will shoot a particular bullet. Some rifles volition shoot a pointed bullet more accurately and some will shoot a round-nosed bullet more than accurately. You should try quality bullets of both shapes to find out which weight and shape produces greatest accuracy in your firearm.

A bullet must be "tough" enough to penetrate through skin, muscle, and even bone to achieve the vital organs. It must also exist "soft" enough to expand and disrupt the office of these vital organs. Throughout the history of bullet making, this has been the constant challenge—discover the proper balance between "soft" and "tough."

Modern bullets are typically constructed from a copper or copper alloy "jacket" that surrounds a atomic number 82 or lead blend cadre, except at the very tip or "nose" of the bullet. Near conventional bullets have jackets that are thin most the nose and taper to a thicker diameter nearly the base. This method of construction is designed to control the rate of expansion, every bit the bullet will open up or "mushroom" quickly toward the thin "olfactory organ" only will not "mushroom" as quickly almost the base. Examples of this type of bullet are the Hornaday Interlock®, Speer Thou-Slam®, and Remington Core-Lokt®.

The advantage of these bullets is that they are relatively inexpensive and piece of work well on most game animals at ranges from l to 200 yards. At typical velocities, these are excellent bullets for nigh whatsoever game. I can say with loftier confidence that a big game creature hit in the centre-lung vital zone with one of these bullets volition die swiftly and certainly.

Construction of Partitioned Bullets

The next step in bullet structure and bullet complexity is the "partitioned" bullet. These include the Nosler Partitioning®, the Swift A-Frame®, and the Trophy Bonded Deport Hook®. These bullets share a common characteristic; all of them have a tapered jacket that is "H" shaped (see picture). The cross-bar of the "H" is a part of the jacket itself. Each end of the "H" is filled with lead, a lead alloy, or tungsten alloy. These bullets are designed to expand rapidly at the front end but never expand beneath the cross-bar of the "H." In theory, this should be the best of both worlds: Excellent expansion to destroy tissue and a protected cadre that volition ensure deep penetration.

Performance in the Field

The performance of partitioned bullets is fantabulous—they perform about as well in real life equally in theory. If a moose, elk, caribou, or even chocolate-brown behave is hitting in the middle-lung vital area, these ultra-tough bullets often go out on the opposite side, leaving a better blood trail and ensuring a double-lung hitting. The only negative of these premium bullets is cost. For example, a box of factory loads with Nosler®, Swift®, or Trophy Bonded® bullets typically costs at to the lowest degree twice every bit much equally a box of conventional bullets.

To sum upward on the subjects of firearm, cartridge, and ammunition pick: You tin't go incorrect with a stainless steel commodities-action rifle chambered for a standard cartridge that y'all are comfortable with and can shoot accurately, loaded with a high quality bullet.